Ohio History Journal

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The Territorial Papers of the United States. Compiled and

edited by Clarence Edwin Carter.    (Washington, United

States Government Printing Office, 1934. Vol. I (preliminary

printing) $.15, Vols. II and III, $2.00 each.)

Of the projected volumes of this monumental work, the ones

now published are especially important to those interested in the

history of Ohio. The series deals with certain western tracts of

land which were governed by Congress and the National Execu-

tive as colonies or territories. Congress created out of these lands

some twenty-eight organized territories which, after an average

existence of nearly twenty years in the territorial form, have

entered the Union as states.

Affairs in the territories were under the direction of the

Department of State until 1873, when their administration was

transferred to the Department of the Interior. When the Con-

stitution was formed in 1787 the Northwest Territory was al-

ready in existence and its government, which had been organized

under the Articles of Confederation, was continued by an act

approved August 7, 1789.

The papers which form the basis of the history of the terri-

tories are in the Department of State, Department of War, Post

Office files, General Land Office, House and Senate files, Manu-

script Division of the Library of Congress, in the collections of

certain historical societies and in other depositories. The editor,

of necessity, had to be selective in the publication of documents

and it seemed desirable to select those dealing chiefly with ad-

ministrative matters. As a general rule papers which had been

published were omitted from the work unless they were defectively

printed or printed in editions now inaccessible. This is true with

reference to excluding materials embodying territorial laws, which

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frequently became part of the national archives, and were printed

as such. Papers relating to Indian affairs were largely excluded

because they were too numerous and because Indian relations

generally transcended territorial boundaries. In the case of the

Northwest Territory, however, where Indian relations were

coterminous with the Territory, and where one man was, at the

same time governor and Indian agent, the two functions were so

closely united that exclusion was not feasible. A relatively large

number of documents on Indian affairs are included especially for

the early years of the Territory and the years 1790-1796. These

papers also served the editor as vehicles for carrying citations to

collateral and subsidiary sources. The military phase has received

similar treatment with papers included which are illustrative of

campaigns closely impinging on the civil administration.

Reference citations to materials which have been omitted,

because of previous printing, are appended to the corresponding

documents. The originals of many letters found in various de-

positories were used by Carter, rather than relying on copies

which often exist in the federal archives.

The territories are treated as units and the papers pertaining

to them have been arranged chronologically. Papers of a general

or miscellaneous nature will be published later in Volume I which

will contain, in addition to the materials in the present preliminary

edition, a general bibliography. Volume I now contains a chron-

ological list of territories and a list of territorial officials, 1789-

1872. Volumes II and III relate to the Northwest Territory and

"occupy much more space than do certain of its contemporaries,"

which volumes will immediately follow.

The textual incompetence of certain early editions which have

contained papers bearing on the Territory made it necessary for

Carter to republish relevant documents such as the Ordinance of

1787, the Treaties of Greenville, Fort Harmar, etc. Another rea-

son for the sizeableness of the edition for the Northwest Territory

is the publication, for the first time, of the "Journal of the Ex-

ecutive Proceedings in the Territory Northwest of the River

Ohio," which comprises 272 pages of Volume III. The original,

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BOOK REVIEWS                     303

 

long believed to have been lost, and now in the possession of the

Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society, was presented

by Mr. John H. James, of Urbana, Ohio, in 1931.

Volume II contains correspondence and other papers, passing

between the governor and secretaries, respectively, of the Terri-

tory and the President of the United States, the secretaries of state,

treasury, and war, the attorney general, and the postmaster gen-

eral and radiating from these principal lines are selected papers of

lesser officials such as judges, registers of land, and petitions or

an occasional statute. Since the editor intended to print the

entire "Journal" of the Territory in Volume III, he found it

desirable to include in Volume II, a large number of papers which

embody relevant and fundamental documents essential to an un-

derstanding of the "Journal." It is not his intention to print

similar papers for other territories to the same extent, but the

experimental character of the Northwest Territory reflected in a

number of laws enacted by Congress embodying principles which

contributed to the future territorial and public-land policies of

the Government, required the inclusion of large portions of the

correspondence and other papers of the Northwest Territory.

Approximately five per cent of the papers in these volumes

had been previously printed although about one-half of the St.

Clair letters, which were edited by William Henry Smith, have

been included due to the incompetence of the earlier edition and

to make the present one more complete. A cursory study of the

number of documents reproduced here may lead the reader to

believe that there are many important documents and letters

omitted but the editor's policy was to exclude those which have

been published through state or semi-private agencies which

often embody a whole or a part of a series. Carter has included

citations to documents which he has omitted and which appear

in such publications.

There are three kinds of annotations: cross references, de-

signed along with an adequate index, to facilitate the use of

documents; references to the location of papers referred to but

not incorporated in the text; and brief identifications of less

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obscure persons and places. Interpretations of the text are seldom

offered, "though an explanation of a document is occasionally

submitted, as in the case of the Ordinance of 1787, which, it is

believed, has heretofore rarely been correctly printed."

Volumes II and III contain five parts: papers relating to the

foundation of the Northwest Territory, 1781-1787; to the period

of the first stage, 1787-1791; to the period, 1792-1798; the second

stage, 1799-1802; and the "Journal" of the Territory, 1788-1803.

It will be of interest to those who concern themselves with

the problem of the date of Ohio's admission as a state to read in

Volume III, 535, note 17, that by an act of Congress approved

February 21, 1806 (2 Stat. 350), the Treasury of the United

States was directed to pay the salaries of the governor, secretary,

and judges of the Territory from November 29, 1802, to the first

Tuesday of March, 1803.                        W. D. O.

