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114-579: The Treaty of Greenville , also known to Americans as the Treaty with the Wyandots, etc. , but formally titled A treaty of peace between the United States of America, and the tribes of Indians called the Wyandots, Delawares, Shawanees, Ottawas, Chippewas, Pattawatimas, Miamis, Eel Rivers, Weas, Kickapoos, Piankeshaws, and Kaskaskias was a 1795 treaty between the United States and indigenous nations of

228-608: A standardized system for surveying the land into saleable lots, although Ohio was 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. The ordinance also stipulated that

342-563: A US army by Native Americans in history. About 623 American soldiers were killed in action, and about 50 Native Americans were killed. Although an investigation exonerated him, St. Clair resigned his army commission in March 1792 at the request of President Washington, but continued to serve as Governor of the Northwest Territory. After St. Clair's defeat, In June 1792, President Washington tapped revolutionary war hero Major General "Mad" Anthony Wayne to avenge St. Clair and assert sovereignty over

456-764: A disgruntled Tecumseh, who had not signed the Treaty of Greenville, to reform the Confederacy at Prophetstown over the following decade. Unrest among the tribes culminated in the Battle of Tippecanoe in 1811, a major defeat for indigenous nations that may have contributed to their siding with the British in the War of 1812 . The Treaty of Greenville closed the frontier in the Northwest Territory . Thereafter began

570-667: A few with thousands of settlers, chiefly along the Ohio and Miami Rivers and the south shore of Lake Erie in Ohio. Conflicts between settlers and Native American inhabitants of the Territory resulted in the Northwest Indian War culminating in General "Mad" Anthony Wayne 's victory at Battle of Fallen Timbers in 1794. The subsequent Treaty of Greenville in 1795 opened the way for settlement particularly in southern and western Ohio. The Northwest Territory included all

684-486: A fumigating reviver. Vaccinium myrtilloides is part of their traditional cuisine, and is eaten fresh, dried, and canned. They also use the root bark of the plant for an unspecified ailment. The Potawatomi first lived in Lower Michigan, then moved to northern Wisconsin and eventually settled into northern Indiana and central Illinois. In the early 19th century, major portions of Potawatomi lands were seized by

798-586: A large Native American state that would cover most of the Old Northwest. It would be independent of the United States and allied with the British, who would use it to block American westward expansion and to build up their control of the North American fur trade headquartered in Montreal. A new colony, named Charlotina , was proposed for establishment in the southern Great Lakes region before

912-462: A major general. He led a punitive expedition involving two Regular Army regiments and some militia. In October 1791 as an advance post for his campaign, Fort Jefferson (Ohio) , was built under his direction. Located in present-day Darke County in far western Ohio, the fort was built of wood and intended primarily as a supply depot; accordingly, it was originally named Fort Deposit. One month later, near modern-day Fort Recovery , his force advanced to

1026-600: A part of Indiana Territory starting in 1800) began in 1801, through the Cincinnati land office. After the Revolutionary War ended, Rufus Putnam (the "Father of Ohio") and Manasseh Cutler were instrumental in creating the Northwest Ordinance , which opened up the Northwest Territory for settlement. This land was used to serve as compensation for what was owed to Revolutionary War veterans. It

1140-553: A population, excluding Native Americans, of over 45,000, and Indiana Territory, a population of about 5,600. By the time of Ohio statehood, there were as many as 50 named towns in Northwest and Indiana Territories, a few, like Vincennes, with thousands of settlers, and dozens of unnamed settlements below the Treaty Line in Ohio. Following settlement of the frontier, the great wave of colonial immigration flowed westward, founding

1254-653: A series of purchases of indigenous peoples' lands by treaty and Indigenous tribe removals by law throughout the territory and its successors, interrupted briefly by the War of 1812. Indians were moved west of the Mississippi River to Indian Country reservations in what later became the state of Oklahoma in a process that culminated with the dismantling of the Great Miami Reserve in Indiana by treaties in

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1368-460: A sliver of land called "The Gore" in what is today southeastern Indiana remaining as part of the Northwest Territory. "The Gore" was ceded to Indiana Territory at that time, and became Dearborn County in March 1803. Meriwether Lewis and William Henry Harrison were both present at the treaty signing. The former would go on to launch the Lewis and Clark Expedition with William Clark in 1804, and

1482-408: A wedge-shaped area of present-day Indiana in the southeast known as "the gore". It, along with everything east of the new territory, remained part of the Northwest Territory. This legislation was signed into law by President John Adams on May 7, 1800, and became effective on July 4. On April 30, 1802, Congress passed an enabling act for Ohio that authorized the residents of the eastern portion of

1596-621: Is Bodéwadmi (without syncope: Bodéwademi ; plural: Bodéwadmik ), a cognate of the Ojibwe form. Their name means "those who tend the hearth-fire," which refers to the hearth of the Council of Three Fires . The word comes from "to tend the hearth-fire," which is bodewadm (without syncope: bodewadem ) in the Potawatomi language ; the Ojibwe and Ottawa forms are boodawaadam and boodwaadam , respectively. Alternatively,

