- Source: Ohio Constitutional Convention (1802)
The Enabling Act of 1802 was passed on April 30, 1802, by the Seventh Congress of the United States. This act authorized the residents of the eastern portion of the Northwest Territory to form the state of Ohio and join the U.S. on an equal footing with the other states. In doing so it also established the precedent and procedures for creation of future states in the western territories.
Ohio was the first state to be created out of the Northwest Territories, as established by the Northwest Ordinance in 1787 in an act of the Continental Congress under the Articles of Confederation. The Northwest Ordinance laid out the conditions for the creation of a state from a territory. By the census of 1800, the easternmost part of the Northwest Territories had reached a population of 45,365 and it was believed it would reach the required 60,000 by 1803, when statehood would be achieved. The Enabling Act of 1802 set forth the legal mechanisms and authorized the people of Ohio to begin this process.
Elections of delegates were held in the various counties of the Eastern District of the Northwest Territory in 1802, and the delegates met from November 1 to November 29, 1802, to choose a name for the state and draft a state constitution.
List of delegates
Those who ratified the constitution November 29, 1802:
Edward Tiffin, President and delegate of Ross County
Adams County
Joseph Darlinton • Israel Donalson • Thomas Kirker
Belmont County
James Caldwell • Elijah Woods
Clermont County
Philip Gatch • James Sargent
Fairfield County
Henry Abrams • Emanuel Carpenter
Hamilton County
John W. Browne • Charles Willing Byrd • Francis Dunlavy • William Goforth
John Kitchel • Jeremiah Morrow • John Paul • John Reily
John Smith • John Wilson
Jefferson County
Rudolph Bair • George Humphrey • John Milligan • Nathan Updegraff
Bezaleel Wells
Ross County
Michael Baldwin • James Grubb • Nathaniel Massie • Thomas Worthington
Trumbull County
David Abbot • Samuel Huntington
Washington County
Ephraim Cutler • Benjamin Ives Gilman • John McIntire • Rufus Putnam
Note
Wayne County was left out of participating by the Congress. This was because it was populated by Federalists who would oppose statehood, while the apportionment was by the opposing party, according to one author.
References
Further reading
Milligan, Fred J. (2003). Ohio's Founding Fathers. Lincoln, Nebraska: iUniverse. ISBN 0-595-75039-7. OCLC 53472872. - biographies of the above participants.
Kata Kunci Pencarian:
- Alexander Hamilton
- Ohio Constitutional Convention (1802)
- Enabling Act of 1802
- Constitution of 1802
- John Smith (Ohio politician, died 1824)
- James Grubb
- Thomas Kirker
- Samuel Huntington (Ohio politician)
- Thomas Worthington (governor)
- Jeremiah Morrow
- John McIntire (pioneer)