ad seized some Spanish goods on the
theory that if the Spanish would not allow the United States to navigate
the lower Mississippi, the Spanish should not be allowed to navigate the
upper Mississippi. John Rice Jones, later the first lawyer in Illinois,
was Clark's commissary.(107)

The Ordinance of 1787 was the only oil then at hand for these troubled
waters. The situation in Illinois was a complicated one, and probably the
numerical weakness of the population alone saved the country from
disastrous results. The few Americans in Illinois desired governmental
protection from the Spanish, the Indians, the British, and any Americans
who might seek to jump the claims of the first squatters; the few French
desired protection from the Spanish, the Americans, the British, and soon
from the Indians; the numerous Indians, permanent or transient, desired
protection from the Spanish, the Americans, and in rare cases from an
Americanized Frenchman. Americans, French, Spanish, British, and Indians
made an opportunity for many combinations.

For the French inhabitants, the somewhat paternal character of the
government provided for by the Ordinance was a matter of no concern. The
great rock of offense for them was the prohibition of slavery. An exodus
to the Spanish side of the Mississippi resulted and St. Louis profited by
what the older villages of Illinois lost.(108) In addition to a
justifiable feeling of uncertainty as to whether they would be allowed to
retain their slaves, the credulous French had their fears wrought upon by
persons interested in the sale of Spanish lands. These persons took pains
to inculcate the belief that all slaves would be released upon American
occupancy. The Spanish officials were also active. The commandant at St.
Louis wrote to the French at Kaskaskia, Cahokia, and Vincennes,
respectively, inviting them to settle west of the Mississippi and offering
free lands.(109) Mr. Tardiveau, the agent for the Illinois settlers to
Congress, tried to induce Congress to repeal the anti-slavery clause of
the Ordinance. He said that it threatened to be the ruin of Illinois.
Designing persons had told the French that the moment Gen. St. Clair
arrived all their slaves would be free. Failing in his efforts to secure a
repeal, he wrote to Gen. St. Clair, asking him to secure from Congress a
resolution giving the true intent of the act.(110) In this letter,
Tardiveau advanced the doctrine, later so much used, that the ev