1710-613: Is a Central Algonquian language and is spoken around the Great Lakes in Michigan and Wisconsin. It is also spoken by Potawatomi in Kansas , Oklahoma, and in southern Ontario . As of 2001, there were fewer than 1,300 people who speak Potawatomi as a first language, most of them elderly. The people are working to revitalize the language , as evidenced by recent efforts such as the online Potawatomi language Dictionary created by

1824-767: Is the largest painting in the Ohio Statehouse. 40°06′28″N 84°37′54″W  /  40.1078°N 84.6316°W  / 40.1078; -84.6316 Northwest Territory The Northwest Territory , also known as the Old Northwest and formally known as the Territory Northwest of the River Ohio , was formed from unorganized western territory of the United States after the American Revolution . Established in 1787 by

1938-533: The American Revolutionary War , provisions in the Articles of Confederation , and various treaties preceding the Northwest Indian War including Treaty of Fort Stanwix (1784) and Treaty of Fort McIntosh (1785). The treaty process extended well beyond the War and existence of the Territory as a political entity. European exploration of the region began with French-Canadian voyageurs in

2052-721: The American Revolutionary War . Congress passed the Proclamation of 1783 , which recognized Native American rights to the land. A council held in 1785 at Fort Detroit declared that the confederacy would deal jointly with the United States, forbade individual tribes from dealing directly with the United States, and declared the Ohio River as the boundary between their lands and those of the American settlers. The Northwest Territory's first governor, Arthur St. Clair , sought to end Native American claims to Ohio land and thus clear

2166-441: 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 to obtain ratification, these states ceded their claims on the territory to the federal government: New York in 1780, Virginia in 1784, and Massachusetts and Connecticut in 1785. So

2280-700: The Battle of Fallen Timbers in August 1794, and subsequent scorched earth tactics, General Wayne had courted the favor of several key leaders within the Western Confederacy . Wayne brought food supplies, and material for crops and promised to continue delivering new supplies. Blue Jacket , the Shawnee war chief who had led the Native American force at Fallen Timbers, encouraged others to accept Wayne's offered terms for peace. Tarhe declared that

2394-729: The Beaver Wars they fled to the area around Green Bay to escape attacks by both the Iroquois and the Neutral Confederacy , who were seeking expanded hunting grounds. It is estimated that the Potawatomi numbered around 3,000 in 1658,. As an important part of Tecumseh 's Confederacy, Potawatomi warriors took part in Tecumseh's War and the War of 1812 . Their alliances switched repeatedly between United Kingdom and

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2508-771: The Citizen Potawatomi Nation or the various resources available through the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians . The Potawatomi language is most similar to the Odawa language ; it also has borrowed a considerable amount of vocabulary from Sauk . Like the Odawa language, or the Ottawa dialect of the Anishinaabe language , the Potawatomi language exhibits a great amount of vowel syncope . Many places in

2622-713: The Congress of the Confederation through the Northwest Ordinance , it was the nation's first post-colonial organized incorporated territory . At the time of its creation, the territory included all the land west of Pennsylvania , northwest of the Ohio River and east of the Mississippi River below the Great Lakes , and what later became known as the Boundary Waters . The region was ceded to

2736-579: The French and Indian War (the North American front of the Seven Years' War ). Pontiac's Rebellion was an attempt by Native Americans to push the British and other European settlers out of their territory. The Potawatomi captured every British frontier garrison but the one at Detroit. The Potawatomi nation continued to grow and expanded westward from Detroit, most notably in the development of

2850-622: The Jay Treaty , between the Americans and the British, and what that would mean on the western frontier, ensuring that Great Britain in northern Canada ( Quebec and Ontario ]), would no longer be providing additional aid, supplies, firearms and ammunition to the Native Americans. Tarhe confirmed that previous treaties had been signed by chiefs who were at Greenville and warned his fellow Indigenous tribal leaders that Wayne had

2964-617: The Northwest Indian War of 1785-1795 in the Ohio Country of the old Northwest Territory (1787-1803), and limited Indian country to remaining lands of northwestern Ohio, and began the practice of annual payments of goods, supplies and food, following the land concessions. The parties to the treaty were a coalition of Native American tribes known as the Western Confederacy , and the United States government represented by new United States Army General Anthony Wayne (1745-1796), and local frontiersmen. The treaty became synonymous with

3078-411: The Northwest Ordinance . A bicameral legislature consisted of a House of Representatives and a Council. The first House had 22 representatives , apportioned by population of 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

3192-537: The Northwest Territory (now Midwestern United States ), including the Wyandot and Delaware peoples , that redefined the boundary between indigenous peoples' lands and territory for European American community settlement. It was signed at Fort Greenville , now Greenville, Ohio , on August 3, 1795, following the Native American loss at the Battle of Fallen Timbers a year earlier in August 1794. It ended

3306-765: The Pacific Ocean and returning. Native Americans leaders who signed the Fort Greenville treaty included leaders of these bands and tribes: Wyandot (chiefs Tarhe , Roundhead , and Leatherlips ), Delaware (several bands including Chief Buckongahelas ). Shawnee (chiefs Blue Jacket and Black Hoof ), Ottawa (several bands, including Egushawa ), Chippewa , Potawatomi (23 signatories, including Gomo , Siggenauk , Black Partridge , Topinabee , and Five Medals ), Miami (including Jean Baptiste Richardville , White Loon , and Little Turtle ), Wea , Kickapoo , and Kaskaskia . Following their defeat at

