Page:Journal of the Sixth Legislative Council of the Territory of Michigan.djvu/150

138 Maumee Bay, presents considerations of a different nature. The possession of this tract of country, and the jurisdiction over it are in this territory, and all the acts of the general government, in relation to the subject, from the ordinance of Congress of July 13,1787, are uniformly favorable to the establishment of the existing boundary. Ohio seeks a change upon principles which may be as well met now as hereafter; and as the matter has been recently submitted by the Governor of that State to the consideration of the legislature, it is probable that some legislative measures may be adopted, having in view an examination of the question, and a decision favorble to the claim they have advanced. In this state of things, I suggest the propriety of a memorial being presented to Congress, which shall state distinctly the rights of this territory, and the sentiments and feelings of its inhabitants upon the subject. Unless I am greatly deceived in my views, a succinct statement of our claim is all that is necessary to insure its confirmation.

I lay before you copies of two letters, written in 1820, by Mr. Woodbridge, then acting Governor and Secretary of this territory, one addressed to the Governor of Ohio, and the other to the Secretary of State of the United States. These letters contain a very able exposition of our case, and appear to me, as well in the course of the discussion, as in the conclusions they draw, to be unanswerable. As the subject, however, is very important to the future interests of the territory, I may be excused for presenting a brief summary of the view which I have taken of it.

It is not necessary, at present, to enter into a consideration of the question, whether under the original Ordinance, Congress could change the fundamental line, running east and west from the southern extreme of Lake Michigan: it will be time for us to contest this point, when that change is made. We may yet safely rely upon the legislative acts of the government, which originally established the boundary line between this territory and the State of Ohio, and have since recognized and confirmed it.

By the act of Congress of April 30, 1802, authorizing the people of the eastern division of the north-western territory to form a constitution and state government, it was provided, that the northern boundary of the proposed state should be a line, running due eaSt from the southern extreme of Lake Michigan, after intersecting a line gunning north from the mouth of the great Miami: and all the country north of that line was, for the purposes of temporary government, attached to the territory of Indiana. The convention of Ohio, in defining the boundaries of the state, followed the words of the act of Congress; and then added the following proviso: "Provided, always, and it is hereby fully understood and declared by this convention, that if the southerly bend or extreme of Lake Michigan should extend so far south, that a line drawn due east from it should