Chapter Sixteen

(continued)

by: Stanley L. Klos Published by ROI.us Corporation

Arthur St. Clair
9th President of the United States
in Congress Assembled February 2, 1787 to October 29, 1787

Revolutionary War Major General

So remarkable was this inquiry that President Washington deemed it compulsory to convene his cabinet to determine how to respond to this maiden request for presidential materials by a congressional committee. The president wanted to discuss whether he could legally refuse to submit documents to Congress and whether such public disclosure would jeopardize the national security of his office. On April 2, 1792 the cabinet, consisting of Alexander Hamilton Secretary of the Treasury; Thomas Jefferson, Secretary of State; Henry Knox, Secretary of War; and Edmund Randolph, Attorney General met, and Washington noted the group's determination:

We had all considered, and were of one mind, first, that the House was an inquest, and therefore might institute inquiries. Second, that it might call for papers generally. Third, that the Executive ought to communicate such papers as the public good would permit, and ought to refuse those, the disclosure of which would injure the public: consequently were to exercise a discretion. Fourth, that neither the committees nor House has a right to call on the Head of a Department, who and whose papers were under the President alone; but that the committee should instruct their chairman to move the House to address the President. (20 5 Annals of Congress (1796), 773.)

Upon careful deliberation Washington realized that:

· Such disclosure of Presidential papers and reports was necessary to vindicate Arthur St. Clair.
· Such public disclosure under the condition of a closed session of Congress would not harm the national interest.
· Most importantly his office established the right of the executive branch of government to withhold information from Congress.

Once again the greatness of Washington shone through, as he refused to claim executive privilege to hide his administration's part in the military defeat at Wabash River and was determined to exonerate his Governor, Arthur St. Clair. Congress did clear St. Clair and he served as Governor for an additional ten years while General Anthony Wayne took the field against the British agents and their Native American allies.

Retaining the position of governor after the inquest, St. Clair was confronted with many challenges in this newly formed territory. Many settlers immigrated into the vast northwest well before the Ordinance of 1787. They quickly had established small farms and cabins. These citizens maintained that they were entitled to the land upon which they had settled. This "squatter problem" was one of the challenges of this new territory, which would linger until the turn of the century. It was through William Henry Harrison, who rose to prominence as a representative delegate to Congress, and by the passing the Land Act of 1800 legislation, which finally settled the problem. The Act granted "squatters' rights" giving the land holders a chance to obtain a clear title with low minimal purchase opportunities. Financing was also provided in four equal payments.

With General Wayne's success in eliminating the British agents and Native American hostilities, Arthur St Clair was faced with a large flux of immigrants requiring the construction, maintenance, and repair of wilderness roads. In 1792 St. Clair adopted a highway transportation act. This act required that all able-bodied men above sixteen years of age must work ten days out of the year to construct the highways. St. Clair also had numerous ferries constructed, which allowed the new settlers to easily cross the Ohio River and its tributaries. The question of County borders and seats became the topic of heated debate in the growing territory. In this letter to Colonel Massei dated June 9th, 1798, St. Clair writes:

The Commissions for the Officers to whom you have given temporary Appointments shall be forwarded soon by some convenient Opportunity, but, as to the request of the People for a division of the County of Adams, I am not sufficiently informed of their present numbers, nor how they would stand relatively to each other after a division, to determine upon it immediately. Correct Returns of the Militia would assist me much, and I shall be very glad to receive them from you as soon as you can have them made out with accuracy, for, it is both my duty, and my inclination to render the Situation of the Inhabitants as easy as Circumstances will admit of."

In a postscript, St. Clair continues, "I would wish you to add to the Returns by way of annotation the part of the County in which the bulk of the Companies, respectively, reside.

In 1790 St. Clair's struggle with Virginians (specifically the Chillicothe regime) resurfaced and plagued him throughout his remaining tenure as Governor of the Northwest Territory. Specifically, Governor St. Clair and Territorial Judges Parson, Symmes, and Varnum adopted the laws from Pennsylvania for the Territory virtually ignoring laws from Virginia. These laws re-opened the not so ancient Virginia wounds over their border losses to Pennsylvania. In the minds of many Virginian settlers in the Ohio Territory, Governor St. Clair was still detested as the official who brazenly arrested John Connolly, only 16 years earlier, reclaiming Fort Pitt and Washington County for Pennsylvania.

