Ohio History Journal

Report of A. Gallatin.             155

 

REPORT OF A. GALLATIN

 

RELATING TO THE PUBLIC LANDS IN THE STATE OF OHIO.

 

TREASURY DEPARTMENT, January 13, 1803.

Sir: The gross amount of lands within the United States

Military Tract is computed at two million five hundred and thirty-

nine thousand one hundred and ten acres; one-thirty-sixth part

of which, if appropriated for schools in conformity to the propo-

sition of the convention of the State of Ohio, will amount to

seventy thousand five hundred and thirty-one acres. The grants

already made within that tract amount to one million eighty-one

thousand two hundred and seventy acres, which, supposing the

school appropriation to take place, will leave one million three

hundred and eighty-seven thousand three hundred and nine acres

therein for the future disposition of Congress.

If the modifications proposed by the convention shall be

acceded to, it will be necessary to define the manner in which the

above mentioned seventy thousand five hundred and thirty-one

acres, as well as the sections to be given for the use of schools

in those fractional townships containing less than three-fourths

of an entire township, and in which the section No. 16 has been

disposed of, shall be located. There are but thirty-seven such

fractional townships in which that section did exist, and only

twelve such sections have been sold. The mode of designating

an equal number of sections in lieu thereof is not, therefore,

material.

The seventy thousand five hundred and thirty-one acres in

the Military Tract may be designated by directing that as many

quarter townships (which quarters in that tract contain four thous-

and acres each) as will make up the whole amount, shall be

selected by lot; and the same mode may be extended to the

designation of the lands which Congress may assign for the use

of schools in the Connecticut Reserve. But if it shall be thought

proper to give an agency in the selection to the State, it will be

necessary to limit the time within which that agency shall be

exercised, and to provide, in case of failure on their part, for

another mode of designating the land.

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156       Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.

 

As the request made by the convention for certain lands in

lieu of the township granted to J. C. Symmes and his associates

for an academy, is no part of the modifications proposed to the

original propositions of Congress, an immediate decision may

not be necessary; and it seems proper and just that measures

should, in the first place, be taken for the recovery of that town-

ship which was granted in trust to J. C. Symmes and his asso-

ciates, and which, at all events, ought not to be applied to their

private use, since they did not pay for it. The difficulty, in this

case, arises from the following circumstances:

J. C. Symmes had originally applied for two millions of acres,

and it had then been contemplated to give him a township for

the use of an academy. The contract was, however, made with

the Board of Treasury (in 1787), by his attorneys, Messrs. Dayton

and March, for only one million of acres, and no grant or

promise of an academy or college township was inserted in it.

In 1792, Congress directed that a township for that purpose

should be included in the grant of lands to be made to said

Symmes and his associates; and a patent accordingly issued,

under date of 30th September, 1794, for a tract containing three

hundred and eleven thousand six hundred and eighty-two acres,

reserving five sections in each township for certain purposes;

and further declaring, "that one complete township, or tract of

land of six miles square, to be located within the approbation of

the Governor for the time being, of the territory northwest of

the river Ohio, and within the term of five years, as nearly as

may be, in the centre of the tract herein granted, has been and

is granted, and shall be holden in trust to and for the sole and

exclusive intent and purpose of erecting and establishing therein

an academy and other public schools and seminaries of learning,

and endowing and supporting the same, and to and for no other

use, intent, or purpose whatever."

At the time when the patent was granted there was, as Mr.

Symmes states, but one entire township within its bounds; some

sections having been sold in every other township, because he

had not contemplated such reservation, and that one entire town-

ship remained so, only because it had been reserved by Mr.

Symmes for himself and his associates. He applied, in 1798,

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Report of A. Gallatin.              157

 

to Governor St. Clair, in order to obtain his approbation to the

location of that township, in conformity to the words of the

patent. Although there does not really appear to have existed

any other unsold township at the time, the Governor refused

his assent, because that offered was, in his opinion, of inferior

quality, and not in the centre of the patent, and because a part

of it was claimed by Elias Boudinot, one of Judge Symmes's

associates. Since that time, it is understood that one-half of that

township has been sold under judgments obtained against Mr.

Symmes; the other undivided half is said to be still claimed by

Mr. Boudinot under articles of agreement, dated before the date

of the contract of Mr. Symmes with the Board of Treasury, and

by which the last mentioned person agreed that he would, after

he had received a title from the United States, convey to Mr.

Boudinot, as his associate in the intended purchase, a part of

the same.

