itted. But on the other hand, if from any cause
the population of one of the smaller States should suddenly decrease,
might not the resulting influx of new States prove dangerous?

But the real reason why the ordinance remained a dead letter was that,
while it fixed the limits within which local governments might act,
it left the creation of those governments wholly to the future. At
Vincennes, for example, the ordinance made no change in the political
habits of the people. "The local government bowled along merrily under
this system. There was the greatest abundance of government, for the
more the United States neglected them the more authority their officials
assumed."* Nor could the ordinance operate until settlers became
numerous. It was partly, indeed, to hasten settlement that the Ordinance
of 1785 for the survey and sale of the public lands was passed.**

* Jacob Piat Dunn, Jr., "Indiana: A Redemption from Slavery,"
1888.

** Although the machinery was set in motion, by the appointment
of men and the beginning of work, it was not until 1789 that the survey
of the first seven ranges of townships was completed and the land
offered for sale.

In the meantime efforts were being made by Congress to improve the
unsatisfactory ordinance for the government of the West. Committees were
appointed, reports were made, and at intervals of weeks or months the
subject was considered. Some amendments were actually adopted, but
Congress, notoriously inefficient, hesitated to undertake a fundamental
revision of the ordinance. Then, suddenly, in July, 1787, after a brief
period of adjournment, Congress took up this subject and within a week
adopted the now famous Ordinance of 1787.

The stimulus which aroused Congress to activity seems to have come from
the Ohio Company. From the very beginning of the public domain there
was a strong sentiment in favor of using western land for settlement by
Revolutionary soldiers. Some of these lands had been offered as bounties
to encourage enlistment, and after the war the project of soldiers'
settlement in the West was vigorously agitated. The Ohio Company of
Associates was made up of veterans of the Revolution, who were looking
for homes in the West, and of other persons who were willing to support
a worthy cause by a subscription which might turn out to be a good
investment. The company wished to buy land in the West, and Congress had
land which it wished to sell. Under