NORTHWEST
TERRITORY
AND
NORTHWEST
ORDINANCE
WHEN THE UNITED
STATES BEGAN AS
A NATION ON
JULY 4, 1776,
WE HAD 13 STATES
IN THE UNITED
STATES.
THEY WENT FROM
THE ATLANTIC
COAST TO THE
APPALACHIANS.
WE FOUGHT IN A
REVOLUTIONARY
WAR AGAINST
ENGLAND FROM
APRIL 19, 1775 TO
OCTOBER 19, 1781.
FOLLOWING THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR
THE UNITED STATES SIGNED A TREATY
WITH GREAT BRITAIN (ENGLAND).
THIS TREATY WAS SIGNED IN PARIS,
FRANCE. THE TREATY WAS CALLED THE
TREATY OF PARIS - 1783.
THE FOLLOWING SLIDE IS AN UNFINISHED
PORTRAIT/PAINTING OF THE UNITED
STATES PEACE NEGOTIATORS AT PARIS.
AMONG THE NEGOTIATORS WERE
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN AND FUTURE
PRESIDENT, JOHN ADAMS.
WHEN THE
REVOLUTIONARY
WAR STARTED IN
1775, THE
UNITED STATES
WAS 13 STATES
IN SIZE WHICH
WENT FROM THE
ATLANTIC COAST
TO THE
APPALACHIAN
MOUNTAINS.
THE TERMS OF
THE TREATY OF
PARIS-1783 GAVE
THE UNITED
STATES MUCH
MORE LAND. THE
AREA OF THE
UNITED STATES
NOW WENT FROM
THE ATLANTIC
OCEAN TO THE
MISSISSIPPI RIVER
AND FROM THE
GREAT LAKES
ALMOST TO THE
GULF OF MEXICO.
NORTHWEST
TERRITORY
THE LAND TO
THE WEST OF
THE
APPALACHIAN
MOUNTAINS
AND TO THE
NORTH OF
THE OHIO
RIVER WAS
CALLED THE
NORTHWEST
TERRITORY.
THE UNITED STATES NATIONAL
GOVERNMENT AT THIS TIME WAS
THE ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION.
THE ARTICLES WAS NOT A GOOD
GOVERNMENT, BUT THIS
GOVERNMENT DID WRITE AND PASS
A GREAT LAW…
THE NORTHWEST
ORDINANCE
THIS IS A
COPY OF
THE FIRST
PAGE OF
THE
NORTHWEST
ORDINANCE.
HERE ARE SOME OF THE PARTS OF THE NORTHWEST ORDINANCE:
1) THE LAND COULD BE MADE INTO NO MORE THAN 5 STATES
AND NO FEWER THAN 3 STATES
2) THERE WAS A PLAN FOR ALL FUTURE STATES BECOMING
A PART OF THE UNITED STATES
3) THERE WAS NO SLAVERY ALLOWED IN THE NORTHWEST
TERRITORY
4) THERE WAS FREEDOM OF MOVEMENT FROM ONE PLACE
TO ANOTHER IN THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY
5) PUBLIC EDUCATION WAS TO BE PROVIDED FOR IN THE
LAND OF THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY
6) LAND WAS ORGANIZED INTO TOWNSHIPS WITH 36
SECTIONS EACH. EACH SECTION HAS 640 ACRES IN IT.
THOUSANDS OF SETTLERS FROM
THE 13 STATES STARTED MOVING
INTO THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY.
THE OHIO TERRITORY WAS THE
FIRST AREA WHERE THE SETTLERS
CAME TO LIVE, BUILD HOMES AND
FARMS.
MANY OF THE SETTLERS CAME TO
OHIO ON FLATBOATS DOWN THE
OHIO RIVER.
THE NATIVE AMERICAN INDIAN
TRIBES DID NOT WANT THEIR LAND
TAKEN BY THE SETTLERS.
THE TWO GROUPS FOUGHT WITH
EACH OTHER DURING THE NEXT 7
YEARS IN THE OHIO TERRITORY.
THESE BATTLES WERE CALLED THE
FRONTIER WARS.
THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT WAS
NOW UNDER THE CONSTITUTION.
PRESIDENT GEORGE WASHINGTON WANTED
THE THREAT TO SETTLEMENT BY THE
NATIVE AMERICANS STOPPED.
TWO ARMY GROUPS WERE SENT TO TRY TO
STOP THE INDIANS OF OHIO FROM
ATTACKING THE SETTLERS.
THE FIRST WAS UNDER THE COMMAND OF
JOSIAH HARMAR.
THE SECOND WAS UNDER THE COMMAND OF
ARTHUR ST. CLAIR.
THIS IS A
PICTURE OF
JOSIAH HARMAR.