3420-536: The Treaty of Fort McIntosh , Treaty of Fort Finney , and Treaty of Fort Harmar , but Little Turtle countered that the Miami Tribe were not party to these treaties and would not recognize them, and that they were invalid because they were made with people who had no original right to the lands that they had sold. General Wayne revealed to the chiefs that the U.S. Senate in Washington had recently ratified

3534-574: The United States Senate on December 22, 1795. The treaty consisted of ten articles. The treaty established what became known as the Greenville Treaty Line , as delineated below. For several years, it distinguished Native American territory from lands open to European-American settlers, who, however, continued to encroach. In exchange for goods to the value of $ 20,000 (such as blankets, utensils, and domestic animals),

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3648-657: The Virginia Military District , Symmes Purchase , and two Ohio Company purchases, all in eastern and southern Ohio, as well as the line of western forts built by Wayne through Fort Recovery along the Great Miami River valley. The boundary line would need to encompass all those territories, covering about two thirds of Ohio Country. The treaty line began at the mouth of the Cuyahoga River in present-day Cleveland and ran south along

3762-540: The Wabash River near the present-day boundary between Ohio and Indiana . From Fort Recovery, the line ran south-southwest to the Ohio River at a point opposite the mouth of the Kentucky River in present-day Carrollton, Kentucky . Rufus Putnam , who had been appointed by George Washington as surveyor general of the United States, surveyed and marked the Treaty Line. There were also other forts along

3876-418: The 17th century, followed by French missionaries and French fur traders. French-Canadian explorer Jean Nicolet was the first recorded European entrant into the region, landing in 1634 at the current site of Green Bay, Wisconsin (although Étienne Brûlé is stated by some sources as having explored Lake Superior and possibly inland Wisconsin in 1622). The French exercised control from widely separate posts in

3990-471: The 1830s. By 1840, the Old Northwest was essentially clear of indigenous peoples. Future conflicts would all be west of the Mississippi. The treaty line would become the southwestern boundary of the Northwest Territory at its division in 1800. Upon Ohio statehood in 1803, the western boundary of Ohio ran due north from a place on the Ohio River somewhat east of the south-southwesterly treaty line, leaving

4104-407: The American federal government delegation. Other members included William Wells (c.1770-1812), William Henry Harrison (1773-1841), (future first Governor of Indiana Territory (1801-1812), U.S. Representative (congressman) and later U.S. Senator from Ohio , and ninth President , served March-April 1841), Caleb Swan (1758-1809), William Clark (1770-1838), and Meriwether Lewis (1774-1809) -

4218-528: The Great Lakes, such as Fort Miamis and other forts in Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio that the British had agreed to cede to the United States in the 1783 Treaty of Paris but had yet to evacuate. In Indiana, there was the Vincennes Tract , Clark's Grant , and the settlement at Ouiatenon to protect. The treaty also permitted established US Army posts and allocated strategic reserved tracts within

4332-607: The Indian Country to the north and the west of the ceded lands, the most important of which was the future site of Fort Dearborn (now Downtown Chicago ) on Lake Michigan . Other American lands within Indian Country included Fort Detroit , Ouiatenon , Fort Wayne , Fort Miami , and Fort Sandusky . The treaty exempted established settlements at St. Vincennes, General Clark's grant, various French settlements , and Fort Massac from relinquishment. The United States renounced all claims to indigenous peoples' lands not within

4446-532: The Miami capital of Kekionga. Along the way Wayne's legion built a series of outpost forts including Fort Greene Ville, Fort Recovery and Fort Defiance. Fierce battles occurred around some of these but none of Wayne's forts were ever taken by the Native Americans. In mid 1794, the British constructed Fort Miamis near what is today Toledo, Ohio, to forestall Wayne's putative advance on the British stronghold at Detroit. The final battle of Wayne's campaign occurred within

4560-642: The Mississippi River to Indian Territory - first in Kansas, Nebraska, and last to Oklahoma. Some bands survived in the Great Lakes region and today are federally recognized as tribes, in addition to the Potawatomi in Oklahoma. The English "Potawatomi" is derived from the Ojibwe Boodewaadamii(g) ( syncoped in the Ottawa as Boodewaadmii(g) ). The Potawatomi name for themselves ( autonym )

4674-666: The Mississippi River were the Louisiana Province of New Spain, formerly New France, acquired by the United States in 1803 by the Louisiana Purchase . Lands north of the Great Lakes were part of the British Province of Upper Canada . Lands south of the Ohio River constituted Kentucky County, Virginia , admitted to the union as the state of Kentucky in 1792. The area included more than 300,000 square miles (780,000 km ) and comprised about 1/3 of

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4788-677: The Mississippi River. Often annuities and supplies were reduced, or late in arrival, and the Potawatomi suffered after their relocations. Those in Kansas were later removed to Indian Territory (now Oklahoma ). The removal of the Indiana Potawatomi was documented by a Catholic priest, Benjamin Petit , who accompanied the Indians on the Potawatomi Trail of Death in 1838. Petit died while returning to Indiana in 1839. His diary

