post and stocks in every county. Power was granted to the courts to sentence certain offenders to jail for as long as forty years. The law of August 15, 1795, provided for servitude for debt not exceeding seven years, upon demand of the creditor. This inhuman provision, adapted from the laws of Pennsylvania, was clearly against the ordinance of 1787.

The administration of Governor St. Clair during the first grade of the territorial government reflected credit and distinction to himself and the Territory. He gave the greatest attention to his duties which were constant and laborious. During this period he had established within Ohio, the counties of Washington, Hamilton, Wayne, Adams, Jefferson and Ross Courts were erected in each, and to all he gave a supervisory attention. He traveled over nearly the whole of the vast territory of the Northwest. He was respected by his Judges, and his opinions on law and legislation carried the utmost weight in their councils, while at the same time he was not overbearing or arbitrary. The events following the transition of power from the Governor and the Judges to the people, demonstrated more than ever the administrative ability of St. Clair. Hitherto he had been almost an autocrat, now he was to become the head of a popular government.

CHAPTER IV.

1799-1803.

THE FIRST TERRITORIAL LEGISLATURE

MOVE

MENT FOR STATEHOOD DIVISION OF THE
TERRITORY-CONDITION OF THE PEOPLE IN
1800-THE REMOVAL OF GOVERNOR ST. CLAIR
CONVENTION— Ad-

THE CONSTITUTIONAL
MISSION TO THE UNION.

The Representatives elected under Governor St. Clair's proclamation met at Cincinnati, February 4, 1799. Under the Ordinance of 1787 it was made their duty to nominate ten residents of the territory possessed of a freehold in 500 acres of land, out of which five would be selected by the President to act as the Legislative Council, or Upper House of the Territorial Legislature. Their term of office was to be five years. President Adams designated for the Council, Robert Oliver, of Washington county; Jacob Burnet and James Findlay, of Hamilton county; Henry Vanderburgh, of Knox county, and David Vance, of Jefferson county. No business, other than the selection referred to, was transacted by the representatives in the session of February 4, and they adjourned to September 16. Owing to lack of a quorum at the appointed time, adjournment was had from day to day until the 23d, when the first General Assembly of the Northwest Territory organized by electing Edward Tiffin, of Ross, Speaker of the House, and Henry Vanderburgh President of the Council. Governor St. Clair addressed both Houses, assembled in the Representatives' Chamber, September 25.

In this body there were men of great force of character and ability. Paul Fearing and Return Jonathan Meigs represented Washington county. From Hamilton came Jacob Burnet, William Goforth, John Ludlow, and others not so well known. Thos. Worthington and Edward Tiffin were among the Representatives from Ross county. Nathaniel Massie came from Adams. There were twenty-two Representatives; one each from the counties of St. Clair, Knox, Randolph, and Jefferson, two from Washington, seven from Hamilton, four from Ross, two from Adams, and three from Wayne. The legislation of this session was such as the necessity of the time required. Governor St. Clair exercised his veto power, which he possessed under the Ordinance, upon eleven bills. Among the important incidents. of this session was significant declaration concerning slavery. A petition from settlers from Virginia was presented, asking leave to bring their slaves into the territory on the Virginia Military Lands. It was unanimously refused, as being contrary to the sixth article of the Ordinance of 1787. Judge Burnet, who was a member of the Council, has left the recorded opinion that even without the barrier of the organic law it would have been impossible for the Virginians to have secured the privilege prayed for. According to him, it was the general view, that "it would ultimately retard the settlement, and check the prosperity of the territory, by making labor less reputable, and creating feelings and habits unfriendly to the simplicity and industry they desired to encourage and perpetuate."

This General Assembly elected William Henry

Harrison a Delegate to Congress from the Territory of the Northwest-its first representative in the Federal Congress. Mr. Harrison had been appointed the year before Secretary of the Territory in place of Winthrop Sargent, who had been commissioned as Governor of the Territory of Mississippi, just then formed. Arthur St. Clair, Jr., son of the Governor, and United States District Attorney, was the candidate against Mr. Harrison, and was defeated by one

vote.

On the 19th of December, 1799, Governor St. Clair, exercising the power vested in him by the Ordinance, prorogued the Territorial Legislature, and fixed the first Monday in November, 1800, as the date of its next session. In his speech on this occasion he gave his reasons for vetoing certain bills presented to him.

Opposition to St. Clair was developing about this time, that eventually resulted in his deposition. Some objected to his seemingly arbitrary exercise of the veto power, and others opposed him by reason of his politics. He was a staunch Federalist of the school of Washington and Hamilton. He was an advocate of strong government, and asserted positively, yet not offensively, his authority under the law. He claimed, and exercised, the power of locating county seats and erecting new counties. This the Legislature denied that he possessed, and attempted to enact laws on these subjects, but they were promptly vetoed. The principles of Jefferson were in a great degree the politics of the early settlers, and party spirit soon entered into the councils of the territory. The restlessness under St. Clair's

rule hastened the birth and development of an anxiety for admission into the Union as a State. The election of Mr. Harrison was a victory for that idea, and when he assumed his congressional duties, he proceeded to operate in the interest of the State party for a division of the territory of the Northwest. He was made chairman of a committee on division of the territory, and on the 7th day of May 1800, an act was passed dividing the territory by a line which ran from the mouth of the Kentucky river to Fort Recovery, and northward to the boundary line between Canada and the United States. West of this line was erected the Territory of Indiana, of which Mr. Harrison was appointed Governor. Chillicothe was designated as the seat of government for the territory of the Northwest, which now lay east of the line described. The change of the territorial capital was secured by the vigilant Virginians of the Scioto Valley, who were among St. Clair's most active opponents.

Up to this time the Settlers in the Western, or Connecticut Reserve, had not viewed with favor the territorial government. They preferred to call their region New Connecticut, and gave their allegiance to the General Assembly of Connecticut. The embarrassing situation was relieved when the State of Connecticut on May 30, 1800, finally and fully relinquished whatever title she might have had in the Reserve. On July 10 of this year the county of Trumbull was erected by Governor St. Clair. It composed the whole of the Western Reserve, and at its election for Representative cast only forty-two votes. Warren was designated as the county seat.