itle of the United States to the northwestern territory,
not only by grants to the English colonies, but by conquest in war,
and actual possession at the time of the negotiations. The British
insisted on making the Ohio River a boundary of the United States.
Mr. Adams said that sooner than yield the western territory he
would exhort his countrymen to continue the war as long as they
could keep a soldier in the field. Mr. Jay was equally determined,
and finally the line of the lakes was agreed to.

The treaty of peace recognized the St. Lawrence, the lakes and the
49th parallel of latitude as the dividing line between the United
States and Canada. But the question arose whether the western
territory was the property of the United States as the result of
their joint struggle for independence, or of the several states
under the grants of the English crown. This dangerous controversy
delayed the formation of the federal government; but it was happily
settled by the cession of the territory to the United States, with
or without conditions and reservations, by the several states
claiming western lands.

As a part of this cession and settlement, and almost equal in
importance to the constitution of the United States, was the
celebrated ordinance organizing the northwestern territory. This
ordinance guaranteed the subdivision of the territory into states,
and secured to them, by a perpetual compact, the forms and substance
of a republican government, a proper disposition of the public
lands, and the formal prohibition of slavery in the territories,
and may be properly considered the commencement of the history of
the State of Ohio.

We may here pause to consider the condition, topography and
characteristics of the Territory, now the State, of Ohio in 1787,
when the first territorial government was organized by Congress.
It was bounded on the south and east by the Ohio River, touching
on its northeast border the States of Pennsylvania and New York;
on the north by Lake Erie, and on the west by an arbitrary line
not then defined, and contained about 40,000 square miles. Its
topography may be described as an elevated plain, its highest
elevation being 1,540 feet above the sea, its lowest depression
being 440 feet above the sea, and its mean altitude about 800 feet
above the sea. It is traversed by the comb of a watershed between
the river and the lakes, running from northeast to southwest across
the state, much nearer