The Ohio State Archaeological And Historical Quarterly PDF Download

This historic book may have numerous typos, missing text or index. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. 1888. Not illustrated. Excerpt: ... OHIO Archaeological and Historical QUARTERLY. MARCH, 1888. LEGISLATION IN THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY. April 2, 1788, a band of forty-eight pioneers left the mouth of the Youghiogheny in the "Mayflower of the West." Floating out into the Monongahela, they emerged on the broad bosom of the Ohio, and began an easier journey down that beautiful river to their chosen homes in the valley below. Five days after, they landed on the bank of the Muskingum river, at its confluence with the Ohio, and the first settlement of the Americans in the Northwest territory began. On the opposite side of the Muskingum river stood Fort Hannar, erected two years before, now garrisoned by a detachment of United States soldiers. The pioneers not only found protection from the Indians near at hand, but enjoyed the society of frontiersmen somewhat accustomed to backwoods life. This company of settlers was composed almost entirely of an excellent class of men, determined upon founding homes for their families, and in a measure retrieving their fortunes lost in the war for independence. They recognized the necessity of some form of government until the proper officers should arrive, and hence organized themselves into a body politic, adopted a code of laws, and chose Return Jonathan Meigs to administer them. History is silent as to whose hand wrote these laws, but they must have been brief and directly to the point. Mr. Meigs published them by nailing them to a tree where all could see and read them. As an evidence of the character of the settlers, it is known that but one difference arose, and that was satisfactorily settled by a compromise. Six months before the establishment of the colony -- October 5, 1787 -- the Congress of the old Federation appointed Arthur St. Clair Governor, and Winthr...