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Show The "Mother Land" of Five States Celebrates Her 150th Birthday 15 y ELMO SCOTT WATSON AID Daniel Webster in a speech before the United rpZ States senate in 18:50: "We are accustomed to OS praise the law-divers of antiquity; we help to yvJ perpetuate the fame of Solon and Lycurgus; but n I doubt whether one single law of any law-giver, V ancient or modern, has produced effects of a Vjj more distinct and marked and lasting character than this one." He was not speaking of any of the great documents which are commonly regarded as milestones in the progress of mankind toward an orderly government of its affairs. Instead, In-stead, he was referring to the Ordinance of 1787, passed by the Continental Congress just 150 years ago and often re- The ordinance established' the Northwest Territory out of which later were to be carved five new states and this month their citizens are celebrating the one hundred and fiftieth birthday of the "Mother Land" of those five states with pageantry and pilgrimages pil-grimages to historical spots in the "Old Northwest." During Dur-ing the celebration will be heard once more the names of Americans who played important im-portant roles in establishing this "Mother Land" such names as Thomas Jefferson, Rufus King, Arthur St. Clair, Charles Thomson and, last but by no means least, that "forgotten man," Nathan Dane. You never heard of Nathan Dane? Well, you're not much different dif-ferent from other Americans in that respect. For you will search your school histories in vain for mention of his name. All tell of the Ordinance of 1787, of course, but concerning the man who drafted draft-ed it, they are strangely silent. So, before proceeding with the story of the birthday party of the "Mother Land of Five States," it seems appropriate to tell about the man who made this possible. Nathan Dane was born at Ipswich, Ips-wich, Mass., on December 29, 1752. He was the descendant of one of three brothers who were among the first settlers of Gloucester, Glou-cester, Andover and Ipswich and the son of a well-to-do farmer who sired five other sons and six daughters. A Harvard Graduate. Young Dane worked on his father's fa-ther's farm until after he had come of age, then, having pre- pared himself for college in eight months, he entered Harvard. He was graduated in 1778 with a high reputation for industry and scholarship. schol-arship. Next he began teaching school at Beverly, Mass., and while doing so studied law in the office of Judge Wetmore of Salem. In 1782 he hung out his shingle in Beverly and soon became prominent promi-nent in his community as an able and skillful pleader. Elected as a representative to the general court of Massachusetts, Massachu-setts, he distinguished himself by his ability in debate, his knowledge knowl-edge of public business and the uprightness and directness of his views. So it was only a question of time before his state selected him to represent it in the Continental Conti-nental Congress which was then struggling with post-Revolution problems. First chosen in 1785, Dane was re-elected in 1786 and again in 1787 and served on many important committees. Chief among his services was his drafting draft-ing an ordinance for the government govern-ment of the territory northwest of the Ohio river. In 1790 Dane retired from the national arena to become a member mem-ber of the Massachusetts senate to which he was re-elected in 1794, in 1796, and again in 1797 and 1798 and he then retired temporarily tempo-rarily from public service to devote de-vote his time to his law practice. But the year 1811 found him again active in public life with an appointment to revise and publish charters that had been granted in his native state and the next year he was delegated to make a publication publi-cation of its statutes. He was a Presidential elector in 1812, a member of the historic Hartford convention in 1814. Founder of Harvard Law School. During all these years of public service Dane had been active in other matters. He gave $15,000 to found the Harvard law school. Even if his role ns "Father of the Ordinance of 1787" had not been enough to guarantee his fame, his founding the school, out of which have come so many distinguished lawyers and public officials, would have done that. His long and useful career came to an end with his death in Beverly, Mass., on February 15, 1835. To understand fully the importance impor-tance of the document which won such a tribute from the lips of Daniel Webster, it is necessary to recall the conditions which existed exist-ed in America at the close of the Revolution. Although all the states had ratified the Articles of Confederation by 1781 and by these Articles had been formed in what purported to be " a firm league of friendship between the states," this was little more than an idle phrase. The Continental Congress, which provided what little central authority there was, could pass legislation but It had no power to enforce its decrees. While composed of representatives representa-tives from all the states, as a body it was heartily disliked