420 Frank Carney 



enabled Virginia's lawyers to make out a good case. On the other 

 hand, New York State felt that it also had an exceedingly good 

 title to part of the territory west of Pennsylvania, a title which 

 was satisfactory to the English jurists: the deed given by the 

 Iroquois confederacy to the English governor of the colony which 

 had now become the state of New York. 



Congress could do little if the commonwealths were to become 

 embittered over such dissensions. This was the time for mag- 

 nanimity. New York State was the first to relinquish to Congress 

 her title to the disputed territory. Not to be outdone in acts of 

 patriotism, Virginia, through Governor Thomas Jefferson, deeded 

 to Congress her possessions north of the Ohio river. If the two 

 states which had the best claim on this territory yielded their 

 title to Congress, it were indeed petty for the other states to 

 offer further obstruction. The English were again disappointed; 

 the dissensions gave way to higher motives. 



The Northwest Territory. The necessity for the United States 

 Congress coming immediately into legal possession of that terri- 

 tory was financial. The Revolutionary war closed with the 

 defeated army of a resourceful nation on one side, and the vic- 

 torious army of a bankrupt people on the other. The Conti- 

 nental Congress had borrowed of all of its loyal citizens at home 

 and British haters abroad. At once Congress arranged to dis- 

 pose of this western property, that the new Republic might raise 

 the funds to meet imperative obligations. 



The creation of the Northwest Territory and the beginning of 

 regular settlements in Ohio were about coincident. Congress 

 made General St. Clair governor of the western lands, and issued 

 a proclamation, warning all disorderly persons out of the area. 

 Congress, about the same time, also provided for a survey of the 

 region, that the land might be definitely laid out and turned over 

 to prospective purchasers. 



Summary 



Some of the geographic features of North America as a conti- 

 nent have been noted in the early history of the Ohio country. 

 The prehistoric inhabitants of the area probably came from the 

 west, having spread across the central Mississippi basin. North 

 of the Ohio river there were frequent changes in Indian suprem- 



