KENTUCKY.

This State was formerly included within the territorial limits of Virginia, and remained a wilderness until within a few years of the American Revolution. Reports of its great natural fertility having been circulated by pioneer explorers, settlers from the older districts of Virginia and North Carolina began to find their way into the country, and, although exposed to Indian hostilities, these settlements continued to increase in strength and numbers.

Among those whose attention was attracted to this region, was Col. Richard Henderson, who, with certain associates, made an extensive purchase from the Indians on the south side of the Kentucky river in 1775, without first obtaining the consent of Virginia, and apparently without intending to seek for any further title than that acquired from the natives. The associates opened a land office, and proceeded to issue deeds. This proceeding was denounced by Governor Dunmore as illegal, and the same lands were offered for sale by him, under authority from the Crown.

To strengthen their claims, the associates and settlers holding under them called a Convention at Boonsboro', May 23, 1775, and organized themselves as the "Assembly of Transylvania." A compact was entered into between the proprietors and the settlers, courts were established, the militia organized, and laws passed. Their boundaries were very indefinite, and included parts of Western Virginia and North Carolina. At a meeting called in Oxford, Granville Co., N. C., in September, 1775, a Delegate was appointed to represent them in the Continental Congress. He was well received by some of the members; but, as the country was claimed to be within the bounds of Virginia, nothing was done toward admitting him to a seat. The purchase made by Henderson and his associates, was declared null and void by the Legislature of Virginia, although, to quiet his claims, they granted him two hundred thousand acres at the mouth of Green river. The State of Virginia, however held, that the Indian rights had been extinguished by the transaction, and that the title thus became vested in the State. The authority of Virginia was accepted; all parties thenceforth looked to her for their titles, and nothing more was heard of the young Republic of Transylvania.

In December, 1776, the Legislature of Virginia took the first step toward the civil organization of its western territory south of the Ohio, by erecting Kentucky county, embracing all the country west of Big Sandy creek, and extending to the Mississippi river.

In 1781, this county was subdivided into three counties, and early in 1783, this region was formed into a "District," co-extensive with the present State of Kentucky, and provided with a court of limited civil and criminal jurisdiction; its decisions being subject to appeal to the State courts, at the seat of State Government.

These counties were represented in the Virginia Legislature: but they were rather a remote and isolated colony, than an integral part of the Commonwealth. In the trial of capital offenses, her officers had to travel five hundred miles or more with prisoners, prosecutors and witnesses; communication with the seat of government on appeals, and in other cases, was attended with great delay and expense, and sometimes months would elapse, before the local authorities could communicate with the Executive upon civil or military affairs. During the

revolutionary war, the settlements had constantly increased, notwithstanding Indian hostilities, in repelling which, the settlers were forced to rely upon themselves; and this habit of self-reliance, naturally led then to look forward in the hope of securing an independent civil organization, at no distant period.

In the autumn of 1784, the settlements were alarmed by rumors of an invasion by hostile Cherokees, and it being found that the local authorities had no power to legally organize a military force adequate to the occasion, it was deemed advisable to call a meeting of Representatives from the various settlements, to meet at Danville on the 27th of December, 1784, for a full consideration of their circumstances, and of the remedies proper for their relief. Twenty-five Delegates, elected by Militia Districts, attended, and after a session of ten days— during which the business was "conducted with great decorum" -- they adjourned sine die. While some believed that the State of Virginia might remove some of the causes of complaint, others insisted that nothing short of separation would secure the needed relief. The Convention recommended that the people, at their next April elections, should choose Representatives, to meet at Danville, for the purpose of considering the subject of separation, and asking permission to become an independent State. There being no printing-press in the District, written circulars were prepared to inform the people as to the purposes of the Convention.

On the 23d of May the second Convention met, and on the ninth day of their session resolutions were adopted for an application to the Assembly of Virginia, praying that the District might be established as a separate State, and for an election of Delegates to be held in Danville, on the second Monday of August, to serve in Convention, and to continue, by adjournment, until the first day of April next, to take further under their consideration the state of the District. This election was to be held on the principles of equal representation by numbers―a feature then unknown in the Constitution of Virginia, in which it was based upon counties. In the absence of census returns, the numbers could only be ascertained from tithe lists and muster-rolls. The petition to Virginia was temperate and respectful in its language, and asked that, in accordance with the intention expressed in the Constitution of that State,' a separation might occur, so that a Constitution might be formed; that any proportion of public debt that might exist should be apportioned between them by Commissioners appointed upon each side, and that should any differences arise, they should be settled by Congress, as provided by the Articles of Confederation. It was proposed that the several acts of Assembly that might be in force at the time of separation - together with the common law of England, and all statutes or acts of Parliament made in aid of the common law prior to the fourth year of James I which were of a general nature, not local in their application nor repealed by the Legislature of Virginia — should be continued until repealed by law.