by most of them. Any attempt which it made to regulate the disordered affairs in any one state was certain to be met with fierce opposition of that state's provincial-minded citizenry. citi-zenry. In an era of depreciated currency, cur-rency, financial distress and commercial com-mercial disorder, each state sought tc gain an advantage over its neighbors and increase its commerce at their expense. Western Land Disputes. But most fruitful of the causes for dispute were the conflicting claims to western lands. Even before the end of the Revolution there had been such quarrels. Six of the states New Hampshire, Rhode Island, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Penn-sylvania, Delaware and Maryland Mary-land with their boundaries strictly strict-ly defined, could set up no valid claims to it. But the other seven asserted their sovereignty to lands stretching west to the Mississippi. South of the Ohio there was little ground for dispute. Each state might take possession of the territory ter-ritory lying directly to the west. But north of the river was a land not only rich in soil but also rich in cause for dissension. Massachusetts Massa-chusetts and Connecticut based their titles to it on their old charters char-ters and each claimed a strip extending ex-tending through the Old Northwest. North-west. New York, curiously enough, based her claims upon the activities activi-ties of those who had been the deadliest enemies of her citizens during the late conflict the Iroquois Iro-quois Indians. These fierce warriors warri-ors were accustomed to send their scalping parties far into the West and to force other tribes to acknowledge ac-knowledge the sovereignty of the Six Nations. Because of her Marietta, Ohio, i treaties with the Iroquois, New York now claimed ownership over most of the Northwest. Her chief rival was Virginia who based her title, first, on her early charter which described her dominion as running up into the land "west and northwest" and, second, on the conquest of this country by that intrepid Virginian, George Rogers Clark. Some of the six states, which were hemmed in by definite boundaries, bound-aries, had hesitated to sign the Articles of Confederation because they feared the increased influence influ-ence of those who had a great potential po-tential dominion beyond the mountains. moun-tains. Maryland especially had refused to sign until she received definite assurance that the western west-ern country would become the common property of the United States. In 1780 New York authorized author-ized her representatives to cede her entire claim to the western . fir lm'f:fcT vt'i -y Land claims of the thirteen :4::-H'''''mm ORIGINAL STATES la 1783 V V V A ' '" :-i lxS.H , h M k w Ik krffa ! W-aliiV , ! '.' 'J '' ' J '. V.' ol Al!ghny Mouataiiu od nonh M 1 if .1 1 .'M1.' .'' o( th Ohio hivr, balonqmg to lh S.X "hjjrj&t - -SP Nbonj, of loqwju ladmni lands to the federal union and a short time later Virginia did the same. The other four states soon followed their lead, and this action ac-tion had the happy result of giving the various commonwealths in the Confederation a common interest in a common property. It thus formed a strong bond of union when such ties were badly needed, if the new nation were to survive. Government Needed. In accepting these cessions, Congress declared that these lands should bp settled and "formed into distinct republican states which shall become members mem-bers of the Federal Union." So the next step was to devise a form of government for this territory, looking forward to the time when the new commonwealths would be knocking at the door of statehood. state-hood. In 1783 Congress appointed two committees to report upon the important im-portant questions of land sales and government in the Northwest Territory. Thomas Jefferson, who had returned to congress after serving as governor of Virginia for two years, was made chairman chair-man of both committees. The one on government made its report on March 1, 1784, the very day that the Virginia cession ces-sion was finally accepted. Although Al-though the report was adopted, it was never put into operation. The delay was dae mainly to the fact that government could not be established in this territory terri-tory until there were enough settlers set-tlers to justify such action. A land policy which would encourage encour-age settlement was necessary. This was supplied by the other committee, headed by Jefferson, which drafted a Land Ordinance, adopted in 1785 and immediately put into effect. It has been described de-scribed as "one of the great pieces of American legislation." Having provided for land sales, Congress made another effort to draft a satisfactory ordinance for the government of the Northwest. The stimulus for this activity -was provided by a fellow-townsman of Nathan Dane's Rev. Manasseh Cutler of Ipswich, who had served as a chaplain during the Revolution and who came to New York as agent for the Ohio Company Com-pany of Associates to bargain with Congress for western lands. A Bargain in Land. The established price for land was one dollar an acre