4902-472: The Montreal-based fur trade. The prohibition of settlement west of the Appalachians remained, contributing to the American Revolution . In February 1779, George Rogers Clark , leading a force of Virginia militia , captured Kaskaskia and Vincennes from British commander Henry Hamilton . Virginia capitalized on Clark's success by laying claim to the whole of the Old Northwest, calling it Illinois County , Virginia, until 1784, when it ceded its land claims to

5016-448: The Muskingum ). Settlement of these areas was spearheaded by Losantiville and Marietta, respectively. In 1792, Congress donated 100,000 acres to Ohio Company as a buffer zone against Native American incursion around the settled area. The vexing land claims by inhabitants of the old French Vincennes Tract were resolved by what was dubbed the 'Vincennes donation lands' embodied in a federal land act of 1791. Federal land sales in Indiana (then

5130-501: The Native American tribes ceded to the United States large parts of modern-day Ohio . The treaty also established the "annuity" system of payment in return for Native American cessions of land east of the treaty line. Yearly grants of federal money and supplies of calico cloth to Native American tribes. That institutionalized continuing government influence in tribal affairs and gave outsiders considerable control over Native American life. The treaty redefined with slight modifications

5244-405: The Native Americans in October 1790. A group of squatters had moved up to the area near present-day Stockport now in Morgan County, Ohio and settled along flood plain , or "bottom" land, of the Muskingum River , some 30 miles north of an Ohio Company of Associates settlement at Marietta, Ohio . The Big Bottom massacre occurred on January 2, 1791. Lenape and Wyandot warriors stormed

5358-494: The Northwest Territory through the Land Ordinance of 1785 . The square surveys of the Northwest Territory became 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). Arthur St. Clair was the territory's governor until November 1802, when President Thomas Jefferson removed him from office and appointed Charles Willing Byrd , who served

5472-442: The Northwest Territory to form a state constitution and government, and be admitted to the Union. When Ohio was admitted as the 17th state on March 1, 1803, the land not included in the new state, including the gore, became part of Indiana Territory, and the Northwest Territory went out of existence. Ongoing disputes with the British over the region were a contributing factor to the War of 1812 . Britain irrevocably ceded claim to

5586-427: The Ohio, Indiana (1783), and Fort Harmar in Ohio (1785). The first settlements were at these locations. The first land grant was to George Rogers Clark in 1781 at Falls of the Ohio on the Indiana side; he went on to found the settlement of Clarksville. The first two land purchases were large tracts of land sold to John Symmes ( Symmes Purchase ) in 1788 and two tracts sold to Ohio Company in 1787 and 1792 ( Purchase on

5700-402: The Potawatomi doodems (clans) being: They regard Epigaea repens as their tribal flower and consider it to have come directly from their divinity. Allium tricoccum is consumed in traditional Potawatomi cuisine. They mix an infusion of the root of Uvularia grandiflora with lard and use it as salve to massage sore muscles and tendons. They use Symphyotrichum novae-angliae as

5814-531: The Potawatomi as a single tribe. They often had a few tribal leaders whom all villages accepted. The Potawatomi had a decentralized society, with several main divisions based on geographic locations: Milwaukee or Wisconsin area, Detroit or Huron River , the St. Joseph River , the Kankakee River , Tippecanoe and Wabash Rivers , the Illinois River and Lake Peoria, and the Des Plaines and Fox Rivers . The chiefs listed below are grouped by geographic area. The removal period of Potawatomi history began with

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5928-515: The Potawatomi call themselves Neshnabé (without syncope: Eneshenabé ; plural: Neshnabék ), a cognate of Ojibwe Anishinaabe (g) , meaning "original people." The Potawatomi teach their children about the "Seven Grandfather Teachings" of wisdom, respect, love, honesty, humility, bravery, and truth toward each other and all creation. Each principle teaches the equality and importance of their fellow tribesmen and respect for all of nature's creations. The story that underlies these teaches

6042-429: The Potawatomi. The French period of contact began with early explorers who reached the Potawatomi in western Michigan. They also found the tribe located along the Door Peninsula of Wisconsin. By the end of the French period, the Potawatomi had begun a move to the Detroit area, leaving the large communities in Wisconsin. The British period of contact began when France ceded its lands after its defeat by Britain in

6156-404: The Revolution ended, land-hungry migrants started moving west. A gateway trading post developed as the town of Brownsville, Pennsylvania , which was a key outfitting center west of the mountains. Other wagon roads, such as the Kittanning Path surmounting the gaps of the Allegheny in central Pennsylvania, or trails along the Mohawk River in New York, enabled a steady stream of settlers to reach

6270-413: The Revolutionary War and lacking authority to tax under the Articles of Confederation , planned to raise revenue from the methodical sale of land in the Northwest Territory. This plan necessarily called for the removal of both Native American villages and squatters from lands west of Appalachia, loosely, the territory called "Ohio Country" and beyond. Resistance from indigenous tribes, who were supported by

