At the sessions of December and March at Adamsville, the Ross county members did not attend, but in June 1798 they again appeared. Ross county was established the twentieth of the following August.* In 1796 Mr. Worthington had evidently solicited appointment as Deputy Surveyor General, for in December of that year Rufus Putnam wrote him promising appointment' and in February, 1798, he was given a contract to survey the district between the Ohio Company's purchase and the Scioto River. Therefore most of that first summer and fall must have, been spent in the woods. He seems to have been appointed a Major of Militia, and in the following year to have been much offended at the appointment by Gov. St. Clair of Samuel Finlay, as Colonel, feeling that he should have received the honor. In the summer of his arrival he was elected, as was also Dr. Tiffin, to the first Territorial Legislature which met at Cincinnati February 4, 1799, nominated ten candidates for the Legislative Council and adjourned to September 16 following, and finally convened on the 25th. Dr. Tiffin was chosen speaker, Mr. Worthington's name appears on one of the three standing committees and on six of the nineteen special ones. In the spring of 1800 he was in Philadelphia, at his own expense, urging on Congress, through Mr. Harrison, the Delegate, the subdivision of the surveyed sections of land into half and quarter sections, that the poorer emigrants might be able to purchase. During that summer he erected on Paint Creek the first mills of any consequence in the region, and there May 10, 1800, he second daughter, Sarah was born. In 1800 a proposition was made to divide the territory, and Mr. Harrison was made chairman of a committee to report a plan. On February 17, 1800, Governor St. Clair addressed him recommending a division into three parts. The first bounded on the west by the Scioto river, with the capital at Marietta. The second bounded on the west by a north and south line from op * Evans History of Adams county, pp. 81, 82, 87, 88. 1 St. Clair Papers, II, 413. 2 Do., II, 252. Do., II, 489. posite the Kentucky river and with Cincinnati as the capital, and the third to the Mississippi river with Vincennes as the capital. As this would delay the formation of the eastern part into a state, Mr. Harrison, in the interests of the state party, reported in favor of the line from the mouth of the Great Miami. The new western division was called Indiana Territory, and Harrison was appointed its governor. William McMillan, of Cincinnati, was elected for Harrison's unexpired term as Delegate, and Paul Fearing, of Marietta, for the new term, December, 1800. Mr. Worthington was appointed Register of the U. S. Land Office, and in 1801 Commissioner of Internal Revenue for the District northwest of the Ohio River." The act dividing the Northwest Territory was passed May 7, 1800, and by its terms thanks to the activity of Mr. Worthington and others - Chillicothe was made the capital of the Territory of Ohio. There the second session of the first Territorial Legislature met on November 3, and Mr. Harrison's successor was elected. The damage to Col. Massie's speculations at Manchester, in Adams County, had begun the war of the "Virginia party," so called against the Governor; the question of forming a State began to be discussed,' and papers were circulated protesting against the Governor's reappointment at the expiration of his term in December. Mr. Worthington was one of the committee of three selected to set forth the position of the Legislature on the controversy with the Governor concerning the establishment of Counties and County seats. The Secretary of the Territory favored the Chillicothe or Virginia party, and to forestall any advantage to them the Governor dissolved the Legislature, December 9. Governor St. Clair was renominated December 22, 1800, but not confirmed until February 3, 1801, on account of the opposition of the Chillicothe party. Senator S. T. Mason, of Virginia, writes Mr. Worthington, giving him the news of the confirmation, saying that the charges, though various and some of a serious nature, Do., II, 488. 1 St. Clair Papers, II. 524-27. 2 Do., p. 526. 3 Do., p. 529. were not supported by the memorialists. He also says, "Should your next House of Representatives be of the character you expect, I should suppose they might petition the new President for the removal of the Governor, with effect, and could send proof and documents to support the charges against him.” The second Territorial Legislature met November 26, 1801. Mr. Worthington was on the Committee of Privileges and Elections, and that on Levying a Territorial Land Tax. On December 21 was introduced the act declaring the assent of the Territory to an alteration in the ordinance. The object of this was to make three Territories, with the Scioto as the western boundary of the eastern division. In a letter to Dudley Woolbridge, December 24, 1801, Gov. St. Clair says: "The bill * * * is passed and goes to Mr. Fearing to be laid before Congress. You cannot imagine the agitation it has created among the people here; and a petition to Congress against the measure, formed by a committee of this town, praying that Congress may not consent to it, is in circulation. Mr. Worthington and Mr. Baldwin are appointed to go to Washington to advocate the petition in person." Committees were also sent in favor of the Governor's position. The introduction of a bill changing the capital from Chillicothe to Cincinnati, and the fact that it would be passed by the union of the Miami Valley Delegates with those from Wayne County (Detroit), and Trumbull County (Cleveland, Warren), caused a riot, in which an attempt to burn the Governor in effigy was suppressed by "the splendid exertion of Mr. Worthington." The next evening the mob invaded the house where the Governor boarded, and "after they were once dispersed one of the most violent returned, and had not Mr. Worthington come in about the same time mischief would have ensued."" In the same letter the Governor says: "Can you not convey to him (President Jefferson) that I have but five enemies in the Territory except some they have misled, and who probably never saw me. These are Worthington, Tiffin, Massie, Darlington and Baldwin." Do., p. 531. 1 St. Clair's letter to Senator Ross. Do., p. 556. Worthington and Baldwin proceeded to Washington, and on January 30, 1802, Worthington laid before the President Col. Massie's ten charges against the Governor, "attacking his official and administrative integrity," together with an argument of his own in support of them. President Jefferson finally dismissed the charges. It soon appeared that Congress would not only take no action in support of the Act of the Legislature in reference to the boundaries, but that a little management would bring about an Act enabling the formation of a State. The desire for three Republican votes in the Electoral College after the close election of 1801 made the task comparatively easy, and in spite of the efforts of Mr. Fearing, the Delegate, and of the Federalists, the Act was passed April 30, 1802. "Congress, at the suggestion of Col. Worthington, had taken care to direct the time of holding an election for Delegates; had arranged the Districts, and proportioned the number of Delegates to each; and had provided that the Constitution so formed should not be submitted to the people for approval. They had also cut off the Detroit District, which was strongly Federal, and joined it to Indiana Territory."" Worthington returned home in May. In acknowledgment of his services illuminations were made through the Scioto Valley and salutes were fired about his house by his neighbors. The convention met November 1, 1802, at Chillicothe. All but two of the original opponents of the alteration of the boundaries were members, while of those who had advocated the measure but two or three were successful at the polls. On November 4 the Governor addressed the convention, and for his criticisms on Congress was removed by the President, with unnecessary insult, November 22, 1802. They performed this work in twenty-five days. Mr. Worthington was a member of this convention and was "second to none in influence." On the first day he was appointed chairman of the committee of five on Privileges and Elections, and one of the com 2 Ryan's History of Ohio, p. 57. 3 Wm. Henry Smith, St. Clair Papers, II, 580, Note. Taylor, Ohio in Congress, p. 24. |