THE FIRST SESSION OF THE SECOND TERRITORIAL GENERAL ASSEMBLY.

(Convened at Chillicothe on Monday, the twenty-third day of November, 1801, being the day appointed by proclamation of Governor St. Clair.)

MEMBERSHIP.

R

THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL (SENate).

OBERT OLIVER, who appeared on the twenty-third, and on the twenty-fourth, to find no other member in attendance.

David Vance, who appeared on the twenty-fifth, with his colleague, Mr. Jacob Burnet.

Solomon Sibley, from Detroit, in the County of Wayne (now Michigan), presented his commission to succeeed Mr. Vanderburgh (see notes of previous year) and was sworn and seated.

THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.

Chobert, Francoise Joncaire, of Wayne County (now Detroit,
Michigan).

Cutler, Ephraim, of Washington County.

Darlington, Joseph, of Adams County.

Dunlavy, Francis, of Hamilton County.

Kimberly, Zenas, of Jefferson County.

Langham, Elias, of Ross County (Seated November 26).

Ludlow, John, of Hamilton County.

Massie, Nathaniel, of Adams County.

McCune, Thomas of Jefferson County.

McDougal, George, of Wayne County (Detroit).

Miller, Moses, of Hamilton County.

Milligan, John, of Jefferson County.

Morrow, Jeremiah, of Hamilton County.

Paine, Edward, of Trumbull County..

Putnam, William Rufus, of Washington County.

Reeder, Daniel, of Hamilton County.

Schiefflein, Jonathan, of Wayne County (Detroit).

Smith, John, of Hamilton County.

Tiffin, Edward, of Ross County.

White, Jacob, of Hamilton County.

(Seated December 1.)

The First Session of the Second Territorial General Assembly.

The House organized on the twenty-fourth of November by the election of the following officers: Edward Tiffin, Speaker; John Reilly, Clerk.

The seats of Messrs. Scheifflin and McDougall, of Wayne County, were contested, but they were declared to be entitled to their seats.

The finances of the Territory were in such condition that the governor, who had been reappointed during the adjournment of the assembly, in his address at a joint session of the two houses called to be held in "Mr. Gregg's Hall" for the purpose said: "The Territory is in debt in the sum of $5,419 beyond the whole revenue for the present year. A new emission of bills (of credit) must be made, even to meet the expenses of the present session. A wretched expedient, it is true, because the bills suffer a depreciation in the hands they pass through, and the public pays the full interest.'

During this session of the General Assembly, a bill was passed transferring the seat of government to Cincinnati, from which city it had been removed by a provision in the territorial act of 1800, and as an expression of feeling on the part of the local inhabitants, a number of the members of the legislature, and also the governor, were set upon in Chillicothe on the twenty-fifth and twenty-sixth of December. The matter was made a subject for official investigation.

At 12 o'clock noon, on January twenty-third, the Council attended the chamber of the House of Representatives in a body, where the joint assembly was addressed by Governor St. Clair, and adjourned by him to meet in second session in Cincinnati on the fourth Monday of the following November (1802). It should be noted here that this proposed second session of the second and last territorial legislature was never held. The reason is given in the following interesting extract from the memoirs of a member of the Council speaking of the first constitutional convention:

"As the territorial legislature was in existence, and stood adjourned, to meet at Cincinnati on the fourth Monday in November, three weeks after the opening of the convention, a resolution was passed, directing their president to request the governor to dissolve or prorogue that body. Such a precaution was altogether unnecessary, as no disposition existed among the members, either to embarrass, or in any way interfere with the movements of the convention. That such a disposition did not exist was verified by the fact that the day for the meeting of the legislature came and passed; the members remaining at home as by common consent. No attempt was made by the governor, or by any of the members, to convene that body, till its existence was terminated, and it was succeeded by the General Assembly, under the State Constitution." (Notes on the Northwestern Territory, 1847, by Judge Jacob Burnett, a member of the Territorial Council.)

The First Session of the Second Territorial General Assembly.

ACTS OF THE FIRST SESSION OF THE SECOND TERRITORIAL LEGISLATURE.

(1801-2.)

I. An act allowing and regulating writs of attachment. January 18, 1802.

2. An act regulating executions. January 19, 1802.

3. An act regulating the fees of civil officers and for other purposes. January 23, 1802.

4. An act levying a tax on land for the year 1802 and for other purposes. January 23, 1802.

5. An act requiring public officers to give bond in certain cases. January 19, 1802.

6. An act providing for the execution of real contracts in certain cases. January 4, 1802.

7. An act for the partition of real estate. December 23, 1801.

8. An act providing for the inspection of certain articles of exportation therein enumerated. January 9, 1802.

9. An act to encourage the killing of wolves and panthers. January 9, 1802.

10.

An act for the assignment of bail bonds. January 22, 1802. II. An act to remove the seat of government and fix the same at Cincinnati, in the County of Hamilton. January 1, 1802.