Autograph Letter Signed as Governor of the Northwest Territory to Colonel Massis - in full: "The Commissions for the Officers to whom you have given temporary Appointments shall be forwarded soon by some convenient Opportunity," St. Clair informs his correspondent, "but, as to the request of the People for a division of the County of Adams, I am not sufficiently informed of their present numbers, nor how they would stand relatively to each other after a division, to determine upon it immediately. Correct Returns of the Militia would assist me much, and I shall be very glad to receive them from you as soon as you can have them made out with accuracy, for, it is both my duty, and my inclination to render the Situation of the Inhabitants as easy as Circumstances will admit of." In a postscript, St. Clair continues, "I would wish you to add to the Returns by way of annotation the part of the County in which the bulk of the Companies, respectively, reside." - Images Courtesy of the Author

This Virginia-Pennsylvania struggle entered a turning point of control when the population exceeded five thousand inhabitants. This new population threshold required Governor St. Clair to hold elections for a new House of Representatives. The migration into the Ohio Territory was overwhelmingly Virginian due to its long border along the Ohio River. The inevitable elections, which were finally held in Cincinnati on February 4, 1799, resulted in Virginian Edward Tiffin being chosen president of the new House of Representatives. Ironically Tiffin, St. Clair's future nemesis, was warmly received by the governor due to a letter of introduction from General Washington who spoke of Dr. Tiffin as being "very familiar with law." Tiffin, along with fellow Virginian and brother-in-law Thomas Worthington, who was born in Charleston, Virginia (now West Virginia), were now Jeffersonians. Each man held great contempt for the federalists, especially President John Adams. Together they skillfully out maneuvered St. Clair to make Chillicothe preeminent in territorial affairs.

It was only St. Clair's veto power that held their "Virginian" territorial house at bay. The frequent use of the veto by St. Clair became the northwest Jeffersonian mantra of autocratic Federalist rule. These vetoes were proof, according to St. Clair's opponents, that he and the other Federalists believed the people could not properly govern themselves in Ohio. Tiffin and Worthington judiciously positioned themselves as men of the people akin to their mentor, republican Thomas Jefferson.

In the election of 1800 Arthur St. Clair, who was a lukewarm federalist at best, strappingly backed John Adams against Thomas Jefferson for President of the United States. It was a political catastrophe for Arthur St. Clair as Adams came in third behind Jefferson and Aaron Burr. Even Western Pennsylvania voted overwhelmingly against the Federalists and John Adams. Thomas Jefferson eventually won the Presidency in the House of Representatives in opposition to Aaron Burr as they tied in the 1800 electoral vote. In what some scholars claim to be the first bloodless revolution in history, President Jefferson now governed the United States of America with a majority of republicans in the US House and Senate. Despite only being recently re-appointed Northwest Territory Governor by John Adams, Arthur St. Clair must have realized his days were numbered unless he conformed to Jeffersonian reasoning.

With complete disregard of the election results and Thomas Jefferson's new presidency, St. Clair's tactics became more autocratic. He foolishly opposed Ohio Statehood in a misguided attempt to hold onto to the Federalist reigns of power in this section of the Northwest Territory. Despite St. Clair's defiance, Ohio's first constitutional convention convened in Chillicothe in November 1802. The now 68 year old Governor, instead of towing the overwhelmingly popular Jeffersonian plan, took a strong Federalist position against Ohio Statehood at the Constitutional Convention. He opposed statehood for various reasons but most notably he argued that the Ohio Territory had not reached the required 60,000 population mandated in the Ordinance of 1787. This was a pur­poseful political pronouncement against the Ordinance's primary author, President Thomas Jefferson.

St. Clair's legal challenges were weak and in April 1802, President Thomas Jefferson usurped the Ordinance of 1787's power by signing into law the Enabling Act, which "enabled" the Ohio Territory to become a state. It established the state boundaries and gave its people the right to institute a constitution. Thomas Worthington and his forces wasted no time in orchestrating the ousting Governor St. Clair.