The Convention met on the 8th of August, 1785, and agreed upon resolutions more energetic in style, and a memorial more pointed in its terms, than the former. They claimed separation as a matter of right, and appointed a committee to present and urge the passage of a bill in the Virginia Legislature.

An act was accordingly passed by the Virginia Legislature, at the October session, 1785, permitting the formation of a separate State, but coupled with conditions which led to much delay, and tended to produce irritation and dis

1 Alluding to the following provision in the first Constitution of Virginia :

"The western and northern extent of Virginia shall, in all other respects, stand-as fixed by the charter of King James I, in the year 1600, and by the public treaty of peace between the courts of Great Britain and France, in the year 1763-unless by act of this Legislature one or more governments be established westward of the Alleghany mountains."

content. The question as to separation was to be decided by the people, in a Convention to be held at Danville on the fourth Monday of September, 1786. A portion of the delegates met, but Indian hostilities prevented a quorum from assembling. They, however, kept themselves in existence as a Convention, by adjournments, until January, 1787, when they organized, and declared that it was expedient to form a State, upon the terms of the act.

At this crisis another act of Virginia, passed at the October session of 1786, was received, in which, after reciting that the Representatives had been hindered by unforeseen events from meeting at the time proposed, and that, in consequence, no decision could now take place within the time necessary for its receiving the assent of Congress prior to the first day of June next, as required by the act under which they had been elected, it proceeded to appoint another Convention, to take a new expression of the popular will. The new Convention was to meet on the third Monday in September, and the members might continue in appointment for one year. It was provided, that if two-thirds of the members did not assemble within the first fifteen days, then any number, in which a majority of the whole concurred in the vote, was competent to decide upon the questions before them.

The inability of Congress under the Confederation, with its feeble powers, and in the exhausted condition of the country, to afford adequate protection to the inhabitants against Indian hostilities, was construed by some into intended neglect. This feeling was increased by circulars purporting to come from "a Committee of Correspondence in the Western Part of Pennsylvania," stating that the right of navigation of the Mississippi was about to be bartered for a term of twenty-five or thirty years to Spain, in exchange for some commercial advantages from which the western country would derive no benefit. A circular addressed to every county, dated March 29, 1787, was issued, calling a Convention in May, to protest against this measure. The rumor naturally excited alarm, and the Convention met at Danville at the appointed time. Upon learning that the Legislature of Virginia had already taken measures to assert, in the strongest terms, the rights of her western citizens to the free navigation of the Mississippi, they considered their business as anticipated, and adjourned without day.

These rumors were doubtless started to favor a scheme, then in progress, to create a dissatisfaction toward Congress and the Atlantic States, and to encourage an independent State, with the view of friendly adjustment of privileges of navigation with the Spaniards of Louisiana, who, it is believed, offered the aid of money, arms and troops, to assist in the separation, with the design of ultimate annexation to their province. The party in this intrigue was active; some of its members were quite artful and influential, and their efforts were continued down to near the period of the final admission of Kentucky into the Union. An emissary from Canada also appeared in the District, offering favorable terms of union, but the people generally, notwithstanding their frequent disappointments, still remained loyal to the existing government, and confident in the final success of their efforts for the establishment of a State.

The Convention, appointed to decide upon a separation, met at Danville on the 17th of September, 1787, almost without an absent member. It was decided unanimously, and with but little debate, that separation was expedient upon the terms prescribed by law. A respectful and loyal address was prepared for Congress, and the last day of December, 1788, was fixed upon for the end of the authority of Virginia and the beginning of a new State. Neither the State of Virginia nor the people were addressed, but the journal was published, and a copy was sent to the Governor of Virginia for his information. It was also

resolved that another Convention should be elected, to declare what laws were to be in force until others were adopted under the legislative authority of the new State, and for preparing a Constitution.

The petition of the Convention was considered in Congress, and on the 3d of June, 1788, that body declared it expedient that the request should be granted; but, as the Constitution of the United States was then in course of adoption, with every prospect of success, and as the addition of a new State would only delay the consummation of this desirable neasure, Congress declined to take further action until the organization of a new government.

The Convention for drafting a Constitution met at Danville, on the 28th of July, 1788, and, while in session, received intelligence that Congress had declined taking any action for the present, preferring to leave the question to the new government. This news, as disagreeable as it was unexpected, raised new difficulties, and encouraged those concerned in the Spanish intrigues to new artifices. It appearing that the State could not be admitted into the Union for the present, they saw fit to regard their powers as dissolved; yet, being anxious for the safety and welfare of their constituents, they earnestly recommended to the people that an election should be held in October, for a Convention to meet at Danville on the first Monday of November, 1788, to continue in office until the first day of January, 1790, and that they delegate to their Representatives full powers to take such measures for obtaining the admission of the District into the Union, and the free navigation of the Mississippi, as might appear most conducive to those ends; and also to form a Constitution and organize a State government, as they might judge necessary; or to do and accomplish whatsoever, on a consideration of the state of the District, might in their opinion promote its interests.

