The Northwest Ordinance: Constitutional Politics and the Theft of Native Land

224 Pages·2017·5.199 MB·English

by  Robert Alexander

The Northwest
Ordinance
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The Northwest
Ordinance
Constitutional Politics
and the Theft of Native Land
R A
ObeRT lexANdeR
Foreword by STAughTON lyNd
McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers
Jefferson, North Carolina
Illustration Credits:The Northwest Territory. Map by ellen R. White.
Fort Stanwix Treaty Line. Map by ellen R. White. Jefferson-Hartley Map.
Courtesy of the William l. Clements library, university of Michigan.
Draft of the Northwest Ordinance. Papers of the Continental Congress
(National Archives); digital image courtesy of Fold3. The Ohio Country,
1787. Map by ellen R. White.
libRARyOFCONgReSSCATAlOguiNg-iN-PubliCATiONdATA
Names: Alexander, Robert, 1949– author.
Title: The Northwest Ordinance : constitutional politics and the theft
of native land / Robert Alexander ; foreword by Staughton lynd.
description: Jefferson, North Carolina : McFarland & Company, inc.,
Publishers, 2017. | includes bibliographical references and index.
identifiers: lCCN 2017002543 | iSbN 9781476665191 (softcover : acid
free paper)
♾
Subjects: lCSh: united States. Ordinance of 1787. | Northwest, Old—
history—1775–1865.
Classification: lCC e309 .A44 2017 | ddC 977/.02—dc23
lC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017002543
bRiTiShlibRARyCATAlOguiNgdATAAReAvAilAble
ISBN (print) 978-1-4766-6519-1
ISBN (ebook) 978-1-4766-2761-8
© 2017 Robert Alexander. All rights reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form
or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying
or recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system,
without permission in writing from the publisher.
On the cover: Fort harmar, from bensing J. lossing, e Pictorial
History Book of the War of 1812(New york, 1868), p. 39
Printed in the united States of America
McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers
Box 611, Jefferson, North Carolina 28640
www.mcfarlandpub.com
For Katie
The Northwest Territory
Table of Contents
Foreword by Staughton Lynd 1
Preface 7
Introduction 9
1. The year 1787 had Started 17
2. Meanwhile in Philadelphia 24
3. beginning with the Treaty of lancaster 30
4. Now back to the Constitutional Convention 44
5. A brief history of the united illinois and Wabash
land Company 53
6. under the Articles of Confederation 59
7. Philadelphia in July 67
8. history of the Anti- Slavery Clause 73
9. New york in July 1787 86
10. Treaty at the Mouth of the great Miami 95
11. back to Philadelphia 105
12. logan’s Raid 120
13. back in New york 128
Appendix A. Abraham Yates’s Solitary Vote Against
the Northwest Ordinance 137
Appendix B. Johnson v. M’intosh 149
Appendix C. Speech of the United Indian Nations 154
vii
viii Table of Contents
Appendix D. Complete Text of the Northwest Ordinance
and the Resolve of 1784 157
Chapter Notes 165
Bibliography 195
Index 209
Foreword
by Staughton lynd
The Northwest Ordinance, writes James Oakes, “occupied an almost
sacred place in the constitutional politics of the antislavery movement.” it
was “the statutory link between the abolitionists and the Founders, its very
language eventually reproduced in the Thirteenth Amendment that would
abolish slavery forever.”1even today, the Northwest Ordinance serves to keep
alive the notion that the Founders wished to put an end to slavery as soon
as possible, and in the Northwest Ordinance took the longest step toward its
abolition possible at the time.
in this book Robert Alexander suggests that, notwithstanding a revealing
comment by President James Madison to his secretary edward Coles,2 his-
torians have failed to confront overwhelming evidence that the Northwest
Ordinance provides “an intimate link between the two original sins of the
nation: the enslavement of millions of African men, women and children—
and the theft of millions of acres of Native land.”
how shall we evaluate the head- on conflict between these contrasting
images of the Northwest Ordinance? An obvious place to begin is the text of
the Ordinance. The Ordinance (reproduced as Appendix d) begins with elab-
orate, detailed instructions for the future government of the area between
the Allegheny Mountains on the east, the great lakes on the North, the Mis-
sissippi River on the West, and the Ohio River on the South. This huge tract
of land became a “territory,” that is, a possession but not yet a state, of the
united States in the treaty with great britain ending the war for independ-
ence.
With respect to the Native Americans who inhabited the Northwest and
claimed it as their own, the Northwest Ordinance declares:
The utmost good faith shall always be observed towards the indians, their lands and
property shall never be taken from them without their consent; and in their property,
1