At the conclusion of the Ohio Constitutional Convention, less then 18 months after Jefferson's inauguration, Worthington petitioned President Jefferson with a letter apprising him of St. Clair's outburst against statehood at the Convention. On November 22, 1802 the President chose to ignore St. Clair's letters of protest and dismissed St. Clair from his position as Northwest Territorial Governor. Worthington was hailed the hero of the Ohio Constitutional Convention. The last words St. Clair uttered on his departure from his Governor's post were: "Beware of a surprise."

It only took thirty-five men 29 days to write the Ohio Constitution in Chillicothe. One reason for the vigorous pace was that all but one founder favored statehood and St. Clair was no longer an impediment. The new constitution set the first state election for January 1803. Offices to be elect­ed included: state senators and representatives, governor, sheriffs, township trustees, justices of the peace and coroners.

Worthington was chosen to hand-deliver the new Ohio Constitution to Congress. After a three-week journey, he arrived December 22, 1802 in Washington, D.C., where he met with Jefferson before delivering the document to Congress. With this trip, Worthington usurped forever the moniker: "The Father of Ohio's Statehood" from Arthur St. Clair and on February 19, 1803, the Republican US Congress approved Ohio's constitution and admitted Ohio as the 17th state.

Out of power and with virtually no income, Arthur St. Clair made repeated requests for compen­sation from the government for reimbursement of his many personal expenses during the revolu­tion, years of traveling and governing as a public servant. The fledgling nation with the Virginians Jefferson, Madison, and then Monroe as presidents, all republicans, insured that his petition was on the bottom of thousands of others seeking reimbursement from the United States. Despite this St. Clair tried to capitalize on what land he had left in Western Pennsylvania. In a letter to his son Daniel at Penn Square, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania St. Clair discusses the iron ore on their property, matters related to the early iron industry and a lawsuit against an employee of his iron furnace which produced castings and stoves on his estate.

Finally, in 1810 St. Clair's credit was depleted and a creditor secured a judgment for $10,000. St. Clair was forced to sell most of his property including his beloved Hermitage, his mill and iron fur­nace. Despite the value being estimated near $60,000, St. Clair only received $4,000 due to the judgment's expediency requirements. His dire poverty forced him to retire to a small log-house on the summit of Chestnut Ridge, five miles west of Ligonier on land owned by his son Daniel. St. Clair. He spent the rest of his life in poverty, vainly endeavoring to effect a settlement of his claims against the government.

In his "fall from grace" and retirement St. Clair's Northwest Territory continued to have positive effects on the lives of thousands settlers and more importantly many Black Americans. The Slave Emancipation in the appendix is just one example of the St. Clair's legacy in the State of Indiana. This emancipation was signed with the mark of David Enlow, and dated in the same year St. Clair lost his home and vast land holdings, 1810. In this simple Harrison County, Indiana Territory man­uscript Enlow is forced to free a Negro woman named Sara in the territory northwest of the Alleghenies and Ohio River:

“ … a my right, title, and interest in and to the said Negro woman Sarah … in conse­quence of her voluntarily bound herself to serve me and during the term of four years commencing from the first day of January in the year Eighteen hundred and Seven…”

Despite the final language in Article Six in St. Clair's Northwest Ordinance excepting fugitive slaves, many Black Americans swam or walked into the Northwest Territory with the Ordinance protecting their claim to freedom until proven a fugitive. Beginning with Ohio, all the territories became Free States and the exportation of fugitives from the Northwest became quite impossible and illegal as new laws were enacted to protect all former slaves. This trek north and west became so popular that by the 1830’s it was named the Underground Railroad.

In addition to the Underground Railroad many slaves, such as Sarah, gained their freedom through their “masters” north and westward migration as this virgin territory provided settlers with unprecedented advantages of inexpensive land and government incentives to migrate. Those citizens with slaves were forced to emancipate them to comply with Article Six of the Ordinance which not only forbade slavery but involuntary servitude. Consequently, Sarah's emancipation states that she "voluntarily bound herself to serve me and during the term of four years".

