The Second Session of the First Territorial Legislature.

ACTS OF THE SECOND SESSION OF THE FIRST TERRITORIAL LEGISLATURE.

(1800.)

I. An act defining seals affixed to certain instruments of writing. November 27, 1800.

2. An act to amend the act entitled, "An act allowing compensation to the attorney-general of the Territory," etc. November 27, 1800. 3. An act authorizing the leasing of school lands, and lands for religious purposes, in Washington County. November 27, 1800.

4. An act to revise "an act to establish and regulate ferries." November 27, 1800.

5. An act to incorporate the town of Marietta. December 2, 1800. 6. An act to amend the act entitled "An act to create the offices of a territorial treasurer and of an auditor of Public Accounts." December 2, 1800.

7. An act to empower the trustees named in the last will and testament of Doctor William Burnet, the elder, to dispose of certain lands. (PRIVATE-The act is not published in full.)

8. An act to amend the act entitled, "An act to encourage the killing of wolves." December 2, 1800.

9. An act authorizing the judges of the General Court to appoint commissioners to take special bail, and to administer oaths. December 3, 1800.

10. An act to amend the act entitled "An act allowing and regulating prison bounds." December 6, 1800.

II.

An act to provide for the recording of town plats. December 6, 1800.

12. An act confirming and establishing the town of Athens in the County of Washington. December 6, 1800.

13. An act to provide for the maintenance and support of illegitimate children. December 6, 1800.

14. An act to establish and regulate taverns and public houses of entertainment. December 6, 1800.

15. An act to amend the act entitled "An act regulating the admission and practice of attorneys and councillors at law." December 8, 1800.

16. An act to ascertain and defray the traveling expenses of the judges of the General Court, and to dispose of the fees heretofore allowed them by law. December 8, 1800.

17. An act for the relief of Lucy Petit. (PRIVATE--Not printed.) 18. An act providing for the trial of homicide committed on Indians. (To the more effectually insure justice to the Indian tribes.)

The Second Session of the First Territorial Legislature.

19. An act to prevent the abatement of suits in event of the death of a party thereto. December 8, 1800.

20. An act supplementary to the act establishing and regulating the militia. December 8, 1800.

21. An act supplementary to the act entitled "An act to regulate the county levies." December 8, 1800.

An act supplementary to the act entitled "An act levying a territorial tax on land," and providing for a territorial tax for the year 1801. December 9, 1800.

23. An act to amend the act entitled "An act to ascertain the number of free male inhabitants of the age of twenty-one, and to regulate the election of representatives for the same." December 9, 1800.

24. An act regulating circuit courts and allowing appeals from the courts of common pleas in certain cases. December 9, 1800.

25. An act supplementary to the act entitled, "An act establishing courts for the trial of small cases." December 9, 1800.

26. An act appropriating monies, etc. December 9, 1800. The appropriation bill (No. 26) contains the following interesting items connected with the enforced removal of the seat of government from Cincinnati to Chillicothe :

To Brazil Abrams for rent of a house, occupied by the general assembly dur ing their present session, ninety dollars.

To Thomas Worthington (afterwards United States senator and governor) for repairing the house, providing chairs, etc., for the use of the general assembly at their present session, thirty-four dollars and twenty-seven cents.

To John Armstrong, esquire, territorial treasurer, for transporting the books and papers belonging to his office from Cincinnati to Chillicothe, forty dollars.

To Thomas Gibson, esquire, auditor of public accounts, for transporting from Cincinnati to Chillicothe the books and papers belonging to his office, sixty dollars.

To William McMillan and James Findlay, esquires, for their services and expenses in providing a house for the reception of the legislature at the present session, each forty-three dollars.

To William C. Schenck, for transporting the papers belonging to the legislative council from Cincinnati to Chillicothe and for traveling expenses, forty dollars.

To John Reily, for transporting the papers belonging to the House of Representatives from Cincinnati to Chillicothe and for traveling expenses, forty dollars.

The above recited acts were signed by Edward Tiffin, Speaker of the House of Representatives; Robert Oliver, President of the Council; and approved by Ar. St. Clair, Governor, on the date named. Winship & Willis, Chillicothe, printers.

Authenticity vouched for by Zenas Kimberly, Committee, February 4, 1801.

THE FIRST SESSION OF THE SECOND TERRITORIAL GENERAL ASSEMBLY.

(Convened at Chillicothe on Monday, the twenty-third day of November, 1801, being the day appointed by proclamation of Governor St. Clair.)

MEMBERSHIP.

R

THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL (SENATE.)

OBERT OLIVER, who appeared on the twenty-third, and on the twenty-fourth, to find no other member in attendance. David Vance, who appeared on the twenty-fifth, with his colleague, Mr. Jacob Burnet.

Solomon Sibley, from Detroit, in the County of Wayne (now Michigan), presented his commission to succeed Mr. Vanderburgh (see notes of previous year) and was sworn and seated.

THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.

