Page:History of Richland County, Ohio.djvu/101

 HISTORY OF OHIO.

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��he advised them not to do, but one of thirty-three (Ephraim Cutler, of Washington County) voted with the Grovernor."

On one point only were the proposed boundaries of the new State altered.

" To every person who has attended to this sub- ject, and who has consulted the maps of the West- ern country extant at the time the ordinance of 1787 was passed, Lake Michigan was believed to be, and was represented by all the maps of that day as being, very far north of the position which it has since been ascertained to occupy. I have seen the map in the Department of State which was before the committee of Congress who framed and reported the ordinance for the government of the Territory. On that map, the southern bound- ary of Michigan was represented as being above the forty-second degree of north latitude. And there was a pencil line, said to have been made by the committee, passing through the southern bend of the lake to the Canada line, which struck the strait not far below the town of Detroit. The line was manifestly intended by the committee and by Congress to be the northern boundary of our State; and, on the principles by which courts of chancery construe contracts, accompanied by plats, it would seem that the map, and the line referred to, should be conclusive evidence of our boundary, without reference to the real position of the lakes.

" When the convention sat, in 1802, the under- derstanding was, that the old maps were nearly correct, and that the line, as defined in the ordi- nance, would terminate at some point on the strait above the Maumee Bay. While the convention was in session, a man who had hunted many years on Lake Michigan, and was well acquainted with its position, happened to be in Chillicothe, and, in conversation with one of the members, told him that the lake extended much farther south than was generally supposed, and that a map of the country which he had seen, placed its southern bend many miles north of its true position. This information excited some uneasiness, and induced the conveaMon to modify the clause describing the north boundary of the new St&te, so as to guard against its being depressed below the most north- ern cape of the Maumee Bay."*

With this change and some extension of the school and road donations, the convention agreed to the proposal of Congress, and, November 29,

��■Historical Transactions of Ohio. — Judge Burnett.

��their agreement was ratified and signed, as was also the constitution of the State of Ohio — so named from its river, called by the Shawanees Ohio, meaning beautiful — forming its southern bound- ary. Of this nothing need be said, save that it bore the marks of true democratic feeling — of full faith in the people. By them, however, it was never examined. It stood firm until 1852, when it was superseded by the present one, made neces- sary by the advance of time.

The Greneral Assembly was required to meet at Chillicothe, the first Tuesday of March, 1803. ^his change left the territory northwest of the Ohio River, not included in the new State, in the Territories of Indiana and Michigan. Subse- quently, in 1809, Indiana was made a State, and confined to her present limits. Illinois was made a Territory then, including Wisconsin. In 1818, it became a State, and Wisconsin a Territory at- tached to Michigan. This latter was made a State in 1837, and Wisconsin a separate Territory, which, in 1847, was made a State. Minnesota was made a Territory the same year, and a State in 1857, and the five contemplated States of the territory were complete.

Preceding pages have shown how the territory north of the Ohio River was peopled by the French and English, and how it came under the rule of the American people. The war of the Revolution closed in 1783, and left all America in the hands of a new nation. That nation brought a change. Before the war, various attempts had been made by residents in New England to people the country west of the Alleghanies. Land com- panies were formed, principal among which were the Ohio Company, and the company of which John Cleves Symmes was the agent and chief owner. Large tracts of land on the Scioto and on the Ohio were entered. The Ohio Company were the first to make a settlement. It was or- ganized in the autumn of 1787, November 27. They made arrangements for a party of forty-seven men to set out for the West under the supervision of Gen. Rufus Putnam, Superintendent of the Com- pany. Early in the winter they advanced to the Youghiogheny River, and there built a strong boat, which they named "Mayflower." It was built by Capt. Jonathan Devol, the first ship-builder in the West, and, when completed, was placed under his command. The boat was launched April 2, 1788, and the band of pioneers, like the Pilgrim Fathers, began their voyage. The 7th of the month, they arrived at the mouth of the Muskingum,

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