Subject: Re: [OHIO] Wagon Roads to Ohio 1787-1820 From: glenys@sonic.net To: Maggie Stewart-Zimmerman 73777,25 Date: 4-Nov-98 14:44 OK, seems like lots of you would like to see more, can't believe the response in just a few minutes! Because there are several roads covered, I will start with the first page and just work through them, probably a day per road. First a brief overview: "The role of the Ohio Company, a private fur trading company which had its roots in Virginia, was in maintaining British control of the Forks of the Ohio River. These goals were accomplished in 1763 when France relinquished its claims to the great Mississippi and Ohio Valleys. After the French-Indian War these areas belonged solely to the British and the Mississippi River became the undisputed boundary between British and Spanish Territory. Britain surprised its American colonies with the Proclamation Line of 1763 which took away from the colonies the right to grant lands in the western areas; in fact, the King's proclamation prohibited colonials from crossing the line at all. A revolution took care of that antagonism, and soon after the creation of an American government, the expansion into the western regions became a matter of national policy. By their act of ratifying the Constitution of the United States, some of the thirteen states were not only agreeing to the creation of a new Federal Government, they were giving up their claims to their western lands. The states of Virginia, Massachusetts and Connecticut ceded their western lands to the US government and in 1787 a new "Territory Northwest of the Ohio River" was established by the Continental Congress. ... Why were the thirteen states ready to give up these lands so easily? ... They gave them up for a very simple reason - as a landowner, the Federal Government would have a source of revenue by selling off land - and the states could stop subsidizing this new federal monster they had created. "An an orderly plan for the sale of land emerged, a plan for the creation of new territories and states was developed by Congress. Since the primary source of revenue ... would be from the sale of land, migrations West of the Appalachian Mountains became a matter of national policy. "Any new territories created were to have a Governor appointed, and provisions were made for a militia to maintain order and protect immigrants moving into the new lands. Congress determined that a territory could petition to become a state if there were at least 20,000 people living there. As the first territory established in 1787, the Territory Northwest of the Ohio River became a proving ground for various methods of dividing land ... meanwhile some private land speculators got into the act. More coming .... -- >>Glenys Rasmussen<< http://www.sonic.net/~glenys/ >>"My home lies wide a thousand miles, In the Never-Never Land." (Henry Lawson)<<