The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-03-14

Year--Substance of the interest
ing Paper That Was Read.
| The executive committee Of the Mime
sofa State Historical society held its reg
ular monthly meeting at the state house
last evening. John A. Berkey, of Little
Fails, was elected a life member at the
council meeting preceding the open ses-
sion, and the others elected to member
ship for one year were Prof W. w.
Truesdale. Of st. Paul, and Norton T.
Brand, of Browns Valley:
Secretary Upham reported that 376
books and pamphlets had been received
by the society as donations during Feb
ruary.
The following were present: Gen. J. B.
Sanborn, G.. N. Akers. Russell Blakeley,
w. H. Grant, Prof F. M. Anderson, ].
B. CLANCY, N. P. Langford, E. S. Chit
tenden. Maj. and Mrs. Pierce, Col. w. P.
Clough. John Espey, c.. E. Flandrau,
John D. Ludden, H. P. Upham, ]. v.
Brewer, Mr.. and Mrs. Warren Upham,
David L. Kingsbury, and Capt. J. c.
Donahower.
Maj. Jas. o. Pierce read an interesting
and instructive paper on Some Legacies
Of the Ordinance of 1887" He said In
part:
It is not often easy to place the finger
5upon the precise period when a people
has become nation, or upon the final
act which made its UGH, or upon the final
governmental processes are gradual. We
can see a people at a certain date I'M
formed, with no institutions permanent
ly established, and we cannot ascribe to
1t statehood. At later period we see 1t
a fully formed nation. But in the inter-
vening period we note only general
progress from the earlier status toward
the later without being able to indicate
any precise date as that when the change
occurred.
Granting that from 1776 to 1889 the peo-
pie might have chosen and that they were
In the process of choosing between q
league and national existence, the ordi-
nance of 1887 may now be looked to as
an evidence that the people had deter
mined to constitute themselves nation.
Other steps had already been taken
which indicated such choice, but they
were not necessarily irrevocable or final.
The Declaration Of independence itself,
processing to be the act Of lone people,"
seemed TO imply the establishment of a
nation composed of thirteen states, and
it has often been urged that we were
born United States" So the continental
congress, which was the sole head Of
the revolutionary government, raised
continental army and placed a general
at it's head created continental navy,
sent diplomats abroad, negotiated and
executed treaties and discharged other
functions belonging only to nation. 1t
Is argued that all these actions were
compulsory, because Of the war then ex-
listing, and that they therefore do not
indicate deliberate choice. Perhaps the
people all the time intended these as
only temporary expedients.
/ In the ordinance of 1887 we find a de-
| liberate choice made after discussion,
commencing in the time of war, but end
ing in the time of peace. There was do
mestic discussion, there were diverse
views, there were several drafts Of or
dinances for the government of the
Northwestern territory. What was done
after all this consideration, not under
pressure Of foreign war; may be taken
as the final determination of the people.
This ordinance Is an act of a distinctly
and unequivocally national character. By
IT there was placed upon our institutions
and our. government the stamp of ma
tionality. This was before the federal
convention at Philadelphia had complet-
ed their draft of constitution. 1t, was
| fore ordained that that instrument must
be the constitution of a nation.
The precedent discussion involved the
| determination of this precise question.
| The matter under dispute has been the
| proper control of the unsettled western
| lands, over which, as result of the war,
| Great Britain reinquished authority.
Four of the states claimed some of these
| lands, and Virginia, whose claims SEEM
| ed most plausible, claimed all. Before
| the war had closed, the smaller colonies,
| with Maryland in the lead, were resist
| ing the Virginia theory, and claiming
! that the western lands belonged to the
| ,,vfo o. ,fo oil h. e,to f@r
united had wrested them from Great
| Britain. Maryland had declined to ratify
| the articles of confederation unless her
| position in regard to the western lands
| was adopted, and she yielded her assent
| to those articles only when assured that
| those lands would be coded to the gen
| eral government. 1t is true that Vir-
ginia and the other colonies voluntarily
| ceded their claims to these lands to the
| United States. But 1t is clear that they
! did so in response to that demand and
| for the sake of cementng and perfecting
! the union of the states. So the question
becomes pertinent, upon what legal
| ground was the claim of Maryland based?
To what theory did Virginia and New
! York, Massachusetts and Connecticut
| yield when they chose to cede the lands?
Under the English laws the colonies
were crown property. They belonged to
! the sovereign. All the American charters
| were DdSeu upon lIllS principle. 1t was
| the war and the victory of the Americans
which had secured these western lands
| by the grant in the treaty of peace The
| respective colonial charters gave their
! holders title only to such lands as they
| had respectively occupied with their set
/ Elements, which reached only to the Ohio
| river And as 1t was by war and con-
| quest, carried on by united people, that
| these lands had been acquired, who had
! thereby succeeded as sovereign to the
rights of King George III? Manifestly,
| the people of the United States that
| power which had conquered the lands
| from him.
| 1t would have been a retrograde move
| ment had the federal convention of 1887
/ framed and presented to the people
| constitution for league. The ordinance
| of 1887 furnishes in itself the evidence
| of the settlement by the people of the
question of nationality.
The American system of federal gov
eminent is unique. 1t is happy com
bination Of a strong but limited central
government for all general and exter-
nal purposes, with state governments
which control all local matters and all
those affairs which most concern the
body of the citizens in their daily lives
1t was the first experiment Of the kind
on q large scale, and 1t has had a con-
spicuous success. The novelty consisted
IN binding together league of states In
such manner as to give them SUI
perior. central government which should
act directly upon and command obedi-
ence from the individuals Of the commu-
nifty Thus, every citizen is subordna. ed
at the same time to two governments
and has dual citizenship.
ha ,nvi1 v,Io