Ohio History Journal

The Northwest Territorial Government--1789.          61

 

and the same is hereby, ratified and confirmed, anything to the

contrary in the deed of cession of said territory by this common-

wealth to the United States notwithstanding.*

 

 

 

THE NORTHWEST TERRITORIAL GOVERN-

MENT-1789.

 

(FIRST CONGRESS, FIRST SESSION.)

An act to provide for the government of the Territory northwest of the

river Ohio.

WHEREAS, In order that the ordinance of the United

States in Congress assembled, for the government of the terri-

tory northwest of the river Ohio, may continue to have full effect,

it is requisite that certain provisions should be made, so as to

adapt the same to the present constitution of the United States:

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of

the United States of America in Congress assembled, That in all

cases in which, by said ordinance, any information is to be given

or communication made by the Governor of the said territory

to the United States in Congress assembled, or to any of their

officers, it shall be the duty of said Governor to give such infor-

mation and to make such communication to the President of

the United States; and the President shall nominate, and, by

and with the advice and consent of the Senate shall appoint all

officers which, by said ordinance, were to have been appointed

by the United States in Congress assembled, and all officers so

appointed shall be commissioned by him; and in all cases where

the United States in Congress assembled might, by the said

 

* The act of Virginia of December 18, 1789, concerning the erection of

Kentucky into an independent State, contained the following proviso:

"Sec. 7. The use and navigation of the river Ohio, so far as the terri-

tory of the proposed State, or the territory which shall remain within the

limits of this commonwealth, lies therein, shall be free and common to the

citizens of the United States; and the respective jurisdictions of this com-

monwealth and of the proposed State, on the river as aforesaid, shall be

concurrent only with the States which may possess the opposite shores of

the said river."

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62        Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.

 

ordinance, revoke any commission or remove from any office,

the President is hereby declared to have the same powers of

revocation and removal.

SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That in case of the death

removal, resignation, or necessary absence of the Governor of

the said territory, the Secretary thereof shall be, and he is hereby

authorized and required to execute all the powers and perform

all the duties of the Governor during the vacancy occasioned

by the removal, resignation, or necessary absence of the said

Governor.

 

 

CONCERNING THE CESSION OF THE WESTERN

RESERVE.

 

(ACT OF CONGRESS OF APRIL 28, 1800, 3 V. L. U. S., p. 364.)

SECTION 1. That the President of the United States be,

and he hereby is, authorized to execute and deliver letters patent,

in the name and behalf of the United States, to the Governor of

the State of Connecticut, for the time being, for the use and benefit

of the persons holding and claiming under the State of Connec-

ticut, their heirs and assigns, forever, whereby all rights, title in-

terest, and estate, of the United States, to the soil of that tract of

land lying west of the west line of Pennsylvania, as claimed by the

State of Pennsylvania, and as the same has been actually settled,

ascertained, and run, in conformity to an agreement between the

said State of Pennsylvania and the State of Virginia, and extend-

ing from said line, westward, one hundred and twenty statute miles

in length, and in breadth throughout the said limits in length,

from the completion of the forty-first degree of north latitude,

until it comes to forty-two degrees and two minutes north latitude,

including all that territory commonly called the Western Reserve

of Connecticut, and which was excepted by said State of Con-

necticut out of the cession by the said State heretofore made to

the United States, and accepted by a resolution of Congress of

the fourteenth of September, one thousand seven hundred and

eighty-six, shall be released and conveyed as aforesaid to the said

Governor of Connecticut, and his successors in said office, forever,

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The Cession of the Western Reserve.        63

 

for the purpose of quieting the grantees and purchasers under

said State of Connecticut, and confirming their titles to the soil

of the said tract of land.

Provided, however, That such letters patent shall not be

executed and delivered, unless the State of Connecticut shall

within eight months from passing this act, by a legislative act,

renounce forever, for the use and benefit of the United States,

and of the several individual States who may be therein con-

cerned, respectively, and of all those deriving claims or titles from

them, or any of them, all territorial and jurisdictional claims

whatever, under any grant, charter, or charters whatever, lying

westward, nothwestward, and southwestward,of these counties in

the State of Connecticut, which are bounded westwardly by the

eastern line of the State of New York, as ascertained by agree-

ment between Connecticut and New York, in the year one thous-

and seven hundred and thirty-three, excepting only from such

renunciation the claim of said State of Connecticut, and of those

claiming from under the said State, to the soil of said tract of land,

herein described under the name of the Western Reserve of Con-

necticut.

And provided, also, That the said State of Connecticut shall,

within the said eight months for and after passing this act, by the

agent or agents of said State, duly authorized by the Legislature

thereof, execute and deliver, to the acceptance of the President

of the United States, a deed, expressly releasing to the United

States the jurisdictional claim of the said State of Connecticut,

to the said tract of land, herein described under the name of the

Western Reserve of Connecticut, and shall deposit an exemplifi-

cation of said act of renunciation, under the seal of the said State

of Connecticut, together with said deed, releasing said jurisdic-

tion, in the office of the Department of State of the United States;

which deed of cession, when so deposited, shall vest the jurisdic-

tion of said territory in the United States: Provided, That neither

this act, nor anything contained therein, shall be construed so

as in any manner to draw into question the conclusive settlement

of the dispute between Pennsylvania and Connecticut, by the

decree of the Federal Court at Trenton, nor to impair the right

of Pennsylvania, or any other State, or of any person or persons

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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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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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