THE FOLLOWING
3 SLIDES TELL
ABOUT THE
BATTLES BY
HARMAR’S
FORCES
AGAINST THE
INDIANS UNDER
THE COMMAND
OF CHIEF LITTLE
TURTLE OF THE
MIAMI INDIANS.
Harmar's Defeat
In 1790, Josiah Harmar, commander of the American
army in the Northwest Territory, was stationed at Fort
Washington (present-day Cincinnati). Henry Knox, the
Secretary of War, ordered Harmar to end the threat of
Indian attack in western Ohio. Harmar marched from Fort
Washington with 320 regular soldiers and roughly 1,100
militiamen -- primarily from Pennsylvania and Kentucky.
The militiamen were poorly trained. Many did not know
how to load and fire a musket; several others did not
even have a gun. Harmar was determined to destroy the
native villages near modern-day Fort Wayne, Indiana. He
intended to attack the Miami Indians, the Shawnee
Indians, and the Delaware Indians, along with other
natives located in western Ohio.
The natives fled their villages as Harmar's army approached.
The Americans burned several villages, but the Indians
regrouped. On October 20, the natives, led by Little Turtle, of
the Miami Indians, attacked a detachment from Harmar's army
led by Colonel John Hardin. Hardin's force consisted of several
hundred militiamen and a few regular soldiers. Hardin led his
men into an ambush. Most of the militiamen fled the battle
without even firing a shot. The regular soldiers put up a brief
resistance, but the natives killed most of them. Some of the
retreating militiamen did not stop until they crossed the Ohio
River into Kentucky. Harmar sent out another detachment after
Little Turtle's warriors two days later. Once again, the natives
inflicted heavy casualties upon the Americans. Harmar
immediately retreated to the safety of Fort Washington. He had
lost 183 men killed or missing in his campaign. It became
known as Harmar's Defeat. In 1791, the United States army
convened a court-martial against Harmar. He was accused him
of wrongdoing during the campaign, including being drunk on
duty. The court-martial exonerated him of all charges, but
Harmar retired from the army on January 1, 1792.
Harmar's actions in western Ohio
only heightened tensions between
the white settlers and the Indians.
Following Harmar's defeat, native
attacks against settlers increased.
In 1791, Arthur St. Clair led
another campaign against the
natives in western Ohio, hoping to
succeed where Harmar had failed.
FORID:9
00849439
THIS IS A PICTURE OF THE
GREAT OHIO INDIAN CHIEF,
LITTLE TURTLE, FROM THE
MIAMI TRIBE.
IN TWO SEPARATE
BATTLES AGAINST THE
UNITED STATES ARMY,
LITTLE TURTLE DEFEATED
THE AMERICANS IN 1790
WITH HARMAR’S DEFEAT.
IN 1791, HE LED HIS INDIAN
FORCES IN A DEFEAT OF
ARTHUR ST. CLAIR IN ST.
CLAIR’S DEFEAT.
FORID:9
00849439
THIS IS A PICTURE
OF ARTHUR ST.
CLAIR.
HE LED A GROUP
OF U.S. SOLDIERS
AGAINST THE OHIO
INDIANS LED BY
MIAMI CHIEF,
LITTLE TURTLE.
THE NEXT 3 PAGES
GIVE THE DETAILS
OF ST. CLAIR’S
DEFEAT IN 1792.
•St. Clair's Defeat
St. Clair's Defeat was a major confrontation between
the armed forces of the United States and the Native
Americans of the Northwest Territory.
To protect settlers and to force the Indians to abide
by the Treaty of Fort Harmar, Arthur St. Clair, the
governor of the Northwest Territory, ordered the
construction of forts in what is now western Ohio. St.
Clair moved against the Indians living near presentday Ft. Wayne Indiana, in September 1791. His men
left Fort Washington, near Cincinnati, on September
17. The men marched twenty miles in two days and
then built Fort Hamilton. St. Clair's army then
advanced forty-five miles northward, where his men
built Fort Jefferson.
Leading primarily untrained militiamen, St.
Clair faced problems with desertion from
the beginning of his campaign. Although it
was still early fall, his men faced cold
temperatures, rain and snowfall. St. Clair
also had a difficult time keeping his
soldiers supplied with food. His men
became demoralized. Despite these
problems, St. Clair continued to advance
against the Miami Indians. By November 3,
his men had arrived on the banks of the
Wabash River, near some of the Miami
villages.
St. Clair's Defeat
Little Turtle led his warriors against the Americans on
the morning of November 4. Many of the militiamen
under St. Clair immediately fled. St. Clair led the regular
soldiers in a bayonet charge. St. Clair had two horses
shot out from under him. Several bullets passed through
his clothing and one took off a lock of his hair. The
Indians surrounded the Americans camp. After three
hours of fighting, the remaining American soldiers
fought through the Indians and began a lengthy retreat.