6384-447: The St. Joseph villages adjacent to the Miami in southwestern Michigan. The Wisconsin communities continued and moved south along the Lake Michigan shoreline. The United States treaty period of Potawatomi history began with the Treaty of Paris , which ended the American Revolutionary War and established the United States' interest in the lower Great Lakes. It lasted until the treaties for Indian removal were signed. The US recognized

6498-486: The US government. Following the Treaty of Chicago in 1833, by which the tribe ceded its lands in Illinois, most of the Potawatomi people were removed to Indian Territory, west of the Mississippi River. Many perished en route to new lands in the west on their journey through Iowa , Kansas, and Indian Territory, following what became known as the " Trail of Death ". Potawatomi (also spelled Pottawatomie; in Potawatomi Bodéwadmimwen or Bodéwadmi Zheshmowen or Neshnabémwen )

6612-439: The US reduced the size of the reservations under pressure for land by incoming European Americans. The final step followed the Treaty of Chicago , negotiated in 1833 for the tribes by Caldwell and Robinson. In return for land cessions, the US promised new lands, annuities and supplies to enable the peoples to develop new homes. The Illinois Potawatomi were removed to Nebraska and the Indiana Potawatomi to Kansas , both west of

6726-428: The United States as power relations shifted between the nations, and they calculated effects on their trade and land interests. At the time of the War of 1812, a band of Potawatomi inhabited the area near Fort Dearborn , where Chicago developed. Led by the chiefs Blackbird and Nuscotomeg (Mad Sturgeon), a force of about 500 warriors attacked the United States evacuation column leaving Fort Dearborn. They killed most of

6840-429: The United States in the Treaty of Paris of 1783 . Throughout the Revolutionary War , the region was part of the British Province of Quebec and the western theater of the war. It spanned all or large parts of six eventual U.S. states ( Ohio , Indiana , Illinois , Michigan , Wisconsin , and the northeastern part of Minnesota ). Reduced to present-day Ohio, eastern Michigan and a sliver of southeastern Indiana with

6954-461: The Virginia Military District and Connecticut Western Reserve. The first area to be surveyed was the Seven Ranges along the eastern border of Ohio in 1786–1789. Direct sales of federal lands to individual homesteaders started here. In some cases, the government granted or donated land for special purposes. Settlement followed the forts, whether garrisoned or not. Lack of a garrison meant that threat of Native American attack had become negligible. This

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7068-413: The boundaries in Ohio established previously by the Treaty of Fort McIntosh in 1785 and reasserted in the Treaty of Fort Harmar in 1789. In particular, the western boundary, which formerly ran northwesterly to the Maumee River , now ran southerly to the Ohio River . Ohio had developed settlements and defined tracts of land prior to 1795, including the Western Reserve , the Seven Ranges survey area,

7182-433: The boundary and punishing transgressions. After the signing of the treaty, the so-called "peace chiefs"—such as Little Turtle —who advocated for cooperation with the United States, were roundly criticized by Shawnee chief Tecumseh , who stated that the peace chiefs had given away land that they did not own. Tecumseh fought against the Americans during the War of 1812 and was killed in battle in 1813. The negotiated peace

7296-432: The civilians and 54 of Captain Nathan Heald 's force, and wounded many others. George Ronan , the first graduate of West Point to be killed in combat, died in this ambush. The incident is referred to as the Battle of Fort Dearborn . A Potawatomi chief named Mucktypoke ( Makdébki , Black Partridge), counseled his fellow warriors against the attack. Later he saved some of the civilian captives who were being ransomed by

7410-417: The continued British presence in the Northwest Territory, presented a continuing obstacle for American expansion. The area making up the Ohio Country had been contested for over a century, beginning with the 17th-century Beaver Wars . The Western Confederacy , or Western Indian Confederacy , was a loose confederacy of Native Americans in the Great Lakes region of the United States created following

7524-414: The convention to form a constitution for the State of Ohio. In the 1800 United States census , following the passage of an organic act by the 6th U.S. Congress creating the Indiana Territory in 1800, seven counties in the Northwest Territory reported the following population counts: According to the 1800 Census of the United States, the Northwest Territory (i.e. the pending state of Ohio) had

7638-434: The end of the American frontier in the eastern United States , in that part of the old Northwest Territory that would become the new state of Ohio and other adjacent future federal territories and future states around the Great Lakes and further west to the Mississippi River . General "Mad Anthony" Wayne (1745-1796), who had led the newly-organized United States Army victory at the Battle of Fallen Timbers and led

7752-458: The events of Pontiac's War , after which the Crown issued the Proclamation of 1763 , which prohibited white colonial settlement west of the Appalachian Mountains . This action angered American colonists interested in expansion, as well as those who had already settled in the area. In 1774, via the Quebec Act , Britain annexed the region to the Province of Quebec in order to provide a civil government and to centralize British administration of

7866-417: The federal government. Britain officially 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) had competing claims on

7980-412: The focus of the Northwest Indian War, the driving events in the early evolution of the territory. Integration of the Northwest Territory into a political unit, and settlement, depended on three factors: relinquishment by the British, extinguishment of states' claims west of the Appalachians, and usurpation or purchase of lands from the Native Americans. These objectives were accomplished correspondingly by

