AUTHORSHIP OF THE ORDINANCE.

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feudalism by which all lands before the Revolution were held by socage tenure, denoting a fixed and determined service.* In thus providing for the free and unconditional alienation of the public lands by the general government, and for the equal distribution of estates among the descendants of intestates and their dispositon by will, as against the English laws of primogeniture, and the alienation of real estate by lease and release or bargain and sale by deed, in fee simple, "it struck the keynote of our liberal system of land laws, not only in the states formed out of the public domain, but also in the older states."+ But even these important provisions, although not so broadly and clearly shaped, were already contained in the Constitution of Georgia, (Art. II.)

It appears, in fact, that some of the most important declarations of rights contained in these early constitutions, and since reenacted, were not included in the ordinance, namely: the liberty of the press, the right of free-speech, the right of petition, the freedom of elections, the right to bear arms, and the prohibition of ex-post-facto laws.

The proposition that certain articles should be considered as a compact between the original States and the people and States in the said territory, seems to have originated with Jefferson. It was in the ordinance reported by him in 1784. This ordinance also contained an article of which Jefferson was the author, prohibiting slavery in any state to be formed out of said territory after the year 1800; but Jefferson, in 1787, was our minister to France, and took no part in the later enactment. In 1785, Rufus King of New York, introduced a resolution as a supplement to the ordinance of 1784, providing for the prohibition of slavery in the States to be formed out of said territory. It was referred to a committee and never reported upon. That portion, therefore, of Art. VI. which prohibited slavery in the territory was new. The original draft was in Mr. Dane's handwriting, as indeed was the entire instrument, and he says in his letter to Rufus King that "when I drew the ordinance, which passed, a few words excepted, as I originally formed it, I had no idea the States would agree to the Sixth Article, as only Massachusetts of the Eastern States was present, and + Com'r, J. S. Wilson.

Kent, III, 527.

therefore omitted it in the draft; but finding the House favorably disposed on the subject after we had completed the other parts, I moved the Article which was agreed to without opposition."

On the other hand, Judge Ephraim Cutler, son of the doctor, tells us that while on a visit to his father, then a member of Congress, at Washington, in 1804, having informed him that he had prepared the anti-slavery clause of the Ohio constitution, his father stated in response, that it was a singular coincidence, as he himself (the doctor) had prepared that part of the Ordinance of 1787 while he was in New York negotiating the purchase of lands for the Ohio Company.

In regard to other clauses, the doctor informs us in his diary that on his return from Philadelphia, July 19, he found that the ordinance which had been adopted had been "in a degree newmodeled," but that the amendments proposed by him had all been made except one, which related to taxation. These, as claimed by him, it appears, were the provisions relating to religion, education, and slavery.*

The provisions of the ordinance which were distinctly new, in addition to article six, were as follows:

The plan for the organization of a civil government for the northwestern territory was a venture into an entirely new field. The grant of power to the people was, however, not very liberal. Every office of the territory was to be filled by appointment, and the incumbents were required to be land owners. The minimum was a free-hold estate therein of five hundred acres each by the secretary and judges, and one thousand acres by the governor. All "magistrates and other civil officers" were appointed by the governor, who, with the judges made the laws, until the territory rose to the second grade. The elective franchise, only to be exercised after the territory had obtained five thousand inhabitants, was confined to the election of members of the general assembly. A representative was required to be a citizen of the United States, a resident of the district, and the owner of two hundred acres of land; while an elector must be the owner of fifty acres.

Both reflection and experience demonstrated the fact that * Cutler's "Life of Rev. Manaseh Cutler," I., 342-3.

FIRST SALES OF PUBLIC LANDS.

191

these provisions were too narrow, and the ordinance was amended in 1809 so that the people were authorized to elect a council, theretofore appointed by the president and a member of congress, previously chosen by the Legislature; and in 1811, the right of suffrage was extended to all those who paid a tax and resided one year in the territory.

The other provisions of the ordinance which were new, were (1) the clause in regard to the inviolability of private contracts; and (2) that in regard to the treatment of the Indians. The claim of originality by Dane to both of these, seems to be well founded, and has not, indeed, been seriously questioned. That the committee was greatly benefited and assisted by the suggestions and personal influence of Dr. Cutler, during the final preparation of the ordinance, there can be no doubt. But the eminent services of the able Dane, who, in his official capacity as a member of congress, prepared and aided in securing the passage of the document, can not be over estimated by the millions of people who are now reaping and enjoying the benefits of its wise provisions.

