the extreme dissatisfaction which the people of the Territory felt with the present government, a dissatisfaction which was sure to increase with the increase of population. It would be a violation of the rights of the people to refuse admission to the Union, because the people were in every way entitled to it. Despite the earnest opposition of the governor's party, Congress voted in favor of calling a

convention.

When the boundaries of the proposed State were considered, the question was debated whether Congress had the right to divide the Territory in such a way that part of the Territory, set off from the rest, should remain a Territory, while the rest was made into a State. It was primarily a question of the interpretation of the Ordinance, but there was serious opposition to cutting off Wayne County because the whole of Lake Erie would be thrown out of the State so formed. Objection was made to attaching this northern section, to Indiana because of the long distance which the people of the district would be compelled to travel in order to reach the seat of government. It was not fair to put these people back into the first grade of Territorial government after they had reached the second. Especially would this degradation be humiliating to the people after there had been held out to them the expectation that they were to be admitted to the Union as a State.

It was claimed in opposition that if this district in the north should be admitted as a part of the proposed State, it would have a share in forming the constitution, but in a little while it would also be made into a State with its own constitution. If admitted as a part of Ohio, its people would in reality assist in forming the constitution of a State in which they had little temporary concern and no permanent interest.

There was a difference of opinion over the recommendation of the Congressional committee that one-tenth of the proceeds of the sale of western lands be used for road making, because that money had already been appropriated for the payment of the public debt, and because it was only

a local affair which would benefit Pennsylvania and Virginia. Others took the larger view of the advisability of connecting east and west, and that the expenditure would for this reason be for the benefit of the whole country.

The opposition to the report of the select committee was without effect and a bill embodying its recommendations was put upon its passage. When the bill was brought up for debate, April 7, 1802, Fearing tried again to get it amended so that it would include the people of the eastern division. Those who supported the amendment held that under the articles of the Ordinance, Congress had the right of forming the eastern division into States, but no right to make a State of one part and leave the rest on a Territorial basis, and that the rights of all the inhabitants of the eastern division were equal.

In opposition to this position it was claimed that Congress had the right under the compact to form the Territory into one, two, or three States, and that this right involved a discretion to deduct a part of that division at one time, and another part at a subsequent period. Fearing's amendment was lost.

By an act of Congress. April 30, 1802, a convention of the eastern section of the Territory was authorized to meet in November to decide whether it was best to establish a State government. The first Enabling Act passed by Congress was the model for many successive ones. Under it the people in the Territory were allowed to form a constitution and State government, and to give the new State any name they might think proper.

In this act the boundaries of the proposed State were given. It was to include the land bounded on the east by the Pennsylvania line, south by Ohio River to the mouth of the Great Miami, north from that point to Lake Erie or the territorial line, and thence through the Lake to the point of starting on the Pennsylvania line. It was provided that the land north of this new State and formerly included in the Territory should be made a part of Indiana Territory,

subject to the disposal of Congress. The legal voters of the district thus bounded were directed to choose representatives to form a convention made up of representatives of the different counties in the proportion of one representative to twelve hundred inhabitants. These delegates were to meet at Chillicothe on the first Monday in November, 1802, to decide by a majority vote whether it was expedient to form a State constitution and government at that time. If thought best, the convention could form such a government and constitution, or provide for the election of representatives to do it; but the constitution and government must not be repugnant to the Ordinance of 1787. Until the next general census the State was to have one representative in the House of Representatives.

The following propositions were offered, which, if accepted, should be obligatory on the United States:

First. "That section number sixteen in each township or other lands equivalent thereto shall be granted to the township for the use of schools."

Secondly. "That the six mile reservation, including the Salt Springs near the Muskingum River and in the military tract, with the section of land which includes the same, shall be granted to the said State for the use of the people thereof, the same to be used under such terms and conditions and regulations as the legislature of the said State shall direct; Provided, the said legislature shall never sell nor lease the same for a longer period than ten years."

Thirdly. "That one-twentieth of the net proceeds of the lands lying within the State sold by Congress after June thirtieth next, shall be used for laying out and making public roads, leading from the navigable waters emptying into the Atlantic, to the Ohio, to the said state, and through the same."

These propositions were made to the State "on the conditions that the Convention of the State shall provide, by an ordinance, irrevocable without the consent of the United States, that every and each tract of land sold by Congress,