35 8 The Winning of the West 



about by the action of the Ohio Company. With 

 out the prohibition the company would probably 

 not have undertaken its experiment in colonization; 

 and save for the pressure of the company slavery 

 would hardly have been abolished. Congress wished 

 to sell the lands, and was much impressed by the 

 solid worth of the founders of the association. The 

 New Englanders were anxious to buy the lands, 

 but were earnest in their determination to exclude 

 slavery from the new territory. The slave ques 

 tion was not at the time a burning issue between 

 North and South ; for no Northerner thought of cru 

 sading to destroy the evil, while most enlightened 

 Southerners were fond of planning how to do away 

 with it. The tact of the company's representative 

 before Congress, Dr. Cutler, did the rest. A com 

 promise was agreed to ; for, like so many other great 

 political triumphs, the passage of the Ordinance of 

 1787 was a compromise. Slavery was prohibited, 

 on the one hand ; and on the other, that the territory 

 might not become a refuge for runaway negroes, 

 provision was made for the return of such fugitives. 

 The popular conscience was yet too dull about sla 

 very to be stirred by the thought of returning fugi 

 tive slaves into bondage. 



A fortnight after the passage of the ordinance, the 

 transaction was completed by the sale of a million 

 and a half acres, north of the Ohio, to the Ohio 

 Company. Three million and a half more, known as 

 the Sciato purchase, were authorized to be sold to a 

 purely speculative company, but the speculation 