Chobert, Francoise Joncaire, of Wayne County (now Detroit,
Michigan).

Cutler, Ephraim, of Washington County.

Darlington, Joseph, of Adams County.

Dunlavy, Francis, of Hamilton County.

Kimberly, Zenas, of Jefferson County.

Langham, Elias, of Ross County (Seated November 26).

Ludlow, John, of Hamilton County.

Massie, Nathaniel, of Adams County.

McCune, Thomas, of Jefferson County.

McDougal, George, of Wayne County (Detroit).

Miller, Moses, of Hamilton County.

Milligan, John, of Jefferson County.

Morrow, Jeremiah, of Hamilton County.

Paine, Edward, of Trumbull County.

Putnam, William Rufus, of Washington County.

Reeder, Daniel, of Hamilton County.

Schiefflein, Jonathan, of Wayne County (Detroit).

Smith, John, of Hamilton County. (Seated December 1.)

Tiffin, Edward, of Ress County.

White, Jacob, of Hamilton County.

The First Session of the Second Territorial General Assembly.

The House organized on the twenty-fourth of November by the election of the following officers: Edward Tiffin, Speaker; John Reilly, Clerk.

The seats of Messrs. Scheifflin and McDougall, of Wayne County, were contested, but they were declared to be entitled to their seats. The finances of the Territory were in such condition that the governor, who had been reappointed during the adjournment of the assembly, in his address at a joint session of the two houses called to be held in "Mr. Gregg's Hall" for the purpose said: "The Territory is in debt in the sum of $5,419 beyond the whole revenue for the present year. A new emission of bills (of credit) must be made, even to meet the expenses of the present session. A wretched expedient, it is true, because the bills suffer a depreciation in the hands they pass through, and the public pays the full interest."

During this session of the General Assembly, a bill was passed transferring the seat of government to Cincinnati, from which city it had been removed by a provision in the territorial act of 1800, and as an expression of feeling on the part of the local inhabitants, a number of the members of the legislature, and also the governor, were set upon in Chillicothe on the twenty-fifth and twenty-sixth of December. The matter was made a subject for official investigation.

At 12 o'clock noon, on January twenty-third, the Council attended the chamber of the House of Representatives in a body, where the joint assembly was addressed by Governor St. Clair, and adjourned by him to meet in second session in Cincinnati on the fourth Monday of the following November (1802). It should be noted here that this proposed second session of the second and last territorial legislature was never held. The reason is given in the following interesting extract from the memoirs of a member of the Council speaking of the first constitutional convention:

"As the territorial legislature was in existence, and stood adjourned, to meet at Cincinnati on the fourth Monday in November, three weeks after the opening of the convention, a resolution was passed, directing their president to request the governor to dissolve or prorogue that body. Such a precaution was altogether unnecessary, as no disposition existed among the members, either to embarrass, or in any way interfere with the movements of the convention. That such a disposition did not exist was verified by the fact that the day for the meeting of the legislature came and passed; the members remaining at home as by common consent. No attempt was made by the governor, or by any of the members, to convene that body, till its existence was terminated, and it was succeeded by the

The First Session of the Second Territorial General Assembly.

General Assembly, under the State Constitution." (Notes on the Northwestern Territory, 1847, by Judge Jacob Burnett, a member of the Territorial Council.)

ACTS OF THE FIRST SESSION OF THE SECOND TERRITORIAL LEGISLATURE.

(1801-2.)

I. An act allowing and regulating writs of attachment. January 18, 1802.

2. An act regulating executions. January 19, 1802.

3. An act regulating the fees of civil officers and for other purposes. January 23, 1802.

4. An act levying a tax on land for the year 1802 and for other purposes. January 23, 1802.

5. An act requiring public officers to give bond in certain cases. January 19, 1802.

6. An act providing for the execution of real contracts in certain cases. January 4, 1802.

7.

An act for the partition of real estate. Deceinber 23, 1801. 8. An act providing for the inspection of certain articles of exportation therein enumerated. January 9, 1802.

9. An act to encourage the killing of wolves and panthers. January 9, 1802.

IO.

An act for the assignment of bail bonds. January 22, 1802. II. An act to remove the seat of government and fix the same at Cincinnati, in the County of Hamilton. January 1, 1802.

12. An act to amend the act entitled "An act establishing and regulating the militia." January 22, 1802.

13. An act to ascertain the boundaries of certain counties. January 23, 1802.

14. An act for the distribution of insolvent estates. January 13, 1802.

15. An act to amend the act entitled "An act for opening and regulating public roads and highways." January 20, 1802.

16. An act providing for the appointment of guardians to lunatics and others. January 4, 1802.

17. An act concerning testimony. January 13, 1802.

18. An act declaring the assent of the. Territory to an alteration in the ordinance for the government thereof. December 21, 1802. (There was a vigorous protest against the passage of this act, from its opponents in the assembly.)

19. An act providing for the acknowledgment and recording of