8094-418: The following decades. It encompassed what became Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin and part of Minnesota. Putnam, in the Puritan tradition, was influential in establishing education in the Northwest Territory. Substantial amounts of land were set aside for schools. Putnam had been one of the primary benefactors in the founding of Leicester Academy in Massachusetts, and similarly, in 1798, he created

8208-490: The formation of Indiana Territory July 4, 1800, it ceased to exist March 1, 1803, when the southeastern portion of the territory was admitted to the Union as the state of Ohio, and the remainder attached to Indiana Territory. Initially, the territory was governed by martial law under a governor and three judges. As population increased, a legislature was formed as were a succession of counties, eventually totaling thirteen. At

8322-523: The former Northwest Territory with the Treaty of Ghent in 1814. The Northwest Ordinance of 1787 established the Northwest Territory, and defined its boundaries, form of government, and administrative structure. In particular, it defined the bodies of government, established the legal basis of land ownership, provided for abolition and transfer of state territorial claims, made rules for admission of new states, established public education, recognized and codified 'natural rights', prohibited slavery, and defined

8436-547: The government on July 15, 1788, at Marietta . In 1790, he renamed the settlement of Losantiville Cincinnati , after the Society of the Cincinnati , and moved the administrative and military center to Fort Washington . As Governor, he formulated the Maxwell's Code (named after its printer, William Maxwell ), the first written criminal and civil laws of the territory. Maxwell's Code consisted of thirty-seven different laws with

8550-547: 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. Territorial governments evaded this law by use of indenture laws. 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

8664-664: The great cities of the eventual 6 states of the Territory which is now the midwestern United States early in the 19th century: Detroit (<1800), Cleveland (1796), Columbus (1812), Indianapolis (1822), Chicago (1833), Milwaukee (1846), Minneapolis (1847). A Federalist , St. Clair hoped to see two states made of the old Ohio Country to increase Federalist power in Congress . He was resented by Ohio Democratic-Republicans for his apparent partisanship, high-handedness and arrogance in office. In 1802, his opposition to plans for Ohio statehood led President Thomas Jefferson to remove him from office as territorial governor. He thus played no part in

8778-475: The importance of patience and listening. It follows the Water Spider's journey to retrieve fire so that the other animals can survive the cold. As the other animals step forth one after another to proclaim that they shall be the ones to retrieve the fire, the Water Spider sits and waits while listening to her fellows. As they finish and wrestle with their fears, she steps forward and announces that she will be

8892-530: The incomplete blockhouse and killed eleven men, one woman, and two children. (Accounts vary as to the number of casualties.) Rufus Putnam wrote to President Washington that "we shall be so reduced and discouraged as to give up the settlement [Marietta following the Big Bottom disaster]." In March 1791, St. Clair succeeded Harmar as commander of the United States Army and was commissioned as

9006-466: The land area of the United States at the time of its creation. It was inhabited by about 45,000 Native Americans and 4,000 non-native traders, mostly of French Canadian , British or Irish descent . Among the tribes inhabiting the region were the Shawnee, Delaware, Miami, Wyandot, Ottawa and Potawatomi. Notably, the Miami capital along with British trading posts was at Kekionga at the site of present-day Fort Wayne, Indiana. Neutralizing Kekionga became

9120-409: The land rights and applicability of laws to the Native Americans. 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

9234-463: The last to break the treaty, even though he disagreed with the terms. The day after the Treaty of Greenville was signed, Little Turtle's wife died in camp. She was carried to a grave by U.S. Army soldiers and given a three-gun salute of typical American military ceremonies. The treaty was signed back in the temporary United States federal national capital city of Philadelphia , by first President George Washington and submitted and later ratified by

9348-723: The last two to become more famous a decade later (and for the subsequent two and quarter centuries), leading the Lewis and Clark exploring expedition (Corps of Discovery) of 1804-1806, into the new western Louisiana Purchase of 1803, up the Missouri River across the Great Plains , through the passes of the Rocky Mountains , to the Pacific Northwest region and the West Coast of North America on

9462-597: The latter would later become the 9th President of the United States in 1841. Fort Greenville was abandoned in 1796; it would be another 12 years before the settlement of Greenville, Ohio , was founded on the site. It was the last treaty signed by Gen. Wayne, who died just over a year later, in December 1796. A painting commemorating the treaty hangs in the Ohio Statehouse . It was completed by Ohio artist Howard Chandler Christy . At 23 feet (7.0 m) wide, it

9576-399: The location of Native American settlements near the headwaters of the Wabash River . On November 4 they were routed in battle by a tribal confederation led by Miami Chief Little Turtle and Shawnee chief Blue Jacket . More than 600 soldiers and scores of women and children were killed in the battle, known as " St. Clair's Defeat " and many other names. It remains the greatest defeat of

9690-569: The majority of the territory became public land owned by the U.S. government. Virginia and Connecticut reserved two areas to use as compensation to military veterans: the Virginia Military District and the Connecticut Western Reserve Thomas Jefferson's Land Ordinance of 1784 was the first organization of the territory by the United States; it provided a process for dividing the territory into individual states. The Land Ordinance of 1785 established

