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State of Ohio,

Was first explored by La Salle about 1680, his object being trade and not settlement. Conflicting claims to territory in that region led to the French and Indian War (q. v.). The [9] French held possession of the region north of the Ohio River until the conquest of Canada in 1760 and the surrender of vast territory by the French to the English in 1763. After the Revolution disputes arose

Seal of the State of Ohio.

between several States as to their respective rights to the soil in that region. These were settled by the cession of the territory to the United States by the respective States, Virginia reserving 3,709,848 acres near the rapids of the Ohio, and Connecticut a tract of 3,666,921 acres near Lake Erie. In 1800 jurisdiction over these tracts was relinquished to the national government, the States retaining the right to the soil, while the Indian titles to the rest of the State were bought up by the national government.

In the autumn of 1785 United States troops began the erection of a fort on the right bank of the Muskingum, at its mouth. The commander of the troops was Maj. John Doughty, and he named it Fort Harmar, in honor of his commander, Col. Josiah Harmar. It was the first military post of the kind built in Ohio. The outlines formed a regular pentagon, embracing three-fourths of an acre. United States troops occupied Fort Harmar until 1790, when they left it to construct Fort Washington, on the site of Cincinnati. After the treaty of Greenville it was abandoned.

In 1788 Gen. Rufus Putnam, at the head of a colony from Massachusetts, founded a settlement at the mouth of the Muskingum River, and named it Marietta, in honor of Marie Antoinette, the Queen of Louis XVI. of France. A stockade fort was immediately built as a protection against hostile Indians, and named Campus Martius. In the autumn of the same

Fort Harmar.

[10]

Campus Martius.

year a party of settlers seated themselves upon Symmes's purchase (q. v.), and founded Columbus, near the mouth of the Little Miami. Fort Washington was soon afterwards built, a little below, on the site of Cincinnati.

Ohio was soon afterwards organized into a separate territorial government. The settlers were annoyed by hostile Indians until Wayne's victories in 1794 and the treaty at Greenville gave peace to that region. In 1799 the first territorial legislature assembled, and Ohio was admitted into the Union as a State April 30, 1802. From 1800 to 1810 the seat of government was at Chillicothe. For a while it was at Zanesville, then again at Chillicothe, and finally, in 1816, Columbus was made the permanent seat of the State government.

Its people were active on the frontiers in the War of 1812. The President called on Gov. R. J. Meigs for 1,200 militia to be prepared to march to Detroit. Gov. William Hull, of Michigan, was persuaded to accept the commission of brigadier-general and take command of them. Governor Meigs's call was generously responded to, and at the mouth of the Mad River, near Dayton, O., the full number had assembled at the close of April, 1812. They were organized into three regiments, and elected their field-officers before the arrival of Hull. The colonels of the respective regiments were Duncan McArthur, James Findlay, and Lewis Cass. The 4th Regiment of regulars, stationed at Vincennes, under Lieut.-Col. James Miller, had been ordered to join the militia at Dayton. The command of the troops was surrendered to Hull by Governor Meigs on May 25, 1812. They began their march northward June

Seat of government at Chillicothe in 1800.

1; and at Urbana they were joined by Miller's 4th Regiment, which, under Colonel Boyd, had participated in the battle of Tippecanoe (q. v.). They encountered [11] heavy rains and terrible fatigue all the way to Detroit, their destination. See Hull, William.

In March, 1851, a convention revised the

The State Capitol, Columbus.

State constitution, and it was ratified in June; but a new constitution, framed by a convention in 1873, was rejected by the people at an election in 1874.

