Ohio History Journal

64         Ohio Arch. and His. Soeiety Publications.

 

claiming under that or any other State, in any existing dispute

concerning the right, either of soil or of jurisdiction, with the State

of Connecticut, or with any person or persons claiming under the

State of Connecticut: And provided, also, That nothing herein

contained shall be construed in any manner to pledge the United

States for the extinguishment of the Indian title to the said lands,

or further than merely to pass the title of the United States

thereto.*

 

 

THE NORTHWEST TERRITORIAL GOVERN-

MENT-1800.

 

(SIXTH CONGRESS, FIRST SESSION.)

An act to divide the Territory of the United States northwest of the Ohio

into two separate governments.

SECTION   1.  Be it enacted by the Senate and House of

Representatives of the United States of America in Congress as-

sembled, That from and after the fourth day of July next, all

that part of the territory of the United States northwest of the

Ohio River which lies to the westward of a line beginning at the

Ohio, opposite to the mouth of Kentucky River, and running

thence to Fort Recovery, and thence north until it shall inter-

sect the territorial line between the United States and Canada,

shall, for the purposes of temporary government, constitute a

separate territory and be called the Indiana Territory.

SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That there shall be es-

 

* By Article IV, of the treaty of Fort Industry, July 4, 1805, it appears

that the " Proprietors of the half million of acres of land, lying south of

Lake Erie, called Sufferers' Land," furnished an annuity of one hundred

and seventy-five dollars to the Wyandots, Munsees, and Delawares, and

those of the Shawanos and Senecas who resided with the Wyandots. By

Article V, the Ottawas and Chippewas and such of the Pottawatamies as

resided on the river Huron received from said "Proprietors " the sum of

$4,000 in hand, who secured to the President, in trust for them, the further

sum of $12,000, payable in six annual installments, which several sums,

with $2916.67, to raise said sum of $175 annuity, over the consideration

paid by the agents of the Connecticut Reserve to extinguish the Indian

claims of that tract of land.

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The Northwest Territorial Government - 1800.     65

 

tablished within the said territory a government in all respects

similar to that provided by the ordinance of Congress passed

on the thirteenth day of July, one thousand seven hundred and

eighty-seven, for the government of the territory of the United

States northwest of the river Ohio; and the inhabitants thereof

shall be entitled to, and enjoy, all and singular the rights, privi-

leges, and advantages granted and secured to the people by the

said ordinance.

SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That the officers for

the said territory, who by virtue of this act shall be appointed

by the President of the United States, by and with the advice

and consent of the Senate, shall respectively exercise the same

powers, perform the same duties, and receive for their services

the same compensation as by the ordinance aforesaid and the

laws of the United States have been provided and established

for similar offices in the territory of the United States northwest

of the river Ohio. And the duties and emoluments of the super-

intendent of Indian affairs shall be united with those of Governor;

Provided, That the President of the United States shall nave

full power, in the recess of Congress, to appoint and commission

all officers herein authorized; and their commissions shall con-

tinue in force until the end of the next session of Congress.

SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That so much of the

ordinance for the government of the territory of the United States

northwest of the Ohio River as relates to the organization of a

General Assembly therein, and prescribes the powers thereof,

shall be in force and operate in the Indiana Territory, whenever

satisfactory evidence shall be given to the Governor thereof that

such is the wish of a majority of the freeholders, notwithstanding

there may not be therein five thousand free male inhabitants

of the age of twenty-one years and upwards; Provided, That

until there shall be five thousand free male inhabitants of twenty-

one years and upwards in said territory, the whole number of

Representatives to the General Assembly shall not be less than

seven nor more than nine, to be apportioned by the Governor

to the several counties in said territory agreeably to the number

of free males of the age of twenty-one years and upwards which

they may respectively contain.

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66       Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.

 

SEC. 5. Be it further enacted, That nothing in this act

contained shall be construed so as in any manner to affect the

government now in force in the territory of the United States

northwest of the Ohio River, further than to prohibit the exer-

cise thereof within the Indiana Territory, from and after the

aforesaid fourth of July next; Provided, That whenever that part

of the territory of the United States which lies to the eastward

of a line beginning at the mouth of the Great Miami River, and

running thence due north to the territorial line between the

United States and Canada, shall be erected into an independent

State and admitted into the Union on an equal footing with the

original States, thenceforth said line shall become and remain

permanently the boundary line between such States and the

Indiana Territory; anything in this act contained to the con-

trary notwithstanding.

SEC. 6. And be it further enacted, That until it shall be

otherwise ordered by the Legislatures of the said territories re-

spectively, Chillicothe, on Scioto River, shall be the seat of the

government of the territory of the United States northwest of the

Ohio River; and that Saint Vincennes, on the Wabash River,

shall be the seat of the government for the Indiana Territory.

Approved May 7, 1800.

 

 

 

DEED AND ACT OF CESSION OF CONNECTICUT.

 

(MAY 30, 1800, 1 V. L. U. S., p. 485.)

To all who shall see these presents, I, Jonathan Trumbull,

Governor of the State of Connecticut, send greeting:

WHEREAS, The General Assembly of the State of Con-

necticut, at their session holden in Hartford, on the second Thurs-

day of May, one thousand eight hundred, passed an act, entitled

"An act renouncing the claims of this State to certain lands

therein mentioned," in the words following to-wit:

"WHEREAS, The Congress of the United States, at their

session, begun and holden in the City of Philadelphia, on the

first Monday of December, in the year one thousand seven hun-

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