St. Clair, now in his seventies, deepened poverty forcing him to seek an annuity, not from the Jeffersonians, but his home State of Pennsylvania. In these state petitions word of his dire circumstances became public knowledge and a few citizens of Pennsylvania came personally to his aide.

In this March 4th, 1813 letter, Arthur St. Clair thanks several women for sending him money in his poverty while reminding his benefactors that he "... made the people happy and laid a foundation for the continuance of the happinefs to millions yet unknown..." In part he states:

"... My Heart Is not yet so cold as to be insensible to female Praife (Praise) --- it conveyed a Balm to my wounded spirit. Wounded not by the loss of fortune and the need of pecuniary aid, but by confine obloquy and contumely whom I thought (and now since I have their approbation I say it boldly), I thought that I had least merited thanks, for to say nothing of my military services which they have so kindly eulogized. I had, in a great meafsive (massive) therefore at my own expense, raised up for the United States in fifteen years a colony from thirty men to upwards of sixty thousand ­-- amalgamation the most heterogeneous mafs -- Mafs of population --- carried Laws, Religion, Mounts and Manner to the extreme limits of New Territory --- made the people happy and laid a foundation for the continuance of the happinefs to millions yet unknown and in which every faculty of mind and Body has been overwhelmingly employed. ... " - Images Courtesy of the Author

Several months later the legislature of Pennsylvania finally granted St. Clair an annuity of $8400, and shortly before his death he received from congress $2,000 in discharge of his claims, and a pension of $60 a month.

In August, 1818 at the age of 84 Arthur St. Clair decided to visit his family in Youngstown, Ohio. His buggy was jolted and overturned. St. Clair fell to the ground and was knocked unconscious. He died a few days later on August 31, 1818 in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania. Phoebe died a mere 18 days later and was interned with her husband at what is now Old St. Clair Cemetery, Greensburg, Pennsylvania. In 1858 his heirs were finally awarded a fair compensation for his serv­ice as a Revolutionary War Major General, Northwest Territory Governor, Commander-in-Chief and President of the United States in Congress Assembled.

St. Clair County, Alabama; St. Clair County, Illinois; St. Clair County, Michigan; St. Clair County, Missouri; St. Clair Lake, Michigan; St. Clairsville, Ohio, and Upper St. Clair, Pennsylvania are just a few of the numerous landmarks named for him. St. Clair published "A Narrative of the Manner in which the Campaign against the Native Americans in the Year 1791 was conducted under the Command of Major-General St. Clair, with his Observations on the Statements of the Secretary of War" (Philadelphia, 1812). See "The Life and Public Services of Arthur St. Clair," with his correspondence and other papers, arranged by William H. Smith (Cincinnati, 1882).

Regrettably, St. Clair's Revolutionary War career is not remembered for his great successes at Trenton and Princeton or his recruitment of troops for Washington's crucial 1780-1 campaigns. Ironically, it is his tactful retreat from Fort Ticonderoga and his exoneration at the inevitable court marshal that are consistently summarized into the typical biographical one liner;

“Arthur St. Clair revolutionary Major General who loss Fort Ticonderoga to the British in 1777 and suffered the greatest Native American Defeat in 1791”

The mention of Arthur St. Clair’s 1783 role in freeing the United States Congress from Independence Hall from the mutinous military is not even a footnote in contemporary history books. Astoundingly, Arthur St. Clair’s accomplishments as President of the United States under the Articles of Confederation are completely forgotten despite his 1787 administration being responsible for the passage of the Northwest Ordinance and US Constitution.

Finally Arthur St. Clair’s 15-year record as an honorable and effective Northwest Territory Governor was obliterated due to his military defeat at Wabash River and his opposition of the Tiffin and Worthington Jeffersonian plan for Ohio’s statehood. Arthur St. Clair remains a sleeping giant among our founding fathers. It is the hope of this author that America one day recognizes the Herculean accomplishments of the 9th US President of the United States in Congress Assembled, Arthur St. Clair.

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