| Warren County
Local History by Dallas Bogan |
| Contributor: |
Dallas Bogan on 29 September 2004 |
Source: |
The following is taken from Dallas Bogan's book, "The Pioneer Writings of Josiah Morrow." |
| Return to Index to see a list of other articles by Dallas Bogan |
In a recent discussion of the questions, when, how, and by whom the state
of Ohio was named, we arrived at the conclusion that our state was given its
name, not by congress, but by the constitutional convention at Chillicothe on
November 29, 1802, the day on which our first constitution was ratified and
subscribed.
We found that in the act of congress authorizing the formation of a state government
for what is now Ohio, no name for the new state is given but the inhabitants
were authorized to assume such name as they deemed proper, and as there never
was a territory called Ohio, this name designating a political division of the
United States is found for the first time in the preamble of our first state
constitution. It does not appear in any act of congress until February 19, 1803,
when congress first recognized the new state.
While this conclusion will hardly be questioned, it is a remarkable and interesting
fact that there has long been a difference of opinion as to the date when Ohio
became a state in the Union. This fact is all the more remarkable because Ohio
is the only one of the forty- eight states about which such a question has arisen.
The reason why the doubt exists as to Ohio is that congress never past an act
expressly admitting the state into the Union as was done with every other state
admitted into the original Union of thirteen states. Of every other state we
know the year and the day of its admission. In the case of Ohio, the difference
of opinion is shown by the various dates found in historical works and books
of reference from 1803 until the present time.
Half a dozen different dates of Ohio's becoming a state or admission into
the Union have been found. For some of these no good reason can be assigned,
and they are probably errors of writers or printers. Three of them are worthy
of consideration.
1. November 29, 1802, the day on which the convention that framed the state
constitution ratified it and adjourned. As the constitution was not submitted
to the people and Ohio became a state under it, this date is held by some to
be the date of the formation of a state government.
2. February 19, 1803, the date of the first act of congress recognizing the
state of Ohio. As there was no formal act of admission, this act is regarded
by many as the virtual act by which the state was admitted into the Union.
3. March 1, 1803, the day on which the first general assembly met at Chillicothe
and put into operation the machinery of a state government.
As to the first of these dates, it is to be said that however important the
formation of a constitution is in the organization of a state government it
is not all that is necessary, and congress is to decide whether a constitution
is republican in form and whether a new state is to be admitted into the Union.
We also find that President Jefferson on January 11, 1803, sent to the senate
nominations for the land office at "Marietta in the Northwestern Territory,"
so that the president of the United States, six weeks after signing of the constitution,
regarded Marietta as still in a territory and not in a state.
The third date, May 1, 1803, has been advocated by able men who have discust
the question. Rush R. Sloan, in a paper read at the Ohio Centennial celebration
argued in favor of this date and the Centennial Commission in adopting a resolution
to celebrate at Chillicothe the centennial of the organization of Ohio as a
state in the Union, declared that that date was March 1, 1803. As however congress
only can admit new states into the Union and as congress took no action at all
concerning Ohio on March 1, 1803, it is difficult to see how the meeting of
the legislature can elect the date of the admission of a state into the Union.
The largest number of writers who have considered the question favor the second
date, February 19, 1803. The first Ohio writer who investigated the question
was Edward D. Mansfield, professor of constitutional law in Cincinnati College,
who published his "Political Grammar" in 1836. In giving the dates
of the admission of states he says: "Ohio was received into the Union February
19, 1803." The first elaborate discussion of the question I have found
is by I.W. Andrews, president of Marietta College, in the Report of the Secretary
of State for 1879, and he ably and convincingly argues for the same date. President
Andrews gives evidence that the State Department at Washington at that time
recognized Ohio as a state. It's title is: An Act to provide for the due execution
of the laws of the United States within the state of Ohio." It is inconceivable
that congress would pass such an act unless Ohio was, in the opinion of congress,
a state in the Union. In the act Ohio is three times called "the state
of Ohio" and three times referred to as "the said state." In
the absence of any express act of congress for the admission of the new state
into the Union, it does seem that we are shut up to the conclusion that if Ohio
was ever admitted into the Union as a state it was on February 19, 1803, when
congress first recognized that there was a state in the Union called Ohio.
The first state legislature, on March 25, 1803 pre- scribed a device for the
state seal of Ohio. The device was a sheaf of wheat on the right and a bundle
of 17 arrows on the left; in the background a mountain and over it a rising
sun, the device to be surrounded by the words: The Great Seal of the State of
Ohio." In addition to these words, the early seals contained the date 1803
or 1802, which was placed on the seal without authority of law.
I have in my possession a number of commissions signed by governors of Ohio
and authenticated with the great seal of state. All of the earlier ones have
the date in Roman letters, "MDCCCIII." About twenty-five years after
Ohio became a state, a new seal was cut and the date on changed to "1802"
in Arabic figures. Who directed this change to be made in unknown. The date
"1802" remained on the great seal until 1866, when a new great seal
was procured in accordance with an act of the legislature of that year. Since
that time no date has appeared on Ohio's great seal.
If the earlier date, "MDCCCIII," was given as the beginning of Ohio's
statehood, it was correct. If the latter, "1802," was considered as
that of the adoption of the state's first constitution, it was correct, for
our first constitution has always been referred to as "the constitution
of 1802."
A very interesting document in my possession is the proclamation of Gov. Jacob
D. Cox, dated November 5, 1866, describing the new state seal which
would in the future be used in authenticating official documents of the executive
department. The pro-clamation has a clear impression of the new seal which had
been cut in steel in New York, and the neat signature of the governor J.D.
Cox, authenticated by the great seal which had before been used, and
which we may suppose was now used for the last time.
This is probably the only document which has impressions of two great seals
of the state of Ohio. The old seal had the date "1802," the new one
was without date.
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This page created 29 September 2004 and last updated
28 September, 2008
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