but, since the company wished to purchase a million acres, Cutler demanded wholesale rates of two-thirds the usual price. Furthermore, he asked the privilege of paying at least a part of the purchase price n the Early Days. in Revolutionary war certificates of indebtedness. Since most of these were worth about 12M cents on the dollar, the Reverend Manasseh Ma-nasseh got a bargain for his company com-pany indeed eight or nine cents an acre! Meanwhile a committee of which Dane was a member was working on an ordinance for government gov-ernment of the Northwest. In 1785 Rufus King of Massachusetts had introduced a resolution that "there should be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in the states described in the resolution of Congress in April, 1784, otherwise other-wise than in the punishment of crime, whereof the party shall have been personally guilty; that this regulation shall be made an article of compact, and remain a fundamental principle of the constitution con-stitution between the original states and each of the states named in the said resolve." This resolution was never acted upon, but when Dane drew up his ordinance, he included in it the resolution of his Bay State colleague. col-league. He added to it a provision pro-vision for the surrender of fugitive fugi-tive slaves, as a concession to gain support for the measure from Southern delegates. Except for this, sound doctrines of civil liberty were contained in the ordinance. ordi-nance. No person was to be molested mo-lested on account of his mode of worship or religious sentiments. Each citizen was entitled to trial by jury and the right to invoke the writ of habeas corpus. Still another clause declared "That religion, morality and knowledge being necessary to good government govern-ment and the happiness of mankind, man-kind, schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged." en-couraged." As for the form of government the first officials were to be a governor, a secretary and three judges appointed by congress. As the population increased, the people were to be allowed representation rep-resentation in the national government. gov-ernment. Not less than three nor more than five states were to be formed from the territory and admitted to "a share in the Federal Fed-eral councils" and to remain forever for-ever "a part of this Confederacy of the United States of America." The ordinance was passed on July 13, 1787, and signed by Gen. Arthur St. Clair, president of the Congress, and Charles Thomson, the secretary, who, eleven years earlier, had signed the first draft of another famous document, the Declaration of Independence. "The Ordinance of 1787 was passed by the dying congress of the Confederation," says one historian. his-torian. "Its trials and its failures had been many, but the honor of this act rests with it." And another an-other observes: "The importance of the Ordinance of 1787 was hardly overstated by Webster in his famous debate with Hayne." Settlers Pour In. Through the efforts of Manasseh Manas-seh Cutler, who had found it politic to cease advocating the appointment of his own candidate for the post, General St. Clair was made governor of the newly-organized newly-organized Northwest Territory. But even before he could arrive on the scene of his future labors, thousands of settlers were pouring pour-ing into the Old Northwest. They came afoot and on horseback horse-back and by covered wagon over roads that were little better than dim trails through the wilderness. They floated down the Ohio by flatboat in the first half of the year 1787 nearly 150 of these boats bearing more than 3,000 people had passed Fort Harmar, which had been built at the mouth of Muskingum to protect the surveyors sur-veyors and the daring Kentuck-ians Kentuck-ians who had ventured across the river to take up tomahawk claims in the Indian country. In 1788 the migration had grown to a flood nearly 1,000 boats and more than 18,000 people. Among them were the colonists who, led by Gen. Rufus Putnam of Massachusetts, established the first important settlement north of the Ohio Marietta, named for Marie Antoinette, queen of France. And it is in the modern mod-ern city of Marietta that one of the most important celebrations of the "Mother Land's" birthday will be held. There on July 13 will be enacted a pageant depicting depict-ing the memorable scene in the Continental Congress on the same date 150 years ago when the Ordinance Ordi-nance of 1787 was passed. And on December 3 of this year an ox-drawn covered wagon caravan car-avan will leave Ipswich, Mass., for Marietta which it will reach on April 7 of next year, the 150th anniversary of the arrival of General Gen-eral Putnam and his colonists there. Then it will start a trek through the states of Ohio, Indiana, Indi-ana, Illinois, Wisconsin and Michigan, presenting at various places in each state the same pageant that is being given at Marietta this month. For these states of today are the "children" of the "Mother Land" of 150 years ago the Northwest Territory which came into being through the Ordinance of 1787. Western Newspaper Union. |
