This Week in History
July 12-18, 1787
The Northwest Ordinance
Congress passes the Northwest Ordinance, and endorses a development policy for the new nation.
On July 13, 1787, while the Constitutional Convention was meeting in Philadelphia, the Continental Congress, in session in New York, passed a momentous piece of legislation entitled, "An Ordinance for the Government of the Territory of the United States North-West of the River Ohio." By that document, the territory of the present Midwest was added to the original 13 states, under a republican form of government which was dedicated to the agricultural and industrial development of the nation.
By the Treaty of Paris in 1783, which formally ended the American Revolution, the Northwest Territory was admitted to belong to America. The Kentuckians, led by Daniel Boone, had first secured its southern flank after the French & Indian War, and then George Rogers Clark and his men had captured the former French towns in the Illinois Country. But the British, even after the Treaty, refused to evacuate their major northern posts at Niagara, Oswego, and Detroit, as well as several other more minor forts. Instead, they aimed their Indian allies at the American frontiers, still hoping to limit the new republic to the Atlantic seaboard.
Even during the uncertain days of the American Revolution, the idea of creating a Federal territory which would help to unite the nation was being voiced. Over the years 1781-1786, the four states which claimed land to the westNew York, Virginia, Massachusetts, and Connecticutceded their claims to the Confederation Government. At the same time, while the Continental Army was encamped at Newburgh, New York, General Washington and his officers developed a plan for the settlement of the Ohio Country. George Washington had traversed it extensively before and during the French & Indian War, and had travelled as far as the Falls of the Ohio (between Indiana and present-day Louisville, Kentucky), after peace was declared. When military affairs seemed hopeless during the early days of the Revolution, and soldiers would ask him what the alternative to surrender would be, Washington answered that the Continental Army could cross the mountains and set up a base in the Ohio Valley.
So when Congress, because of its limited powers under the Confederation, was unable to raise enough funds to pay the Army during the difficult encampment at Newburgh, many of the soldiers agreed that they would accept western land instead, and emigrate there together to set up a new state. In June 1783, two hundred and twenty-eight officers of the Continental Line signed a memorial to the Continental Congress indicating their willingness to settle the Ohio Country. George Washington seconded their memorial, and as soon as the Treaty of Paris took effect he embarked on a project to develop the transportation infrastructure which would link the Northwest Territory with the settled eastern states. His efforts included the Potomac Canal, plans for a canal to link the Ohio River with Lake Erie, and the sponsorship of James Rumsey's steamboat experiments.
In 1784, Thomas Jefferson presented an ordinance for governing the new territory. It provided for its erection into states and their entrance into the Confederacy on equal terms with the rest, but a provision prohibiting slavery there after 1800 was defeated. In 1785, an act was passed by Congress which laid out how the western lands would be divided and sold after they were purchased from the Indians. Included was the famous provision that Lot 16 of each township would be used to finance the erection and maintenance of public schools.
In parallel with these government efforts, the veterans of the Continental Army published notices inviting all those interested in settling the Northwest Territory to meet in Boston. On March 3, 1786, at the Bunch of Grapes Tavern of Revolutionary War fame, the officers founded the Ohio Company of Associates, naming Gen. Rufus Putnam as chairman and Major Winthrop Sargent as secretary. The group proposed to use both the veterans' certificates from the Confederation government and a fund of $1 million, raised from subscriptions, to buy a large tract of land in southeastern Ohio and to settle it with Revolutionary War veterans and their families.
Also named as the negotiator with the Continental Congress was Rev. Manasseh Cutler, who travelled to Philadelphia when Congress was considering the Northwest Ordinance. He worked closely with the delegates, especially Nathan Dane, who drafted the Ordinance, and then obtained, on July 23, a committee report which recommended that the Board of Treasury be authorized to make a contract for the large tract which the Ohio Company had asked to buy. The Ordinance thus reflected much of the Continental Army veterans' outlook on how the new territory should be settled and the republican rights that its citizens should enjoy.
No land was to be sold until it had been purchased from the Indians, surveyed, and marked off in sections, townships, and lots. The land would be sold in small plots that settlers could afford, not large pieces that were obtained just for speculation. The land owned by the national government would benefit all the states by providing one of the bases of public credit. Settlement was to proceed from the Ohio River shores nearest to the old settlements in Pennsylvania and Virginia, and then proceed northward to Lake Erie and westward to the Miami River. The governor, Gen. Arthur St. Clair, and territorial judges were appointed by the national government. When the number of adult males reached 5,000, the territory could hold elections and send a member to Congress, who could take part in the debates, but not vote. When the population reached 60,000, the territory could be admitted as a state, with all the rights of the original 13 states.
Reflecting the republican ideals for which the Continental soldiers had fought, the settlers were granted freedom of religion, the right to habeas corpus, bail, and trial by jury, and the right to proportional representation of the people in the legislature. All fines had to be moderate, and there would be no cruel or unusual punishments. Rejecting the oligarchical practice of primogeniture, it was specifically stated that if a person died intestate, their property would be divided, after a one-third portion for the wife, equally among all their children, making no distinction "between kindred of the whole or half blood."
"Religion and morality, and knowledge, being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged." This statement reaffirmed the use of Lot 16 in each township for funding public education. In the case of the Ohio Company of Associates, their charter also included a lot in each township set aside for the support of churches, and up to two whole townships to support the building of a university, which was founded as Ohio University in 1804. The day before the Ordinance was passed, a clause was added which stated that "There shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in the said territory, otherwise than in punishment of crimes whereof the party shall have been duly convicted...."
Finally, the Ordinance reflected the republican commitment to treat the Indians as human beings, not as they had been manipulated and looted by the colonial powers. "The utmost good faith shall always be observed toward the Indians; their lands and property shall never be taken from them without their consent; and, in their property, rights, and liberty, they never shall be invaded or disturbed, unless in just or lawful wars authorized by Congress; but laws founded in justice and humanity shall from time to time be made, for preventing wrongs being done to them, and for preserving peace and friendship with them."
Three months after the Northwest Ordinance was passed, Thomas Hutchins, the Geographer of the United States, published a report on the prospects of the new territory. He catalogued the river and lake transportation, the climate, fertility of the soil, plants and animals, and the mineral deposits which were "so well calculated for the establishment of manufactures of various kinds." Reflecting James Rumsey's experiments that year, Hutchins stated that, "...it is worthy of observation that, in all probability, steamboats will be found to do infinite service in all our extensive river navigation."
During the following two years, 20,000 settlers travelled down the Ohio River in boats to settle the new territory. The Ohio Company veterans built the town of Marietta, and the Symmes Grant in western Ohio was settled by pioneers, three-fourths of whom were Continental Army veterans. Despite repeated attacks by British-incited Indians, the settlements held on until 1796, when Gen. Anthony Wayne's victories finally forced the British to grudgingly withdraw from their American posts, 13 years after the end of the American Revolution. The rapid influx of settlers once peace came to Ohio enabled it to be admitted as a state in 1803, followed by its sister states of Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin, all following the terms of the farsighted Northwest Ordinance.
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