by cession of the several claimant states, the endowment of the general government. Just as Massachusetts in 1700 had a body of wild lands which could be granted on conditions; just as Connecticut had western territory which could be set off into townships and sold for the benefit of the entire colony; so now the nation was the possessor of a vast tract of wild lands, the management of which was destined to be deeply significant in its influence upon American institutions in general, and especially on the institutions of education. In 1784 Virginia, which had by far the most important claim to western lands, ceded her rights to lands northwest of the Ohio River to the government of the Confederation "for the common benefit of the states." The congress at once proceeded to assert its jurisdiction over the district, though the claims of Massachusetts and Connecticut to portions of the same territory, were not formally yielded till some time later. While the first proposal of Virginia was under discussion, in 1783, Col. Bland, a delegate from that state, moved in congress to accept the cession on the terms proposed by Virginia: and that the territory to be ceded be divided into districts of a definite shape each district to become a state on possessing 20,000 inhabitants. Some of the lands were to be given to the Revolutionary soldiers as bounties; but one tenth of them were to be reserved by congress, the income to be "appropriated to the payment of the civil list of the United States, the erecting frontier forts, the founding seminaries of learning, and the surplus, if any, to be appropriated to the building and equipping a navy." Nothing came of this motion. 99 Although this was the first proposition made in the congress looking to the appropriation of the national domain to the support of education, it will be observed that the form of the proposition is wholly different from that ultimately adopted. It contemplated, apparently, the endowing of colleges, and the author Virginia, in 1780, appropriated eight thousand acres of land in the county of Kentucky "for the purpose of a puble school, or seminary of learning, to be erected within the said county." Hening's Statutes, x, 287. This may indicate what Col. Bland had in mind in the above motion. of it seems to have had no conception of the support of a common school system by that means. That idea was to come from another quarter: the quarter, namely, in which it was already, and had been for a long time, operative. This same year, 1783, a movement was started in New England, having in view the emigration of a large body of Revolutionary veterans to the Ohio country, and the planting of a state there. Timothy Pickering of Massachusetts drew up the plan for the proposed state,1 and on the basis of this plan General Rufus Putnam, the leader of the movement, submitted a petition to congress. Pickering suggested that, after satisfying the just demands of the Revolutionary soldiers, "all the surplus lands should be the common property of the state, and disposed of for the common good, as for laying out roads, building bridges erecting buildings, especially schools and academies, defraying the expenses of government and other public uses."3 "Schools and academies" has a different ring to our ears than "seminaries of learning." The commentary needed to explain just what was meant by Pickering's statement is supplied by the letter of Rufus Putnam to Washington, submitting a petition to Congress. In this letter which was sent to the congress together with the more formal document, he suggests that, "the lands should be divided into townships six miles square, with reservations for schools and the ministry." 4 Here we have exactly what we should expect. In this projected migration of New Englanders to the great West it was proposed, very naturally, to take with them the institutions with which they were thoroughly familiar and to which they had become attached. They had in mind the same system of local self government which prevailed among them, and which 1 1 Pickering. I. p. 546, et seq. Also found in the Ohio Archaeological and Historical Society Publications, IV, 2-5. 2 Ibid., p. 548. 3 Knight, p. 35. *See Walker, History of Athens County, Ohio, pp. 30-36, for Rufus Putnam's letter to Washington. For Washington's letter to Congress, see Ford's Writings of Washington, x, 267. was applied to their own back country; hence the township "six miles square," long the customary size and form of the townships granted by the New England colonial governments in their western lands. Provision for the ministry was one of the first conditions enjoined upon the proprietors of such new townships and a landed endowment for this purpose, as well as for schools had long since come to be the settled policy. How appropriate that a man who was employed to lay out these lands in the wilds of New England, who had surveyed "township Number 3" in Lincoln county, should be the first to suggest to the national congress, now that it had wild lands to deal with, the policy to be pursued respecting surveys and reservations. But time and stress would still be required to realize the idea in the national system. In May, 1784, Mr. Jefferson reported a bill "for ascertaining the mode of locating and disposing of lands in the western territory." Its consideration was postponed and it was not taken up