only to the Indian right of occupancy, and that the exclusive power to extinguish that right was vested in that government which might constitutionally exercise it.

66 *

* The United States, then, have unequivocally acceded to the great and broad rule by which its civilized inhabitants now hold this country. They hold and assert in themselves the title by which it was acquired. They maintain, as all others have maintained, that discovery gave an exclusive right to extinguish the Indian title of occupancy, either by purchase or by conquest, and gave also a right to such a degree of sovereignty as the circumstances of the people would allow them to exercise.

"The power now possessed by the Government of the United States to grant lands, resided, while we were colonies, in the Crown of its grantees. The validity of the titles given by either has never been questioned in our courts. It has been exercised uniformly over territory in possession of the Indians. The existence of this power must negative the existence of any right which may conflict with or control it. An absolute title to lands. cannot exist at the same time in different persons or in different governments. An absolute must be an exclusive title, or at least a title which excludes all others not compatible with it. All our institutions recognize the absolute title of the Crown, subject only to the Indian right of occupancy, and recognize the absolute title of the Crown to extinguish that right. This is incompatible with an absolute and complete title in the In dians. * However extravagant the pretension of converting the discovery of an inhabited country into conquest may appear, if the principle has been asserted in the first instance and afterward sustained; if a country has been acquired and held under it, if property of the great mass originates in it, it becomes the law of the land and cannot be questioned. So, too, with respect to the concomitant principle that the Indian inhabitants are to be considered merely as occupants, to be protected, indeed, while in peace, in the possession of their lands, but to be deemed incapable of transferring the absolute title to others. However this restriction may be opposed to natural rights and to the usages of civilized nations, yet, if it be indis

pensable to that system under which the country has been settled, and be adapted to the actual condition of the two people, it may, perhaps, be supported by reason, and certainly cannot be rejected by courts of justice."

One of the most difficult of the many public questions before the Congress of the Confederation was the possesssion of the public lands which Virginia and other states owned. It was. manifest that these undivided states could not retain possession and ownership of these vast public estates. The patriotism of Virginia was not wanting in this emergency. On the 20th of December, 1783, her legislature passed an act authorizing the Virginia delegates in Congress to convey to the United States all the rights of that commonwealth to the territory northwest of the Ohio River. By virtue of this authority, the deed of ces-sion of Virginia to the United States of her enormous possessions. north of the Ohio River which she had inherited from the Crown of England, was executed in Congress March 1, 1784. The lands she ceded lie now in the States of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin.

Thus by the Virginia cession the land now known as Ohio was in 1784 an expanse of unsettled and unorganized territory..

The State of Connecticut had also certain claims upon lands within what is now Ohio. This claim was founded upon the ambiguous and indefinite language of the original charter. Nevertheless, Connecticut continued to claim the land west of New York as within the limits of this charter. On the second Thurs-day in May, 1786, the Governor, Council and representatives in General Court of Connecticut, authorized their delegates in Con-gress to execute a deed of cession on behalf of Connecticut to all the land claimed by that State lying within what is now Ohio,. excepting therefrom what was commonly called the Western Reserve of Connecticut. Accordingly September 13, 1786, the State of Connecticut executed her deed of cession to the United States, reserving, however, to her own jurisdiction the Western Reserve. This she deeded to the United States by Jonathan Trumbull, Governor, May 30, 1800.

Thus the land lying within Ohio became the property of the United States, a part of her public domain unclaimed by any

other authority or state. The pathway was now clear for progress, settlement and civilization.

The ordinance of 1787 — “the most notable law ever enacted by representatives of the American people" became a law July

It provided for the organization of a government for the territory northwest of the Ohio River.

For the government of the new territory Congress in October, 1787, appointed the following officers: Governor, General Arthur St. Clair; Secretary, Winthrop Sargent; Judges, Samuel Holden Parsons, James Mitchell Varnum and John Armstrong. The latter declined to serve and John Cleves Symmes was appointed to fill the vacancy.

The territory of the Northwest was divided into two governments by an act of Congress approved May 7, 1800. By this act the dividing line was drawn from the mouth of the Kentucky River to Fort Recovery and from thence northward to the territorial line. The portion west of this line was by that act erected into Indiana Territory. The eastern part was still known as the Territory Northwest of the Ohio River, and constituted the area afterward organized into the State of Ohio. This I modification of boundary and division of the territory was afterward (December 21, 1801) assented to by the territorial legislature. The census of the territory showing 60,000 inhabitants, according to the ordinance of 1787, it was ripe for statehood. On March 4, 1802, there was submitted to the House of Representatives an extensive report on the application of sundry citizens in the Territory of the Northwest asking for admission to the Union. The report was favorable to statehood, and accordingly Congress, on April 30, 1802, passed an enabling act "to enable the people of the eastern division of the territory northwest of the River Ohio to form a constitution and state government, and for the admission of such state into the Union on an equal footing with the original states, and for other purposes.' This act provided that the new state should be constructed out of territory bounded on the east by Pennslyvania, south by the Ohio River, west by the meridian of the mouth of the Great Miami River, and north by the international bound

ary line, and a line from thence east and west to the extreme southern point of Lake Michigan.

The first constitutional convention of Ohio was begun and held at the town of Chillicothe, Ross county, on November 1, 1802. The convention adjourned November 29, 1802. The constitution there framed was never submitted to the people of Ohio, but was adopted by the convention and went into effect.

at once.

On December 4, 1802, Edward Tiffin, the president of the late convention, addressed a note to the speaker of the House of Representatives of the United States, enclosing an address. to the President and both houses of Congress of the United. States, announcing that the constitutional convention had taken the necessary measures to enable the people of the Northwest Territory to merge from their colonial government and assumea rank among the sister states.

The question of the public lands within the State of Ohio was an important one and was much discussed in Congress. The chairman of the committee to whom was referred the constitution submitted by the State of Ohio was the Hon. John Randolph of Virginia. Albert Gallatin, Secretary of the Treasury, furnished a very elaborate report to Mr. Randolph concerning the public lands, their distribution and value within the State of Ohio. And on February 2, 1803, Hon. John Randolph, chairman of the committee referred to, communicated to the House of Representatives an elaborate report on the admission of Ohio to the Union, suggesting several conditions as well as modifications. relating to the control of the public lands within the state.

On the 19th of February, 1803, Congress passed the act recognizing the State of Ohio and providing for the due execution of the laws of the United States within her borders.