The survivors reached Fort Jefferson late that afternoon
and evening. With limited quantities of food and
supplies at Fort Jefferson, St. Clair ordered his forces to
Fort Washington. The Indians had soundly defeated St.
Clair's army.
More than 600 soldiers and scores of
women and children were killed in the battle,
called St. Clair's Defeat, the "Columbia
Massacre," or the "Battle of the Wabash." It
was the greatest defeat of the American
army by Native Americans in history with
some 623 American soldiers killed in action
as opposed to about 50 dead braves. After
this debacle, he resigned from the Army at
the request of President Washington, but
continued to serve as Governor of the
Northwest Territory.
ALARMED BY THE DEFEAT OF
THE AMERICAN ARMIES UNDER
THE COMMANDS OF HARMAR
AND ST. CLAIR, PRESIDENT
GEORGE WASHINGTON PUT
GENERAL “MAD” ANTHONY
WAYNE IN CHARGE OF TRAINING
AN ARMY FORCE TO DEFEAT
THE INDIANS IN OHIO.
This is a portrait of Anthony Wayne. He was a
successful army commander during the
Revolutionary War.
There are several explanations for his
nickname “Mad” Anthony. One explanation is
how wild he was in attacking the British in the
Revolutionary War. Another explanation is he
was called “mad” when he punished an
American spy.
A final explanation is he was wounded in the
head and a metal plate was put over the
wound. From time to time General Wayne was
affected by seizures and fainting spells which
are were attributed to the head wound and
plate.
Whatever his nickname was President George
Washington thought General Wayne was the
right man to solve the Indian problems in the
Northwest Territory.
General Wayne trained his troops here at Fort Washington,
the site of present day Cincinnati. The area between Paul
Brown Stadium and the Great American Ball Park is where
Fort Washington was located.
After training his men, who were
called the “Legion of the United
States,” Wayne led his men to a
location in west central Ohio and
built a fort there. He called it Fort
Recovery.
The next slide shows the location
of Fort Recovery in Ohio.
There is a full size
reproduction of
Fort Recovery
located at a state
memorial there.
General Wayne moved 250 soldiers to Fort
Recovery. They were attacked by 1,500
Indians from the Delaware, Ottawa, Miami
and other tribes under the leadership of
Little Turtle in June, 1794
The soldiers were able to outlast the
Indians and hold on to the Fort. Wayne’s
men fought brilliantly. Little Turtle said
General Wayne was “the General who
does not sleep.” Little Turtle encouraged
the Indians to settle for peace, but many
did not listen to him.
General
Wayne then
ordered the
soldiers
moved
north in
August,
1794 to
build a new
fort he
called Fort
Defiance.
Later in August, 1794,
the Battle of Fallen
Timbers took place.
The battle lasted less
than an hour, but the
Indians were
completely defeated.
As a result the Treaty of
Greenville was signed in 1795.
The Native Americans received
the northwest part of Ohio. All
the eastern and southern part of
Ohio was open for settlement by
new settlers without interference
from the Indians.
This map
shows all the
movement of
General
Wayne’s
soldiers and
the forts that
were built.
The next two slides show paintings
of the signing of the Treaty of
Greenville.
The first painting is a very large
painting you can see in the capital
building in Columbus, Ohio.
The second painting is a more
realistic look at what the treaty
signing really looked like.
The next slide shows the actual
Treaty of Greenville signed in
1795.
Notice the different colors of wax
at the bottom of the treaty.
These show different individuals
representing different tribes who
signed the treaty bringing about
peaceful settlement in Ohio.
Now the land was divided up into townships.
Each township was 6 miles square.
The 36 squares in the township were each 640
acres in size.
One of the squares was reserved for Public
Education where a school was to be built.
The next slide shows a plan for a typical
township.
The location
for
government
buildings was
usually in the
middle of the
township so
everyone in
the township
could get
there in a day
by walking.
The Northwest
Ordinance also said
there was to be:
1)No slavery allowed in
any of the new states
created from the
Northwest Territory
2) Complete freedom of
movement from one
part of the territory to
another without tolls or
taxes
3) A method for bringing
in new states into the
United States
The following steps were to be followed to
become a new state in the United States:
1)A governor and 3 judges governed the territory
until…
2) 5,000 free men elected a legislature (law making
group) to make laws for the territory
(A representative from the territory was sent to the
United States capital to represent the new
territory.)
3) When 60,000 free men moved to the territory a
constitution ( a plan of government) for the new
states was written
4) When the constitution was written the new
territory could ask the Congress of the United
States to become a new state in the United
States
The Northwest
Ordinance was a
GREAT law for our
country guiding the
United States in its
growth for the future.