As the patent is in the name of J. C. Symmes and his asso-

ciates, it is not believed that the claim of any of the associates,

as such, can affect the title of the public against them as trustees;

but in what manner they shall be compelled to execute the trust

is the question to be decided.

Perhaps Congress, at the same time that they shall direct

legal measures to be taken for the recovery and due application

of the land, might provide, that, if J. C. Symmes and his asso-

ciates shall pay to the United States the original purchase money

(two-thirds of a dollar per acre) for that township, with interest

from the date of the patent, they shall be released from the execu-

tion of the trust, and the township confirmed to them for their

own use; and they might also designate another entire town-

ship in the Cincinnati district, and as near to the Miami and

Ohio as practicable, to be given in lieu of the other, in case

either this should not be recovered, or J. C. Symmes and his

associates should pay for it on the above mentioned terms.

Permit me to suggest, here, the propriety of opening a land

office for the sale of all the remaining lands in the Military Tract,

and also to repeal those parts of the general land law which

forbid the sale of certain sections throughout the whole extent

of the lands of the United States, except so far as relates to the

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158       Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.

 

school sections and to the sections reserved for religious pur-

poses in the lands sold prior to the law of the 18th May, 1796.

The plan of reserving some sections in each township for the

purpose of giving to the public a share in the increasing value of

lands, originated at a time when lands were sold by the United

States at a lower rate and in large tracts.

The present mode of disposing of the public lands, as under

it none are sold until they have attained the value of two dollars

per acre, effects the same object, and renders the reservation

useless. No further precaution seems necessary in relation to

that object, than to order a public sale of those reservations

before they shall be offered on the usual terms.

The part of the Military Tract which shall remain for future

disposition may be divided into sections and half sections, and

a land office opened at Zanesville, for the sale both of those

lands and of those lying north of the Ohio Company purchase,

which now belong to the Marietta District. The sales have

been so inconsiderable in that district that little doubt remains

that the place selected for the land office was not the most proper.

It is, however, suggested that the sales would be eventually pro-

moted in that and in all other districts, by permitting the sale

of fractional sections, without being attached to the adjoining

entire section.

There is another circumstance which, though of inferior im-

portance, seems to merit some consideration.

The price at which Congress sell their lands is advanta-

geous to the population and prosperity of the State of Ohio.

It has effectually destroyed the monopoly of lands, and throws

the land exclusively in the hands of the actual settlers; yet it is

considered as high; and, on that account, the payment of fees,

in addition to the purchase money, is generally complained of.

This objection should be removed, by giving to the registers a

small salary or commission in lieu of their fees. About $500 a year

to each, that of Marietta excepted, would be, I believe, a sufficient

compensation, in addition to the half per cent. commission which

they receive on moneys entered.

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Report of John Randolph.            159

 

I have the honor to be, very respectfully, sir, your obedient

servant,                           ALBERT GALLATIN.

The HON. JOHN RANDOLPH, ESQ.,

Chairman of the committee to whom were referred the constitution

and sundry propositions submitted by the State of Ohio.

 

 

 

REPORT OF JOHN RANDOLPH

RELATING TO THE ADMISSION OF OHIO AND THE PUBLIC

LANDS THEREIN.

 

(COMMUNICATED TO THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, FEB. 2, 1803.)

Mr. Randolph, from the committee to whom were referred

a letter from Edward Tiffin, president of the convention of the

State of Ohio, and a letter from Thomas Worthington, special

agent of the said State, enclosing the constitution thereof, to-

gether with sundry propositions in addition to, and in modifica-

tion of, those contained in the act, entitled "An act to enable the

people of the eastern division of the territory northwest of the

river Ohio to form a constitution and State government, and

for the admission of such State into the Union, on an equal foot-

ing with the original States, and for other purposes," made the

following report:

That the ordinance for ascertaining the mode of disposing

of land in the Western Territory, passed by Congress on the

twentieth day of May, 1785, establishes the principle of reserv-

ing one thirty-sixth part of the lands sold for the use of schools.

That to this principle, equally liberal and wise, your committee

believe it a sound policy to adhere, and to extend it wherever

practicable. They are aware of the objection that the right of

soil in the tract of country commonly called the Connecticut

reserve, having been ceded by Congress without any valuable

consideration, and no reservation having been made for the sup-

port of schools therein, the inhabitants of that portion of the State

of Ohio have not equal claims on the bounty of Congress with

those who, having purchased their lands of the United States,

have contributed large sums to the public treasury. But if it be

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