12. An act to amend the act entitled "An act establishing and regulating the militia." January 22, 1802.

13. An act to ascertain the boundaries of certain counties. January 23, 1802.

14. An act for the distribution of insolvent estates. January 13, 1802.

15. An act to amend the act entitled "An act for opening and regulating public roads and highways." Janaury 20, 1802.

16. An act providing for the appointment of guardians to lunatics and others. January 4, 1802.

17. An act concerning testimony. January 13, 1802.

18. An act declaring the assent of the Territory to an alteration in the ordinance for the government thereof. December 21, 1802. (There was a vigorous protest against the passage of this act, from its opponents in the assembly).

19. An act providing for the acknowledgment and recording of deeds in certain cases. January 20, 1802.

20. An act providing for the encouragement of the breed of horses. January 20, 1802.

21. An act to establish and regulate township meetings. January

The First Session of the Second Territorial General Assembly.

22. An act altering the times of holding certain courts in the County of Ross. January 9, 1802.

23. An act appropriating one thousand dollars of the tax levied in Trumbull County to open a road to the south. January 13, 1802.

24. An act providing for the recovery of money secured by mortgage. January 20, 1802.

25. An act allowing compensation to the assembly and to the treas urer and auditor of the territory. January 1, 1802.

26. An act establishing the "American Western University" at Athens (now the Ohio University). January 9, 1802.

27. An act to postpone the sale of land for taxes in the counties of Trumbull, Jefferson and Wayne. December 12, 1801.

28. An act authorizing the town of Marietta to preserve the banks of the rivers in said town. December 23, 1801.

29. An act repealing that part of a former act which allowed the judges of the General Court two dollars per day. January 20, 1802.

30. An act appointing trustees for the town of Manchester, Adams County. January 1, 1802.

31. An act fixing the compensation for attorneys commissioned to practice in the Counties of Washington and Trumbull. January 20, 1802. 32. An act defining and regulating the duties of the Secretary of the territory. January 1, 1802.

33. An act to incorporate the town of Chillicothe. January 4, 1802. An act to incorporate the town of Cincinnati. January 1, 1802. 35. An act to incorporate the town of Detroit. January 18, 1802. 36. An act authorizing Zacheus Biggs and Zacheus A. Beatty to erect a bridge over Will's creek. (On the road leading from Chillicothe to Wheeling in Washington County.) January 9, 1802.

37. An act authorizing Jonathan Zane and others to erect a toll bridge over the Muskingum river (near the mouth of Licking creek). January 23, 1802.

38. An act for the relief of Sally Mills. (Divorce.) December 19, 1802.

39. An act for the relief of Jean Wilson. (Divorce.) January 9, 1802.

40. An act making appropriations. January 23, 1802.

The salaries of the governor and territorial judges were paid by the general government until the adoption of the Constitution of Ohio, but the other expenses of the local government were paid by the Territory. This bill appropriates the sum of twelve thousand dollars for what is called a contingent fund, and then provides for its disbursement in detail. Some of the items are interesting as conveying information as to the nature and amount of the territorial expenses a hundred years ago.

The governor is allowed fifty dollars for postage "upon letters of a public nature."

The First Session of the Second Territorial General Assembly.

The treasurer is allowed ten dollars for stationery for his office and fifty dollars for the purchase of "an iron chest for the territory."

The private secretary to the governor is allowed three dollars per day for time actually employed, but is not allowed more than thirty days' pay in the year. The legislature is allowed a total sum of eight thousand five hundred dollars. From the general fund, the following allowances were ordered:

To Arthur St. Clair, Jr., attorney-general, a salary of $400.

To the auditor of public accounts, a salary of $750.

To the auditor of public accounts, postage for two years, $75.41.

To auditor of public accounts, extra clerk hire, $95.

To the territorial treasurer, a salary of $400.

To Daniel McAllister, fire-wood, $26.

To William Rutledge, repairs two houses, $4.

To James Phillips, three dozen chairs for the legislature, $72.

For repairs to court house for reception of legislature, etc., $16.10.

RESOLUTIONS.

1. Requesting the governor to appoint a day of Thanksgiving. December 5, 1801.

2. Appointing two trustees to fill certain vacancies. December 5. 3. Directing the auditor to sell the furniture provided for the present and last session of the legislature. January 23, 1802.

4. Extending the election laws to Clermont, Fairfield and Belmont Counties and to such counties as may hereafter be laid out. January 23, 1802.

5. Directing the disposition of reports on the Cincinnati and Marietta public road. January 23, 1802.

6. Directing certain laws to be reprinted in the appendix to the volume of laws for this session.

The above acts and resolutions were attested by Edward Tiffin, Speaker of the House of Representatives; Robert Oliver, President of the Council; and were approved on the dates above given by Arthur St. Clair, Governor of the Northwest Territory.

The volume from which the above abstract was made was printed by N. Willis, Chillicothe, 1802, and is in possession of the Supreme oCurt Library, Columbus.