- For the Canadian territory, see Northwest Territories. For the northwestern
corner of the Lower 48, see Northwestern United States. For other related
terms, see Northwest.
The Northwest Territory, also known as the Old Northwest and the Territory North West of the Ohio, was a
governmental region within the early United States. The Northwest Ordinance, passed by the Continental
Congress on July 13, 1787, provided for the administration
of the territories and set rules for admission as a state. On August 7, 1789, the new U.S. Congress affirmed the Ordinance with slight
modifications under the Constitution. The territory included all the land of
the United States west of Pennsylvania and northwest of the Ohio River. It covered all of the modern states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and
Wisconsin, as well as the northeastern part of Minnesota.
The area covered more than 260,000 square miles (673,000 km²).
History
European exploration of the region began with French Canadian
voyageurs in the seventeenth century, followed by French missionaries and French fur traders. French Canadian explorer
Jean Nicolet was the first recorded entry into the region in 1634, landing at the site of
Green Bay, Wisconsin, today (although Etienne Brule is stated by some sources as having explored Lake Superior and possibly
inland Wisconsin in 1622). The French exercised control from widely separated posts throughout the region they claimed as
Nouvelle France, or New France. France ceded the territory to the Kingdom of
Britain in the Treaty of Paris (1763), which ended the French and Indian Wars.
However, facing armed opposition by Native Americans, the British issued the Proclamation of 1763 which prohibited white
settlement west of the Appalachian Mountains in an attempt to appease the Native
Americans. But this action angered American colonists interested in expansion and was a contributing factor to the
American Revolution.
Britain ceded the area north of the Ohio River and west of the Appalachians to the United States at the end of the
American Revolutionary War with the Treaty of Paris (1783), but the British continued to maintain a presence in the region as late as
1815, the end of the War of 1812.

Several states (Virginia, Massachusetts,
New York, and Connecticut) then had competing claims on
the territory. Other states, such as Maryland, refused to ratify the Articles of Confederation so long as these states were allowed to keep their western
territory, fearing that those states could continue to grow and tip the balance of power in their favor under the proposed system
of federal government. As a concession in order to obtain ratification, these states ceded their claims on the territory to the
U.S. government: New York in 1780, Virginia in 1784, Massachusetts and Connecticut in 1785. So the majority of the territory
became public land owned by the U.S. government. Virginia and Connecticut reserved the land of two areas to use as compensation
to military veterans: The Virginia Military District and the Connecticut Western Reserve. In this way, the United States included territory and people
outside any of the states.
The Land Ordinance of 1785 established a standardized system for surveying the
land into saleable lots, although Ohio had already been partially surveyed several times using different methods, resulting in a
patchwork of land surveys in Ohio. Some older French communities' property claims based on earlier systems of long, narrow lots
also were retained. The rest of the Northwest Territory was divided into roughly uniform square townships and sections, which
facilitated land sales and development.
Difficulties with Native American tribes and with British trading outposts presented continuing obstacles for American
expansion until military campaigns of General "Mad" Anthony Wayne against the Native
Americans culminated with victory at the Battle of Fallen Timbers in 1794 and
the Treaty of Greenville of 1795. Jay's Treaty, in 1794, temporarily helped to
smooth relations with British traders in the region, where British citizens outnumbered American citizens throughout the 1780s.
Ongoing disputes with the British over the region was a contributing factor to the War of 1812. Britain irrevocably ceded claim
to the Northwest Territory with the Treaty of Ghent in 1814.
When the territory was created, it was inhabited by about 45,000 Native Americans and 4,000 traders, mostly French and British
-- although both groups included the metis, a sizeable group descended from Native women married to European or Canadian traders
who established a unique culture that ruled the Upper Midwest for more than a century[citation needed] before American settlement
officially began at Marietta, Ohio, on April 7,
1788. The first governor of the Northwest Territory, Arthur St.
Clair, formally established the government on July 15, 1788, at Marietta. His original plan called for the organization of five initial counties: Washington (Ohio east of the Scioto River),
Hamilton (Ohio between the Scioto and the Miami Rivers), Knox (Indiana and eastern Illinois),
St. Clair (Illinois and Wisconsin), and Wayne (Michigan).
On July 4, 1800, in preparation for Ohio's statehood, the
Indiana Territory was carved out, reducing the Northwest Territory to the size of
Ohio, to prepare for statehood. The Northwest Territory went out of existence when Ohio was admitted as a state on
March 1, 1803.
Law and government
-
At first, the territory had a modified form of martial law. The governor was also the senior army officer within the territory, and he combined legislative and executive authority. But a supreme court was established, and he shared legislative powers with the court. County governments were organized as soon as the population was sufficient, and these assumed local administrative and judicial functions. Washington County was
the first of these, at Marietta in 1788; William Stacy was honored with the position of
Foreman of the first Grand Jury in the Northwest Territory.[1][2] This was an important event, as this court was the first establishment of civil and
criminal law in the pioneer country. Hamilton County at Cincinnati followed in 1790.
These areas later became part of Ohio.
As soon as the number of settlers exceeded 5,000, the Territorial Legislature was to be
created, and this happened in 1798. The full mechanisms of government were put in place, as
outlined in the Northwest Ordinance. A bicameral
legislature consisted of a House of Representatives and a
Council. The first House had 22 representatives, two elected by each county. The House then
nominated 10 citizens to be Council members. The nominations were sent to the U.S. Congress, which appointed five of them as the
Council. This assembly became the legislature of the Territory, although the governor retained veto
power.
Article VI of the Articles of Compact within the Northwest Ordinance prohibited the owning of slaves within the Northwest Territory. However, territorial governments evaded this law by
use of indenture laws[1]. The Articles of Compact prohibited legal discrimination on the basis of religion within the
territory.
The township formula created by Thomas
Jefferson was first implemented in the Northwest Territory through the Land
Ordinance of 1785. The square surveys of the Northwest Territory would become a hallmark of the Midwest, as sections,
townships, counties (and states) were laid out scientifically, and land was sold quickly and efficiently (although not without
some speculative aberrations).
Leadership
Arthur St. Clair was the Territory's only governor. The original supreme court was made up of John Cleves Symmes, James Mitchell Varnum, and
Samuel Holden Parsons. There were three secretaries: Winthrop Sargent (July 9, 1788-May 31, 1798); William Henry Harrison (June 29, 1798-December 31, 1799); and Charles Willing
Byrd (January 1, 1800- January
15, 1803).
In 1798, the territory became eligible to send a non-voting delegate to the U.S. Congress. The Assembly elected this representative. Representatives
were:
- Further information: United States
congressional delegations from Northwest Territory
See also
References
- ^ Hildreth, S. P.: Pioneer History: Being an
Account of the First Examinations of the Ohio Valley, and the Early Settlement of the Northwest Territory, H. W. Derby and
Co., Cincinnati, Ohio (1848) p. 233.
- ^ Lemonds, Leo L.: Col. William Stacy –
Revolutionary War Hero, Cornhusker Press, Hastings, Nebraska (1993) pp. 39-40.
External links
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