9804-410: The military power to take all of their lands if they did not negotiate. Little Turtle and the Miami remained the lone dissent in the natives' confederacy. At a private council between Wayne and Little Turtle on August 12, Wayne argued that the Miami chief was standing against the will of the confederacy majority. Little Turtle reluctantly signed, stating that he was the last to sign, and would therefore be

9918-623: The near west and the lands bordering the Mississippi. This activity stimulated the development of the eastern parts of the eventual National Road by private investors. The Cumberland–Brownsville toll road linked the water routes of the Potomac River with the Monongahela River of the Ohio/Mississippi riverine systems in the days when water travel was the only good alternative to walking and riding. Most of

10032-464: The one to bring fire back. As they laugh and doubt her, she weaves a bowl out of her web, using it to sail across the water to retrieve the fire. She brings back a hot coal out of which the animals make fire, and they celebrate her honor and bravery. The Potawatomi are first mentioned in French records, which suggest that in the early 17th century, they lived in what is now southwestern Michigan . During

10146-452: The organizing of the state of Ohio in 1803. The first Ohio Constitution provided for a weak governor and a strong legislature , in part a reaction to St. Clair's method of governance. In preparation for Ohio's statehood, Congress split the Northwest Territory into two sections in 1800. A new territory, Indiana Territory , encompassed all land west of the present Indiana–Ohio border and its northward extension to Lake Superior , except for

10260-554: The plan for the construction of the Muskingum Academy (now Marietta College ) in Ohio. In 1780, the directors of the Ohio Company appointed him superintendent of all its affairs relating to settlement north of the Ohio River. In 1796, he was commissioned by President George Washington as Surveyor-General of United States Lands. In 1788, he served as a judge in the Northwest Territory's first court. In 1802, he served in

10374-412: The position until Ohio became a state and elected its first governor, Edward Tiffin , on March 3, 1803. The Supreme Court consisted of (1) John Cleves Symmes ; (2) James Mitchell Varnum , who died in 1789, replaced by George Turner , who resigned in 1796, and was replaced by Return Jonathan Meigs Jr. ; and (3) Samuel Holden Parsons , who died in 1789, replaced by Rufus Putnam , who resigned 1796, and

10488-505: The region, where British subjects outnumbered Americans throughout the 1790s. The following year, the Treaty of Greenville secured peace on the western frontier and opened most of southern and eastern Ohio for American settlement. Sporadic westward emigrant settlements had already resumed late in the war after the Iroquois Confederacy 's power was broken and the tribes scattered by the 1779 Sullivan Expedition . Soon after

10602-543: The region, which they claimed as New France ; among these was the post at Fort Detroit , founded in 1701. France ceded the territory to the Kingdom of Great Britain as part of the Indian Reserve in the 1763 Treaty of Paris , after being defeated in the French and Indian War . From the 1750s to the peace treaty that ended the War of 1812, the British had a long-standing goal of creating an Indian barrier state ,

10716-601: The river to the portage between the Cuyahoga and Tuscarawas Rivers in what is now Akron , then through the Portage Lakes area between Akron and Canton . The line continued down the Tuscarawas to Fort Laurens , near present-day Bolivar . From there, the line ran west-southwest to near present-day Fort Loramie on a branch of the Great Miami River . From there, the line ran west-northwest to Fort Recovery on

10830-573: The scope of this fort. The military campaign of Gen. Wayne against the Western Confederacy, who were supported by a company of troops from Lower Canada, culminated with victory at the Battle of Fallen Timbers in 1794. Following the battle, in fall 1794, Wayne's army marched unopposed to Kekionga where they constructed Fort Wayne, a defiant symbol of U.S. sovereignty in the heart of Native American Country. Jay's Treaty , in 1794, temporarily helped to smooth relations with British traders in

10944-415: The stipulation that the laws had to have been passed previously in one of the original thirteen states. The laws restructured the court system then in effect in the Northwest Territory. They also protected residents against excessive taxes and declared that English common law would be the basis of legal decisions and laws in the Northwest Territory. The young United States government, deeply in debt following

11058-697: The territory and its successors was settled by emigrants passing through the Cumberland Narrows , or along the Mohawk Valley in New York State. The Continental Congress' title to the lands north of the Ohio River was derived from the Treaty of Paris (1783), the Treaty of Fort McIntosh, and the cessions of four states. Settlement was through several means: squatters, direct U.S. government land sales to settlers, sales of tracts of land to land companies, and state sales of land to veterans in

11172-430: The territory would eventually form three to five new states. Under the Northwest Ordinance of 1787, which created the Northwest Territory, General St. Clair was appointed governor. When the territory was divided in 1800, he briefly served as governor of the Northwest Territory remnant that included Ohio, the eastern half of Michigan, and a sliver of southeastern Indiana called "The Gore". St. Clair formally established

11286-444: The territory: Virginia claimed all of the portion that was formerly Illinois Country and Ohio Country; Massachusetts claimed the portion that is now southern Michigan and Wisconsin; Connecticut claimed a narrow strip across the territory just south of the Great Lakes; New York claimed an elastic portion of Iroquois lands between Lake Erie and the Ohio River. The western boundary of Pennsylvania was also ill-defined. Virginia's jurisdiction

