422 " Frank Carney 



quois Confederacy. Furthermore, they were hemmed in on the 

 south by the Cherokees, who were often aggressive. So Ohio 

 was never held continuously nor controlled by a particular tribe 

 of Indians. Its physiographic environment invited conquest. 

 The Ohio river was no barrier, but rather a route of approach for 

 southern tribes; and Lake Erie made the area very accessible 

 for the predatory bands of New York. Without the restraints of 

 civihzation, the Ohio country would never have become pros- 

 perous; but under stable conditions, the geographic features that 

 formerly invited chaos have become a very important asset. 



3. Next the French felt that they had acquired title to this 

 region. Spurred by the trade efforts of Governor Dongan of the 

 New York colony, the French pushed their permanent forts 

 farther south, and then established trading posts through Ohio. 

 They possessed the territory, therefore, so far as trade relations 

 were concerned. In addition, they usually showed some spiritual 

 concern for the Indians and ministered to them in this state, as 

 elsewhere. The first whites to discover Ohio were the French. 



4. The English kings issued charters to their subjects, dis- 

 posing of territory which embraced Ohio and all the country west. 

 These paper concessions were at variance with the fact of French 

 possession, but for a long time geographic conditions averted 

 collision. Slowly the interests of the two peoples came into con- 

 flict; the relief features of the French territory had imposed no 

 barriers, but did encourage a scattering of energ}"; in the struggle, 

 the French were the weaker. 



5. By the Treaty of Paris, 1763, England became the legal 

 owner of the trans- Appalachian country; this treaty was acknowl- 

 edged by all Europe. Therefore, from the standpoint of European 

 methods, England won the first title. 



6. For some time before, and more numerously after, this 

 transfer to the English, frontiersmen from the colonies came into 

 the territory, and took possession without legal process. Such 

 a procedure was one of their purposes in their final struggle with 

 France. Many of the colonies maintained that some of the area 

 across the mountains was theirs by charter grants. King George 

 did not sanction this settlement of the West; his Quebec Act was 

 one of the many causes that led to the Revolution. The colonies, 

 winning in this war, and becoming states, again announced their 

 claims. 