The clause granting this ambiguous power, was doubtless introduced by the management of those in the Spanish interest. The Convention met November 3, 1783, and party intrigue was exerted to the utmost to forward this object. The majority, however, decided upon another memorial to Virginia, and the Convention adjourned without day.

Another act concerning the erection of Kentucky into a State, was passed by Virginia December 29, 1788, it being judged that such a partition of the Commonwealth was rendered expedient, by the remote situation of the more fertile and populous part of the said District, and by the interjacent natural impediments to a convenient and regular communication therewith. The question was, however, to be decided by a Convention to be elected in May, and to meet at Danville on the 20th of July, 1789. Certain conditions were laid down for their acceptance, and the Convention was to remain in power one year. Among the terms proposed, which proved very unsatisfactory, was one requiring that the new State should pay a portion of the public and domestic debt of Virginia then existing, and another providing that, in the granting of county lands to Virginia officers and soldiers, that State should retain the power of deciding upon the time for completing these titles. In short, this act, while it was strongly opposed by some, was entirely satisfactory to none.

The Convention met July 20, 1789, as appointed, and agreed upon resolutions declaring that the terms offered by Virginia had been materially altered to their disadvantage, and that they were injurious and inadmissible. They prepared a memorial asking for such alterations as might make them equal to those formerly offered and agreed upon.

This led to another act, passed on the 18th of December, 1789, in which the objections were removed, and another Convention was ordered to be elected in May, and to meet at Danville on the 26th of July, 1790, to consider and decide

upon the question of separation upon certain conditions, which were more favorable than the former; but which still depended upon an event beyond the control of either. This was, that prior to the date fixed for the termination of the authority of Virginia, Congress should release that State from all its Federal obligations arising from the said District, as being a part thereof, and that it should agree that the proposed State should immediately, after such date, be admitted into the Federal Union.

To the end that no period of anarchy might happen, it was provided that the Convention should have authority to take the necessary measures for the election and meeting of another Convention, at some day prior to the day fixed for the ending of the authority of Virginia, and of its laws over said District, with full power to frame and establish a fundamental Constitution of government for the proposed State, and to declare what laws should be in force therein, until the same should be abrogated or altered by the Legislative authority acting under the Constitution so to be framed and established.

The Convention appointed for July, 1790, met; declared separation expedient; accepted the proposed terms, and appointed the first day of June, 1792, as the date when the new State was to begin operation. It also prepared an address to the General Assembly of Virginia, and a memorial to the President and Congress, and appointed an election of Delegates to the Convention for preparing a Constitution.

By an act approved February 4, 1791, Congress declared its consent to the admission of the State-the act to take effect on the day already fixed by the Convention; although the Constitution of the proposed State was still unwritten and its general terms undecided.

The Convention for executing this task was elected in December, 1791, and met at Danville on the 2d of April, 1792; and, on the 19th of that month, ratified, by their adoption an I signatures, the first State Constitution, which was soon after published, and went into operation without further ratification by the people. Thus, after four Enabling Acts by the State of Virginia, and ten Conventions elected by the people, the State of Kentucky was allowed to take her place in the Union upon equal terms with the original States.

The boundary between Kentucky and Virginia was agreed upon by Commissioners in May, 1799, and was confirmed by the former State December 2, 1799, and by the latter January 13, 1800. The boundary with Tennessee was settled by Commissioners of the two States, assembled at Frankfort, February 2, 1820, and approved by a joint resolution of Congress May 12th of that year.

The first Constitution is said to have been drafted by Col. George Nicholas, the first Attorney-General of the State, a Delegate from Mercer county, and a leading man in the District. In many of its provisions, the instrument differed from that of the parent State, while in others it resembled that of the United States.

Representation was based upon a quadrennial census of the free male inhabitants above the age of 21 years. The General Assembly consisted of a Senate and House of Representatives. The former was to consist at first of eleven members, but afterward of one Senator from each county, elected once in four years by Electors chosen for the purpose, and equal in number to the Representatives. They were not divided into classes. The House consisted of not less than 40 nor more than 100 Representatives, elected annually by the people. The Governor was to be chosen once in four years by the Electors for Senators. He had the veto power, subject to reversal by two-thirds of both Houses, and, with the concurrence of the Senate, appointed all officers not otherwise specially provided for by the Constitution. His pardoning power was limited only in cases