At the beginning of the Civil War, the governor of Ohio, William Dennison, Jr., was an avowed opponent of the slave system. The legislature met on Jan. 7, 1861. In his message the governor explained his refusal to surrender alleged fugitive slaves on the requisition of the authorities of Kentucky and Tennessee; denied the right of secession; affirmed the loyalty of his State; suggested the repeal of the fugitive slave law as the most effectual way of procuring the repeal of the personal liberty acts; and called for the repeal of the laws of the Southern States which interfered with the constitional rights of the citizens of the freelabor States. “Determined to do no wrong,” he said, “we will not contentedly submit to wrong.” The legislature denounced (Jan. 12) the secession movements; promised for the people of Ohio their firm support of the national government; and, on the 14th, pledged “the entire power and resources of the State for a strict maintenance of the Constitution and laws of the general government by whomsoever administered.” These promises and pledges were fulfilled to the utmost, the State furnishing to the National army during the war 317,133 soldiers. Population in 1890, 3,672,316; in 1900, 4,157,545. See United States, Ohio, in vol. IX.

Territorial governors

Name.Term BeganTerm expired.Politics.
Arthur St. Clair17881802....
Charles W. Byrd18021803....

State governors.

Edward Tiffin18031807....
Thomas Kirker18071808....
Samuel Huntington18081810....
Return Jonathan Meigs18101814....
Othniel Looker18141814....
Thomas Worthington18141818....
Ethan Allen Brown18181822...
Allen Trimble18221822....
Jeremiah Morrow18221826....
Allen Trimble18261830....
Duncan McArthur18301832....
Robert Lucas18321836Democrat.
Joseph Vance18361838Whig.
Wilson Shannon18381840Democrat.
Thomas Corwin18401842Whig.
Wilson Shannon18421844Democrat.
Thomas W. Bartley18441844....
Mordecai Bartley18441846Whig.
William Bebb18461849Whig
Seabury Ford18491850Whig
Reuben Wood18501853Democrat.
William Medill18531854Democrat
“” 18541856Democrat
Salmon P. Chase18561860Republican.
William Dennison18601862Republican.
David Tod18621864Republican.
John Brough18641865Republican.
Charles Anderson18651866Republican.
Jacob Dolson Cox18661868Republican.
Rutherford B. Hayes18681872Republican.
Edward F. Noyes18721874Republican.
William Allen18741876Democrat.
Rutherford B. Hayes18761878Republican
Richard M. Bishop18781880Democrat.
Charles Foster18801884Republican
George Hoadley18841886Democrat.
Joseph B. Foraker18861890Republican.
James E. Campbell18901892Democrat.
William McKinley, Jr18921896Republican.
Asa S. Bushnell18961900Republican.
George K. Nash1900——Republican.

[12]

United States Senators.

Name.No. of Congress.Term.
John Smith8th to 10th1803 to 1808
Thomas Worthington8th to 10th1803 to 1807
Return Jonathan Meigs.10th to 11th1809 to 1810
Edward Tiffin 10th to 11th1807 to 1809
Stanley Griswold 11th1809
Alexander Campbell11th to 13th1810 to 1813
Thomas Worthington11th to 13th1811 to 1814
Joseph Kerr13th to 14th1814 to 1815
Jeremiah Morrow13th to 16th1813 to 1819
Benjamin Ruggles 14th to 23d1815 to 1833
William A. Trimble16th to17th1819 to 1821
Ethan Allen Brown17th to 19th1822 to 1825
William Henry Harrison.19th to 20th1825 to 1828
Jacob Burnett20th to 23d1828 to 1831
Thomas Ewing22d to 25th1831 to 1837
Thomas Morris23d to 26th1833 to 1839
William Allen25th to 31st1837 to 1849
Benjamin Tappan26th to 29th1839 to 1845
Thomas Corwin29th to 31st1845 to 1850
Thomas Ewing31st1850
Salmon P. Chase31st to 34th1849 to 1855
Benjamin F. Wade32d to 41st1851 to 1869
George E. Pugh34th to 37th1855 to 1861
Salmon P. Chase37th1861
John Sherman37th to 45th1861 to 1877
Allen G. Thurman41st to 47th1869 to1880
Stanley Matthews45th to 46th1877 to 1879
George H. Pendleton46th to 49th1879 to 1885
James A. Garfield47th1880
John Sherman47th to 54th1881 to 1897
Henry B. Payne49th to 52d1885 to 1891
Calvin C. Brice52d to 55th1891 to 1896
Joseph B. Foraker55th to ——1897 to ——
Marcus A. Hanna55th to ——1897 to ——

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