11400-409: The then-owned land of the United States west of Pennsylvania , east of the Mississippi River , and northwest of the Ohio River . It incorporated most of the former Ohio Country except a portion in western Pennsylvania, and eastern Illinois Country . It covered all of the modern states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin, as well as the northeastern part of Minnesota. Lands west of

11514-532: The time of its creation, the land within the territory was largely undisturbed by urban development. It was also home to several Native American cultures, including the Delaware , Miami , Potawatomi , Shawnee , and others. There were a handful of French colonial settlements remaining, plus Clarksville at the Falls of the Ohio. By the time of the territory's dissolution, there were dozens of towns and settlements,

11628-584: The treaties of the late 1820s, when the United States created reservations. Billy Caldwell and Alexander Robinson negotiated for the United Nations of Chippewa, Ottawa and Potowatomi in the Second Treaty of Prairie du Chien (1829), by which they ceded most of their lands in Wisconsin and Michigan. Some Potawatomi became religious followers of the "Kickapoo Prophet", Kennekuk . Over the years,

11742-413: The treaty line in Ohio or parcels exempted. The indigenous groups were obliged to recognize the United States as the sole sovereign power in the entire territory, but the local peoples would otherwise have free use of their own lands as long as they were kindly disposed to American settlers. The treaty also arranged for an exchange of prisoners and specified the parties that would be responsible for enforcing

11856-478: The victory at Fallen Timbers was evidence that the Great Spirit favored the newly-arrived white men from across the mountains to the east and ocean, called Americans. Opposition to the United States was led by Little Turtle who, ironically, had advised against engaging Wayne at Fallen Timbers. For a week, Wayne urged the native tribes to accept peace based on previous terms given at the earlier agreements of

11970-479: The way for white settlement. In 1789, he succeeded in getting certain Native Americans to sign the Treaty of Fort Harmar , but many native leaders had not been invited to participate in the negotiations or had refused to do so. Rather than settling the Native Americans' claims, the treaty provoked an escalation of the "Northwest Indian War" (or "Little Turtle's War"). Mutual hostilities led to a campaign by General Josiah Harmar , whose 1,500 militiamen were defeated by

12084-620: The western frontier. Wayne was commissioned to form a new army of 5120 professional soldiers, dubbed the "Legion of the United States". Wayne recruited and trained his army in Pennsylvania, and moved them to southwestern Ohio in fall of 1793. There they were joined by the Kentucky Militia under Major General Charles Scott . Over the next ten months, the armies marched north up the Great Miami and Maumee River valleys toward

12198-497: Was at Putnam's recommendation that the land was surveyed and laid out in townships of six miles square. He organized and led the first group of veterans to the territory. They settled at Marietta, Ohio , where they built a large fort called Campus Martius . Putnam and Cutler insisted the Northwest Territory be a free territory, with no slavery. The Northwest Territory doubled the size of the United States, and establishing it as free of slavery proved to be of tremendous importance in

12312-523: Was extended westward to a point five degrees of longitude (about 260 miles) from the Delaware River and the western boundary extended to run due north from the westernmost extent of the Mason–Dixon line to the 43rd parallel. This incorporated the eastern part of Ohio Country as western Pennsylvania, and set the eastern boundary of federal lands. "Unlanded" states, such as Maryland, refused to ratify

12426-483: Was limited to a few French settlements at the extreme western edge of the territory. Massachusetts's and Connecticut's claims were effectively lines on paper. New York had no colonial settlements or territorial government in the claimed lands. The western border of Pennsylvania, previously assumed to run in a north by northeast zigzag, was resolved in 1780 by the Continental Congress. The Mason–Dixon line

12540-411: Was only temporary. Anthony Wayne who promised to protect the treaty would die a year later. A Spanish spy James Wilkinson would take command of his army. Continuing encroachments by settlers on Indian Country north and west of the treaty line (and of future treaty lines established by the Treaty of Vincennes , Treaty of Grouseland , and Treaty of Fort Wayne of 1809 ), especially in Indiana, would lead

12654-578: Was published in 1941, over 100 years after his death, by the Indiana Historical Society. Many Potawatomi found ways to remain, primarily those in Michigan. Others fled to their Odawa neighbors or to Canada to avoid removal to the west. There are several active bands of Potawatomi. Federally recognized Potawatomi tribes in the United States: La Chauvignerie (1736) and Morgan (1877) mention among

12768-440: Was replaced by Joseph Gilman . 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 – March 1, 1803). Potawatomi In the 19th century, some bands of Potawatomi were pushed to the west by European/American encroachment. In the 1830s the federal government removed most from their lands east of

12882-476: Was sufficient, and these assumed local administrative and judicial functions. Washington County was the first of these, at Marietta in 1788. This was an important event, as this court was the first establishment of civil and criminal law in the pioneer country. As soon as the number of free male 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

12996-599: Was true everywhere in Ohio before 1800 except the northwest sector above the Greenville Treaty line. It became true in Indiana after the Battle of Tippecanoe in 1811; by 1813 Battle of the Thames where Tecumseh was defeated and killed, the frontier had essentially moved to west of the Mississippi. The first U.S. military garrisons in the territory were Fort Patrick Henry, Vincennes, Indiana (1779), Fort Clark at Falls of

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