Early Capitals of the Midwest

Like the colonial east, the new western territories state capitals were also mobile.  In Ohio the first permanent settlement was the first seat of civil government in the Northwest Ordinance of 1787.  The capital was Marietta where 47 men of General Rufus Putnam came up the Ohio on the "Ohio Mayflower" on April 7, 1788.  The first general assembly on September 16, 1799, with 5000 free male inhabitants of full age, met in Cincinnati.  Congress fixed the Ohio territory's capital at Chillicothe where the second session met on November 3, 1800.  The assembly voted to move the government from Chillicothe Bank back to Cincinnati in 1801.  Then, under the new State Constitution of 1802, the capital was again to be at Chillicothe.  (confused yet?)  We are not done!

 

In 1810 an act required that the capital be relocated at some place…"not more than 40 miles from…the common center of the state, to be ascertained by Mansfield's map thereof."  Many towns, and many uninhabited villages were proposed and considered.  In 1812 it was decided to remove the capital to the east "High Bank" of the Scioto River, opposite Franklinton, on the site of a FUTURE town to be named Columbus. 

 

Not to be out done, Indiana had a migratory capital as well. Vincennes was the oldest town and was the territorial capital from 1800-1813, but a demand for a more central location caused the removal to a place now forgotten,  Corydon at the constitutional convention of 1816.  Corydon, possessed a grand new hotel only a mile from the capital that was said to be "built for the ages" with solid stone walls 18 inches thick. The perfect place for a state capital they said!   By 1825 Corydon's days of glory had already passed.  That year the capital was moved to Indianapolis, which at the time was only five years old.  There it remains...

 

Illinois Territory, organized in 1809, began with the capital city of Kaskaskia, but moved the capital to Vandalia in 1820.  With the permission of Abraham Lincoln, it was moved again to Springfield in 1837.  There it remains...

 

A similar story could be told of most of the Western states.  American viewed their governments functionally and when one headquarters no longer served, or another could serve better, they were just simply moved.

 

More Traveling Next time…

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Today in Pioneer History: "On August 20, 1804, Sargent Charles Floyd died three months into the journey of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, becoming the only member of the Corps of Discovery to die during the journey.  Floyd was a young military volunteer from Kentucky and died from illness that he contracted while on the journey.  He is buried on the bluffs over looking the river named in his honor, the Floyd River. "

Northwest Territory's First Governor

The Northwest Territory's first delegate to Congress was the son of one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence and from one of Virginia's most prominent families.  William Henry Harrison had been in the army as an aide to Anthony Wayne during the Fallen Timbers battle (see previous post about that battle).  Harrison was serving as Secretary for the Territory and Lieutenant Governor when elected to Congress.

William Henry Harrison was only twenty-six years of age, but his first victory in 1800 was to divide the Northwest Territory into two distinct governments.  The east side was Ohio and the west side was Indiana.  Harrison was made governor of Indiana and resided in Vincennes.  In 1802 Ohio would become the first state from the Northwest Territory.

Meanwhile, the white population was growing rapidly.  By 1810 Indiana had grown from a mere 2,500 people to 25,000.  In this new rush of pioneers, the rights of Indians were barely considered.  The great hunting grounds of deer, bear and buffalo had been laid waste by civilization by 1810.  The Congress had done little to uphold the law to protect natives and their property.  There were laws meant to prevent the sale of liquor to the Indian, but the courts only uphold them outside the boundaries of the state and the territory.

For the most part, the Northwest Territory ignored laws concerning Indians.  In a report, Harrison, known for his distaste for the native race, wrote that only 600 warriors were found on the Wabash and they consumed 6000 gallons of whiskey a year.  The effect was drunken brawls so often that the killing of natives by natives was no longer considered a crime.

Harrison made treaties with remnants of the Miami and Delaware (and smaller tribes) in the early 1800s which he viewed as "a body of the most depraved wretches on earth."  In 1809 Harrison acquired in the Treaty of Fort Wayne, 3 million acres up the Wabash.  This territory, more rich in game than any region south of Lake Michigan, was one more crisis for the natives in the long-brewing conflict with the white man.

Harrison as governor of the white settlers, would be put to the test by one young warrior arising from the Indian tribes...

Next time. Tecumseh calls for union
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Today in Pioneer History:  "On April 2, 1670, the Hudson Bay Company is chartered by King Charles II.  A permanent charter to a group of French explorers that opened the North American fur trade to London merchants, the charter conferred not only a trading monopoly but also control of the Hudson River and surrounding areas.

British and Indian Trouble

Britain was considered a threat to the whole nation at this time, in particular the western territories.  Britain was fighting Napoleon and had shut off her ports to tobacco, cotton, salt pork, and grain.  The agricultural west was in deep economic trouble.

Rumors persisted that British officials in Canada were arming Indians of the Northwest Territory,
encouraging them to stop land cessions and attack the settlers so Britain would retain the fur trade of the Great Lakes region.

By 1806 Shawnee chief Tecumseh was roaming the frontier from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico, urging tribes to form a great coalition to resist US demands and establish a sovereign Indian state in the yet unsettled upper Mississippi Valley.  He would fight or negotiate whichever was needed.

Next time...Tecumseh - Great Warrior and Indian Statesman
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Today in Pioneer History: On February 11. 1807, Sacagawea, the Shoshone Indian interpreter and guide to the Lewis and Clark expedition, gives birth to her first child, Jean Baptiste Charbonneau.

Drifitng to War

Aside from Burr and Robinson's schemes, the West had other problems.  Ohio had entered the Union in 1803   Along with representatives from Kentucky and Tennessee, there was a vocal presence in Congress for the Northwest Territories.  Young Henry Clay from Kentucky lead the race for internal improvements at federal expense, protection from the Indians, and territorial expansion.  Talk of war was everywhere in the west.

Along with the southern frontier -- Tennessee and the Mississippi/Alabama territory - the enemy was Spain.  Spain's hold on the Gulf Coast was a threat to prosperity of inland farmers whose direct access to the sea was in jeopardy. 

September 1810 - the Americans struck, overrunning Baton Rouge, forming their own government and applied to the US for annexation.  President James Monroe annexed western Florida, citing it was part of the Louisiana Purchase.  (Not really!)  All of eastern Florida and much of the Gulf Coast remained in Spain's hands. 

Next time - British Trouble...
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Today in Pioneer History:  On February 8, 1887, President Grover Cleveland signs an act to end tribal control of reservations and divide their land into individual holdings.  The Dawes Severalty Act reversed the long-standing American policy of allowing Indian tribes to maintain their traditional practice of communal use and control of their lands. Instead, the Dawes Act gave the president the power to divide Indian reservations into individual, privately owned plots.