until March of the next year. Then it was recommitted and a new bill reported having similar provisions. This in turn was temporarily laid aside, apparently to give time for discussion outside of congress. Copies of the proposed bill were sent to prominent men in different sections. Col. Timothy Pickering objected to it on the ground that there was "no provision made for ministers of the Gospel, nor even for schools or academies." This criticism was made in a letter to Rufus King, a member of the committee that made the report. The bill was recommitted March 16th, Rufus King being again on the committee. The result was a new ordinance under the old title but embodying many modifications. In it appeared the following clause: "There shall be reserved the central section of every township for the maintenance of public schools, and the section immediately adjoining for the support of religion, the profits arising therefrom in both instances to be applied forever according to the will of the majority of male residents of full age within the same." But Connecticut often granted townships five miles square. In a letter accompanying a copy of the report, Rufus King wrote to Pickering, "You will find thereby, that your opinions have had weight with the committee that reported this ordinance;" The part of the clause respecting religion was stricken out by the congress, but the provision for education remained in the ordinance as adopted. This is one landmark. In pursuance of the ordinance of 1785 the so called "seven ranges" of townships were surveyed. The sales, however, were of little consequence, and it was seen that if the lands were to be a source of revenue, which the bankrupt state of the treasury rendered imperative, something must be done to hasten their sale. The plan finally adopted was dictated by necessity and rendered possible of execution by a peculiar set of circumstances. It was, namely, to lump off the lands in great blocks. to land companies, who were ready to supply the treasury in return with appreciable sums of money. The companies would parcel out the lands among actual settlers. In 1786-7 a new company of New Englanders was organized for the purpose of settling Revolutionary soldiers and others in the Ohio country. Rufus Putnam was a leading figure in the new organization, and associated with him were Manasseh Cutler and Samuel Holden Parsons. A memorial to congress was at once drawn up and presented in May, 1787. This paper contained a proposition on the part of the company to purchase of the government a body of contiguous territory north of the Ohio and to plant a new state there. It injected new life into the whole question of dealing with the western lands. A new ordinance was reported providing for the government of the North West Territory. A former bill, which contained no education clause, had been recommitted and formed the basis. of the new. This measure was enacted into law as the "Ordinance of 1787," on July 13th. It contains the famous passage, "Religion, morality and knowledge being necessary to good government, and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall be forever encouraged." Pickering, 1, p. 511. The Ohio Company was on the ground in the person of the skillful lobbyist, Dr. Cutler, and it is scarcely doubtful that he exerted great influence in favor of the principle. However that may be it became ingrained in the life of the nation and was realized in the magnificent endowments received by the new states. But we have not forgotten that the New England idea coupled the support of education with that of religion. Would the government be prepared to accept the entire system? The committee appointed to deal with Dr. Cutler, after several conferences. with him, reported in favor of selling the lands on Cutler's terms. He had stipulated that one lot in each township was to be reserved for common schools, another for the support of the ministry, and that four whole townships should be set apart for the maintenance of a university. Congress was unwilling to make such liberal donations, and framed a contract ordinance providing for the reservation of but one section in each township, number sixteen, for schools. Cutler would not accede to the terms and made new proposals, which congress, under the stress of circumstances, felt obliged to accept. The provision for reservations was as follows: that "Lot number sixteen be given perpetually, by congress to the maintenance of schools, and lot number twenty nine to the purpose of religion in the said. townships. Two townships near the center and of good land to be also given by congress for the support of a literary institution, to be appled to the intended object by the legislature of the stote.s Similar reservations were made in connection with the Symmes purchase made during the same year. But this was the last occasion on which provision for religion was made by the national congress, while with regard to schools, the "section sixteen" clause in the land ordinance of 1785, became the principle in all future grants within the North West Territory, and also in the new states of the Southwestern and trans-Mississippi territory, erected prior to 1850 From that time two sections in each township, sixteen and thirty-six, were granted for school purposes. * Knight, p. 17. *Oregon, admitted 1859, was the first stat re-twe seetions. |