 

The Laws of Indiana Territory, 1809-1816. Edited by Louis B.

Ewbank and Dorothy L. Riker, with an introduction by Paul

V. McNutt. Indiana Historical Collections, XX. (Indiana-

polis, 1934. 923p.)

In 1925 the Illinois Historical Society published the Laws of

the Northwest Territory, 1788-1800, with an introduction by

Theodore C. Pease, and (in 1930) the same Society published

The Laws of Indiana Territory, 1801-1809, with an introduction

by Francis S. Philbrick. To these two volumes is now added

the Laws of Indiana Territory, 1809-1816, which completes the

modern reprinting of the laws enacted by the territorial govern-

ments which maintained jurisdiction over the area comprising the

present state of Indiana or of which it was a part.

By presenting this volume and others of a similar nature in

the Indiana Historical Collections, Indiana is setting a good ex-

ample for Ohio, which has had too few of its historic documents

published. The volumes of territorial laws mentioned above,

together with the Territorial Papers, edited by Clarence Edwin

Carter and published by the United States Department of State,

will be a boon to students of the early history of Indiana.

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BOOK REVIEWS                     305

The editors of this volume have reprinted the laws of the

General Assembly of Indiana Territory during the period from

March 1, 1809, the date of the separation of the western part

of the territory and its creation into Illinois Territory, to August

5, 1816, when members of the first General Assembly of the

State of Indiana were elected, as prescribed by the Constitution

adopted on June 29 of that year. The session laws were reprinted

from original editions found in the Indiana State Library, sup-

plemented by those in the private collection of John H. Rauch,

and by the collection in the Supreme Court Library. No effort

was made to duplicate the original fonts of type used in these

early editions but they have been carefully edited.

The editors have prefaced the 725 pages of laws with a

"review of legislation" in Indiana, embracing eighty-five pages

with adequate notes and references.  Private acts ("any act

containing a charter of incorporation, or any act, the object of

which is local and confined to any particular person or per-

sons . . .") which were passed by the territorial assemblies,

1810-1814, constitute Appendix I. Memorials and joint resolu-

tions, 1809-1815, are to be found in Appendix II, and a roster of

territorial officers, delegates to Congress, circuit judges, mem-

bers of the general assemblies, and county officials, 1800-1816,

constitutes Appendix III. There is an index.

In accordance with the regulations under which the Histor-

ical Bureau of Indiana operates their publications are available

outside the state only at a stated price. The price which has

been fixed for this volume is $3.00 for copies printed on sulphide

paper and $4.50 for copies printed on rag paper, cloth bound.

W. D. O.

Early Architects and Builders of Indiana. By Lee Burns. Indiana

Historical Society Publications, Vol. XI, no. 3. (Indian-

apolis, Indiana, Indiana Historical Society, 1935. [³⁶p.],

illus. $.50.)

Lee Burns has traced the architectural history of Indiana

from its log cabin beginnings to the period of the Civil War.

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At first there were no architects. For houses and buildings of

any pretentions, builders depended on plans from works on archi-

tecture, such as The Builder's Companion, by William Pain

(London, 1762), The Builder's Jewel, by Batty Langley (1740),

and Civil Architecture, by Edward Shaw (Boston, 1840). The

skill and art of these early builders is well illustrated by White

Hall, built at Vincennes in 1811, and in the Ewbank House, built

in Dearborn County in 1829, as well as in many old homes

throughout the state, a few of which are described and shown

pictorially in this slender volume.

Architects of note began to make their way in the 1830's,

and among these pioneer architects who have produced commend-

able work, are John Elder who made the plans for the Hospital

for the Insane in 1846; Joseph Curzon, who planned and built

the Second Presbyterian Church of Indianapolis in 1864, and

Francis Costigan who planned and built the Institute for the Blind

in 1852.

This monograph is a fine contribution to an often neglected

aspect of the history of a community.

C. L. W.

 

Crusader and Feminist: Letters of Jane Grey Swisshelm, 1858-

1865. Edited with introduction and notes by Arthur J. Lar-

sen. Minnesota Historical Society Publications: Narratives

and Documents, II. (Saint Paul, Minnesota Historical So-

ciety. 1934. 327p. illus.)

A thirty-two page introduction briefly outlines the active life

of the very much alive Jane Grey Swisshelm and serves as a

backdrop on which is focused a panoramic view of personages,

places and events, presented through the medium of the entirely

readable newspaper letters of Mrs. Swisshelm which make up

the larger portion of the volume. The historical value of these

letters is considerable as their author attained fame in the pro-

fessional world at a time when few women ventured out of their

homes, and the field of her activities brought her in contact with

the burning questions of the day. Newspaper editor in Pennsyl-

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vania and later in Minnesota, inspired lecturer, government clerk

in the war office at Washington, nurse in the Civil War, she was

a fire-brand crusader against slavery, a determined champion for

the rights of her sex and a proficient reporter of the colorful and

significant events of her time.

C. L. W.

 

Arms Fabricators, Ancient and Modern; a Compilation . . .

[By] Robert Edward Gardner. (Columbus, Ohio, The F. J.

Heer Printing Co., 1934. 337p. $6.50.)

This compilation, a labor of love by a collector of arms who

lives in Columbus, Ohio, contains the "names and dates of gun-

smiths, bladesmiths, armourers, bowyers and cannoniers offered

with such pertinent data upon their lives and activities as is dis-

coverable together with three hundred sixty-eight identified poin-

cons," arranged alphabetically under country or section of the

world. In other words this book is of great value to arms col-

lectors and museum curators.

There is an excellent bibliography.

C. L. W.

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