Having shown how the public domain was acquired, the system of surveys established, and the provision made for the government of the inhabitants residing thereon, a brief space will now be devoted to the plan adopted for its disposition.

The first sale of land after the passage of the Ordinance of 1787, was made in pursuance of an act of congress, July 23, the same year, instructing the Board of Treasury to contract for the sale of the large tract to the Ohio Land Company, of 822,900 acres, receiving therefor certificates of ownership and army land-warrants valued at $642,859. This was followed by one to John Cleves Symmes, of 272,540 acres, for which he and his associates paid $189,643; and by another to the State of Pennsylvania, of 202,187 acres. All other sales of public lands of the United States were made under general laws.*

On May 19, 1796, an act was passed by congress for the sale of lands in Ohio; but the general system finally adopted, under which all the public lands have been since disposed of, was embraced in the act of May 10, 1800, the credit for originating which is due to the profound thought, and far“Public Domain,” 17, 197-8.

reaching sagacity of that eminent financier and statesman, Alexander Hamilton. The subject having been referred to him as secretary of the treasury, he presented a report in which he recommended the establishment of a general land-office, the appointment of a surveyor-general, and all the other prominent features embodied in the act last named. Provision was made for receivers and registers; the lands were to be offered at public sale in lots of 320 and 640 acres, and at not less than two dollars per acre, one-fourth of the purchase money to be paid within 40 days and the remaining three-fourths in two, three, and four years, with interest at the rate of six per cent per annum on the deferred payments.

Prior to the passage of the act in question, the only portion of the public domain sold had been in Ohio. The sales had aggregated 1,484,047 acres, for which there had been paid into the Treasury the sum of $1,201,725.*

Amendments were made to the law of May 10, 1800, at various times, extending the time of payments, and providing for sales in smaller quantities than 320 acres, until in 1820 the credit system was abolished and sales of eighty-acre lots permitted, and the price fixed at $1.25 per acre. Subsequently entries also were allowed for forty-acre lots. Under the credit system there had been sold in Illinois 1,593,247 acres.

In every instance the following tracts were excepted from sale: (1) One thirty-sixth portion (640 acres) of each township for the support of schools. (2) Seven entire townships, viz: Two in Ohio and one each in the territories of Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Mississippi, and Louisiana, were reserved for the support of seminaries of learning. (3) All salt-springs and leadmines were also reserved, but might be leased by the president. * "Public Domain," 17.

Authorities Laws and Journals of Congress; Article in "North American Review," April, 1876, by W. F. Poole; "The St. Clair Papers," by W. H. Smith; "Life, Journal and Correspondence of Manasseh Cutler," by W. P. and J. P. Cutler; "Charters and Constitutions," by Ben. Perley Poore; "The Public Domain," Congressional Document.

CHAPTER XIII.

As a Part of the Northwest Territory-Illinois Merged into St. Clair County-First Officers-Land-Titles in Illinois Indian Disturbances - St. Clair's DefeatRandolph County- Early Attempts to Dismember the American Union, 1789-1800.

HE chronological sequence of events having been broken. somewhat in the two foregoing chapters, it will now be resumed before taking up the subject of Indian treaties.

A plan for the government of the Northwest Territory having been formulated and adopted by congress, it became necessary to appoint officers to administer it.

This question had already received some consideration, even at the time of the passage of the Ordinance of 1787. That famous statute and the act authorizing the sale of western lands were in charge of congressional committees whose personnel was almost identical, both having the same chairman, and three of the members of one being also members of the other. It soon transpired that the parties interested in the Ohio Land Company desired Gen. Parsons for governor. The act of congress providing for the sale, as passed July 23, was not satisfactory to the proposed purchasers, especially in regard to the security required for the unpaid purchase money, and Dr. Cutler addressed a letter to the treasury requesting modifications. There was a serious hitch in the proceedings, and the doctor threatened that unless the terms proposed in his letter were complied with the company would purchase land from the states. But the chief obstacle in the way to success, as he soon began to suspect, was the company's candidate for governor. The program was accordingly changed, the doctor frankly declaring to Col. Grayson and other members of congress, "that if Gen. Parsons could have the appointment of first judge, and Sargent secretary, we should be satisfied; and that I heartily wished Gen. St. Clair might be governor, and that I would solicit the Eastern members to favor such an arrangement." The doctor further states