Clark County, Ohio

History and Genealogy



Ordinance of 1787


From 20th Century History of Springfield and Clark County, Ohio by Hon. William A. Rockel
Chicago: Biographical Publishing Co., 1908


The Ordinance of 1787 establishing this northwest territory has been credited as being one of the greatest state papers.

Lord Chatham, in the British Parliament said that "for solidity of reason, force of sagacity and wisdom of conclusion under a complication of difficult circumstances, no nation or body of men stand in preference to the general Congress of Philadelphia."

Daniel Webster said: "We are accustomed to praise the law givers of antiquity, we hope to perpetuate the fame of Solon and Lycurgus. but I doubt whether one single law of any law giver, ancient or modern, has produced effects of more distinct, marked and lasting character than the Ordinance of 1787. We see its consequences at this moment and we shall never cease to see them, perhaps, while the Ohio shall flow." This ordinance provided that the territory northwest of the Ohio River was to be divided into not less than three nor more than five states. While making ample provision for securing to the inhabitants the right to worship according to the dictates of their conscience, and preserve to them the liberty of person guaranteed by the writ of habeas corpus, and the right of property and person determined by trial by jury, and recognizing the necessity of schools and education, the most important provision was that in relation to slavery. The part that the United States played in the final eradication of that iniquitous institution can hardly be determined. This provision was in Article Six of the ordinance and was as follows: "There was to be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in the said territory, otherwise than for the punishment of crimes whereof the party shall have been duly convicted." It was further provided—probably as a balm to soothe the injured feelings of some slave holder—"That any person escaping from the same from whom labor or service is lawfully claimed in any one of the original states, such fugitive shall be lawfully reclaimed and be brought back to the person claiming his or her labor as aforesaid."

To whom credit should be given for this provision upon the great question of slavery the following from Bancroft may be read with interest:

"Thomas Jefferson first summoned Congress to prohibit slavery in all the territory of the United States: Rufus King lifted up the measure when it lay almost lifeless on the ground, and suggested the immediate instead of the prospective prohibition: a Congress composed of five Southern States to one from New England and two from the Middle States, headed by William Grayson, supported by Richard Henry Lee, and using Nathan Dane as scribe, carried the measure to the goal in the amended form in which King had caused it to be referred to a committee; and as Jefferson had proposed, placed it under the sanction of an irrevocable compact."

If the slave holder had realized the full consequences of this prohibition of slavery clause in the Ordinance of 1787, the opposition would have been more strenuous than it was, but he did not realize then what a great power the northwest would exercise in the future history of our country. Having the guarantees of property and person secured by this great ordinance, the settlement of the northwest began in earnest and continued with rapidity.







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