Page:History of Richland County, Ohio.djvu/73

 HISTORY OF OHIO.

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��the adventurous settlers were pouring into the country at a rapid rate, only retarded by the rifle and scalping-knife of the savage — a temporary check. The policy of allowing any parties to obtain land from the Indians was strongly discouraged by Washington. He advocated the idea that only the General Government could do that, and, in a letter to James Duane, in Congress, he strongly urged such a course, and pointed out the danger of a border war, unless some such measure was stringently followed.

Under the circumstances, Congress pressed the claims of cession upon Virginia, and finally in- duced the Dominion to modify the terms proposed two years before. On the 20th of December, 1783, Virginia accepted the proposal of Congress, and authorized her delegates to make a deed to the United States of all her right in the territory northwest of the Ohio.

The Old Dominion stipulated in her deed of cession, that the territory should be divided into States, to be admitted into the Union as any other State, and to bear a proportionate share in the maintenance of that Union; that Virginia should be re-imbursed for the expense incurred in subduing the British posts in the territory; that the French and Canadian inhabitants should be protected in their rights ; that the grant to Gen. George Rogers Clarke and his men, as well as all other similar grants, should be confirmed, and that the lands should be considered as the common property of the United States, the proceeds to be applied to the use of the whole country. Congress accepted these condi- tions, and the deed was made March 1, 1784. Thus the country came from under the dominion of Virginia, and became common property.

A serious difficulty arose about this time, that threatened for awhile to involve England and America anew in war. Virginia and several other States refused to abide by that part of the treaty relating to the payment of debts, especially so, when the British carried away quite a number of negroes claimed by the Americans. This re- fusal on the part of the Old Dominion and her abettors, caused the English to retain her North- western outposts, Detroit, Mackinaw, etc. She held these till 1786, when the questions were finally settled, and then readily abandoned them.

The return of peace greatly augmented emigra- tion to the West, especially to Kentucky. When the war closed, the population of that county (the three counties having been made one judicial dis- trict, and Danville designated as the seat of gov-

��ernment) was estimated to be about twelve thousand. In one year, after the close of the war, it increased to 30,000, and steps for a State government were taken. Owing to the divided sentiment among its citizens, its perplexing qviestions of land titles and proprietary rights, nine conventions were held before a definite course of action could be reached. This prolonged the time till 1792, when, in De- cember of that year, the election for persons to form a State constitution was held, and the vexed and complicated questions settled. In 1783, the first wagons bearing merchandise came across the mountains. Their contents were received on flat- boats at Pittsburgh, and taken down the Ohio to Louisville, which that spring boasted of a store, opened by Daniel Broadhead. The next year, James Wilkinson opened one at Lexington.

Pittsburgh was now the principal town in the West. It occupied the same position regarding the outposts that Omaha has done for several years to Nebraska. The town of Pittsburgh was laid out immediately after the war of 1764, by Col. Campbell. It then consisted of four squares about the fort, and received its name from that citadel. The treaty with the Six Nations in 1768, con- veyed to the proprietaries of Pennsylvania all the lands of the Alleghany below Kittanniug, and all the country south of the Ohio, within the limits of Penns charter. This deed of cession was recog- nized when the line between Pennsylvania and Virginia was fixed, and gave the post to the Key- stone State. In accordance with this deed, the manor of Pittsburgh was withdrawn from market in 1769, and was held as the property of the Penn family. When Washington visited it in 1770, it seems to have declined in consequence of the afore-mentioned act. He mentions it as a "town of about twenty log houses, on the Monongahela, about three hundred yards fi-om the fort." The Penn's remained true to the King, and hence all their land that had not been surveyed and returned to the land office, was confiscated by the common- wealth. Pittsburgh, having been surveyed, was still left to them. In the spring of 1784, Tench Francis, the agent of the Penns, was induced to lay out the manor into lots and offer them for sale. Though, for many years, the place was rather un- promising, it eventually became the chief town in' that part of the West, a position it yet holds. In 1786, John Scull and Joseph Hall started the Pittsburgh Gazette^ the first paper published west of the mountains. In the initial number, appeared a lengthy article from the pen of H. H. Brackenridge,

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