had a marked influence upon the economic and institutional development of the West. Here was already provided in advance an endowment for the common schools and a unit for local administration. The effect upon the township government and upon the administration of school affairs will be noticed hereafter."

The Ordinance of 17873 was probably the most important legislation fathered by the Congress of the Confederation. Certainly no other enactment left greater impress on the social, industrial and institutional life of the Northwest. It made provision for two grades of government. In the first stage the executive power of the territory was vested in a Governor; the judicial power, in a General Court composed of three Judges; and the legislative power in the Governor and Judges acting as a Legislative Council. These officers were appointed at first by Congress, and after the inauguration of the Federal Government, by the President. The legislative power was restricted by requiring the Governor and Judges to adopt and publish in the district such laws of the original States as might be necessary and best suited to the circumstances. These were to remain in force, unless disapproved by Congress, until the organization of the General Assembly. The Governor was, for the time being, commander-in-chief of the militia, and had power to appoint and commission all inferior militia officers and such magis. trates and other civil officers in each county or township as he should find necessary for the preservation of the good order and peace." He was authorized to make proper divisions for the "execution of process, civil and criminal,"

1 Shaw, A., Local Government in Illinois, p. 10, and Howard, op. cit., 140. 'See pages 28 and 48 below.

Poore, B. P., Constitutions and Charters, i, pp. 429–432.

'See page 20 below.

• Ordinance of 1787, Sec. 8; Poore's Censt. and Charters, vol. i, p. 430.

and was instructed to lay out counties and townships, subject, however, to such alterations as might thereafter be made by the Legislature.

As soon as it could be shown that the Territory contained 5000 free male inhabitants, the people were entitled to a government of the second grade. This offered them an opportunity to participate in politics by electing a House of Representatives. The House nominated ten persons, five of whom were selected by Congress to compose the Council. All legislative powers were thereupon vested in the General Assembly, consisting of the House, Council and Governor, with the absolute power of veto residing in the latter. There was a slight diminution of the powers of the Governor over the magistrates and other civil officers; for their powers and duties were regulated and defined by the Assembly. Their appointment, however, still rested with the Governor.

Under the authority of this constitution, civil government was inaugurated in the Northwest Territory in 1788.2 By virtue of the powers conferred upon him,3 Governor Arthur St. Clair proceeded to lay out counties, describe their boundaries, fix their county seats, appoint local officers, and define their powers. When the territory passed to the second grade the Legislature protested against the autocratic way in which the Governor exercised this authority. The controversy which arose between these two departments was not settled until the Governor was removed and Ohio was

1 After 1789 by the President.

Smith, W. H., The Life and Public Services of Arthur St. Clair, with his Correspondence and other Papers. (Hereafter referred to as the St. Clair Papers), i, pp. 140-1, p. 53.

See page 19 above.

St. Clair Papers, i, pp. 166, 195; ii, pp. 78-9, foot-note; pp. 131, 165, foot. note; p. 166, foot-note.

Ibid., ii, p. 79, foot-note; p. 80, foot-note.

admitted as a State. Upon the organization of the Indiana Territory in 1800, a government of the first grade was established. In respect to the creation of counties, the Governor had absolute authority until this was modified by legislative control 3 after the passage of the territory to the second grade of government.

2

In the county administration itself the most characteristic feature was the great authority which was vested in the courts. They were the first local civil offices established by law. Their jurisdiction was in the beginning wholly judicial. Administrative powers were first given to the courts of general quarter sessions of the peace in 1790,5 when they were directed to organize townships. Later, the authority of this court and of the court of common pleas was extended by giving them considerable control over the levying and expenditure of the county revenue, the issuing and revoking of liquor licenses, the opening and regulation of the highways and ferries, the erection and care of county prisons, the appointment of many local officers and the examination and supervision of their accounts. The extent to which the local administration was centralized in the hands of the court is shown by their extensive power of appointment. Of the twenty-five county offices' established by law during this period, at least eight were filled by appointees of the courts; and eleven of the fifteen township officers were so appointed, two being filled by commissioners, who were 1St. Clair Papers, i, pp. 214, 221; ii, pp. 447-479; Burnet's Notes, p. 322. Executive Journal of Indiana Territory in Indiana Hist. Soc. Pub., iii, pp. 77, 116.

• Terr. Laws, 1808, p. 3; 1810, pp. 14, 19, 40; 1813, pp. 67,91; 1814, p. 15.

Chase, S. P. (Ed.), Statutes of Ohio and the Northwestern Territory (1833), i, pp. 94-6.

Chase, i, p. 107.

See

page 22, below.

'The twenty-five county offices and the fifteen township offices were not all in existence at the same time.

themselves appointed by the courts and two,' only, being elected by popular vote.

Provision for the organization of townships was made in 1790 by authorizing the courts of general quarter sessions of the peace to divide their respective counties into townships, having due regard to the extent of the country and the number of inhabitants. They were also empowered to appoint in each township a clerk, a constable and one or more overseers for the poor. This subdivision of the county was not, at this time, given a separate corporate existence. It seems merely to have been a minor area formed to facilitate the administration of the county and State business. Five years later the functions of townships were somewhat enlarged by conferring upon them some authority in respect to elections, taxation3 and the relief of the poor. At the same time the overseers of the poor were declared to be "bodies politic and corporate;"5 but the townships never became important administrative districts until after 1816.

The earliest permission for the incorporation of a town within the present bounds of Indiana was granted by the State of Virginia in 1783. Under this authority the town of Clarksville was settled two years later. The Borough of Vincennes was the first town incorporated under the laws of the Territory of Indiana." Villages certainly existed prior to that date, but they probably had no powers and no officers other than those belonging to the townships in which they were located. Several special town charters were granted by the general assembly of Indiana Territory. There was considerable variety in their organization and the

'Township assessors and auditors of the accounts of the overseers of the poor from 1795-1799.

extent of their powers. In some cases their authority was granted in quite broad and general terms; in others only a few specific powers were conferred. Practically the only field for local self-government was in the administration of these towns. The trustees of such corporations were generally elected by the resident land-holders' and were empowered to appoint the other town officers.

The intimate relation between the local administration and the territorial government is indicated by the arrangement which conferred upon the local courts almost complete control over the local government, and then made the members of the courts themselves the appointees of the territorial Governor. Besides, the chief executive appointed directly fifteen other county officers. The barriers in the way of local self-government set up by the Ordinance of 1787 have not been satisfactorily explained. The people themselves were favorably disposed towards this principle. The men who drafted and enacted the Ordinance were neither unfamiliar with, nor hostile to, such political ideas. It was the opinion of Judge Chase that the temporary government was made unattractive so as to give the inhabitants strong reasons for entering the Union as States in order to enjoy greater political privileges.3 It may have seemed necessary, also, to establish "a strong-toned government" in order to secure the rights of property among the frontier people. It has also been suggested that the character of the population was an important consideration. In 1787 there were only a few widely scattered settlements, inhabited almost entirely by a people of French origin, who were unaccustomed and indifferent to local self-government. The Ordi

1 For a short time the trustees of Vincennes were elected by co-optation. 'Compare the introduction to The Executive Journal of Indiana Territory, pp. 79-80, See also pages 30, 31, below.