of the original States, and now forming the States of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin. The original States severally laid claim to this territory by their charters, which granted possession from ocean to ocean. New York ceded her claims to this region to the General Government in 1782, and was followed by Virginia in 1784, Massachusetts in 1785, and Connecticut in 1786. The latter State, however, retained a small tract as the foundation for her school fund. This became known as the Western Reserve. Congress, in July, 1787, passed an ordinance for the government of this territory, and to the wise measures incorporated into that law the States formed from the territory are indebted for much that is wise and judicious in their constitutions. It is claimed by some that the foundations for future national greatness were laid by the manner in which Congress dealt with the question of territorial government at this time. A clause forbidding slavery after 1800 was at first voted down, but afterwards was adopted. The ordinance provided that no land should be taken up until it had been purchased from the Indians and offered for sale by the United States; no property qualification was to be required of electors or elected; a temporary government might be established until the male population of the territory reached 5,000, then a permanent representative government would be permitted, with a Representative in Congress entitled to debate but not to vote. When the inhabitants of any one of the five divisions of the territory, reached 60,000 it should be admitted as a State, these States to remain forever a part of the United States, pay their portion of the Federal debt, and in their government uphold republican forms and prohibit slavery; but fugitive slaves were to be surrendered. Arthur St. Clair was governor from 1788 to 1802."

NORTHWESTERN BOUNDARY.

[Messages and Papers of the Presidents, vol. 10, page 510.]

"The territory bounded on the north by latitude 54° 40', on the east by the Rocky Mountains, on the south by latitude 42°, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean, has been variously claimed by Russia, Spain, Great Britain, and the United States. Russia's claim rested for the most part upon occupation by fur traders, and was settled by a treaty of January 11, 1825, under the terms of which the United States were to make no settlements north of latitude 54° 40' and Russia none south of that latitude. England made a treaty with Russia on the same terms. By the treaty which ceded Florida in 1819, the Spanish claims were confined to the south of latitude 42°. This left the territory between 42° and 54° 40' to the Americans and English. Great Britain had no claim by discovery. The claim of the United States rested upon the voyage of Gray up the Columbia River in 1792 and the explorations of Lewis and Clarke through the Rocky Mountains and the Oregon country in 1805 and 1806 under the orders of Jefferson. By the treaty of October 20, 1818, the entire country west of the Rocky Mountains was to be open to both countries for ten years, and at the end of this period joint occupation for an indefinite time was agreed upon. This arrangement produced much dissatisfaction and was made a political issue in the United States in 1844. After considerable negotiation latitude 49° was agreed upon as the boundary from the Rocky Mountains to the channel between Vancouver Island and the mainland."

TIMES AT WHICH THE SEVERAL TERRITORIES WERE ORGANIZED, THE TERRITORIAL DESIGNATION, AND THE LENGTH OF TIME THEIR TERRITORIAL EXISTENCE CONTINUED.

DERIVATION OF NAMES OF THE TERRITORIES.

District of Columbia.

Alaska

Oklahoma

Indian: Great long river.

From Indian: Land of Indians.
.After Louis XIV of France.

.A collective term for a group of North American Indians.
Indian: "Illini," men, and French, "ois," tribe of men.
Indian: Muddy.

Indian: Here we rest.

Arc, a bow, prefixed to Kansas.

After Easter Sunday; Spanish, Pæocua-Florida.

Indian: Wild, rushing channel.

Franco-Indian: "Drowsy," applied to a tribe of Indians.
Spanish: Oregano.

Indian: Cloudy water.

Aztec: "Mexitli," the Aztec god of war.

Named after a tribe of Indians.

After the first President of the United States.
Indian: Water valley.

Indian: Smoky water.

.Spanish: Red, or colored.

354

Enabling the President of the United States to take possession of.. 16, 17, 26, 28
Remonstrance of the people of, against the political system adopted by
Congress for them

Revision of the political system adopted for

305

328

31

85

12

35

170

354

119

144

93

5, 10, 14, 31, 33, 328, 342, 346

11

208

333

74

16, 17, 26, 28

275

222
200

353

3

102

109

57

180

Oklahoma Territory

Ordinance of 1787-Northwest and Southwestern Territories, history of.

Protest of citizens of Louisiana against the system of government provided by
Congress for that Territory.

305

New political system for Louisiana; report of Representative John Randolph.
Extracts relating to Territorial government, from "The Public Domain; its
History," etc