of the Mississippi as far as Missouri and White Earth Rivers, north to the international boundary, and south to the new State of Missouri. It was admitted as a State, with its present boundaries, in 1837. The population was small in the early history of the Territory, and on account of its distance from the east and the greater attractions of the more southern section, the emigration to it continued small for many years. In 1810 there was a population of only eight thousand four hundred. It entered upon the second stage in 1823. In 1832 the tide of emigration moved toward Michigan, and Detroit, because of its fine location, became more and more a trading centre. The ease of access and communication between the different parts of the peninsula through the advent of steam navigation gave it prosperity and a rapid increase in population. In 1830 its people numbered twenty-eight thousand, and four years later they had increased to eighty-seven thousand.

Four years after the separation of Michigan from the Indiana Territory, western immigration had brought in large numbers to the old French section, and it was erected into the separate Territory of Illinois. Its eastern line was the Wabash to Vincennes and then due north to the international boundary, which line formed its northern limits. The Mississippi marked its western and the Ohio its southern boundaries. Its population was about ten thousand and the people desired a separate government, because of the great distance from the seat of territorial authority, and the consequent lack of strength in the enforcement of the laws in the Illinois country. While additional expense would thus be brought upon the national government, this would be more than made up by the increased value of public lands. The Territory entered upon its second stage in 1812, and was admitted as a State in 1818, with its northern boundary line forty-two degrees thirty minutes north, extending from Lake Michigan to Mississippi River. This was a much more northern line than the one contemplated in the Ordinance, but it was changed

in order to give the people access to the great lakes and the east, instead of turning them to Mississippi River and making them commercially dependent on that river alone.

The last Territory to be organized was Wisconsin, and because it was what was left after the others were formed it was subjected to many changes of boundary and government. Originally a part of the Northwest Territory, on the first division it was included in Indiana; then with the separation of Indiana and Illinois, it became a part of the latter. Its next change, when Illinois became a State, was an incorporation into Michigan Territory, and when that became a State, the remainder was set off as Wisconsin Territory. Wisconsin was admitted into the Union in 1848.

CHAPTER X

THE ADMISSION OF OHIO

THE discussions in Congress over the admission of Ohio throw light upon political affairs of the time, and also give us the opinions of the politicians of the day on the powers of Congress and of the Territory under the Ordinance of 1787. Many points mentioned in the Ordinance were now brought up for the first time, and it was found that there was a great diversity of opinion in regard to them.

On January 20, 1802, Mr. Fearing, the delegate from the Northwest Territory, presented to the House of Representatives a law of the Territorial legislature for the division of the Territory into three governments, the western, the middle, and eastern. Objections were at once made to this because it would remove them further from a State government. This was considered a week later, under the title of "An Act Declaring the Assent of the Territory Northwest of the Ohio to an Alteration in the Ordinance for the Government Thereof." This was debated at length and lost by a vote of eighty-one to five. Manasseh Cutler voted in the negative.

On February 27, 1802, a petition was presented to the House, asking for the admission of the Northwest Territory as a State into the Federal Union. This was referred to a committee which reported later in favor of the admission. It was the opinion of the committee that the number of inhabitants in the specified district was sufficient to fulfil

the conditions of the Ordinance, even when those north of the proposed line were excluded. They reported great and increasing disquietude on the part of the inhabitants because of the act lately passed for changing the boundary line. The committee recommended the formation of a State and specified the boundaries of the same; and that a convention should be called within the eastern district for the purpose of forming a constitution and State government.

When the recommendation that a convention be called came up for consideration, Fearing opposed it on constitutional principles, holding that Congress had nothing to do with calling a convention, and that the power of Congress extended no further than allowing the Territory to enter the Union as one of the States. He was opposed by Davis, of Kentucky, who held that these matters were within the power of Congress, while Griswold, of Connecticut, replied, upholding Fearing and claiming that Congress had no more power to interfere with the Territorial legislature than it had with the legislature of Maryland. It seemed to him a dangerous innovation in the direction of the consolidation of power in the hands of Congress. Mr. Williams, of North Carolina, showed the effort that had been made by the legislature to defeat the will of the people in order that St. Clair and his party might remain in power; that the Territorial form of government was only a makeshift and that these people who had come from different States of the Union were accustomed to a free form of government and it should be given to them as soon as possible. There was no question that they were well suited for self-government, and that they surely had the requisite number of inhabitants. It would be politic as well as just for the Federal government to admit them; the lands, of which the government had large areas, would be much more valuable if the people were allowed to have their natural and political rights, because in that case the population would increase more rapidly, and so there would be an increased sale of lands. Congress should give weight to