1817: Time Traveling to Ohio

President James Monroe

Let's time travel. The year is 1817.

Ohio has just become a state in 1803. The War of 1812 is just over. And although the Lucas family has moved into the area from ol' Virginia, the town that bears their name is two years away from its inception. "Ohio fever" is spreading throughout New England. In a great migration, people are streaming over the mountains and the lakes to a land of rich soil, mild climate, and beckoning opportunities -- coming to a place the Seneca called, ohi:yo', the "good river."

Across the Atlantic, especially in England, Ireland, and Germany, thousands of immigrants are boarding ships for America. At newly opened land offices, public land is selling at $1.25 an acre. American forests are becoming fields, fields are becoming villages and towns, and towns are becoming cities.

These are daring, exciting times for new residents. The State government has just relocated to Columbus from Chillicothe, and Ohioans who live in rural areas face many of the same challenges as the previous generation who had pioneered the state. These are days of hardship, yet great hope pervades the settlers of the Scioto Valley.

What led to this era described as a time of “good feeling”? Let's view some events that ushered in the settlement and immigration of early Ohio. Allow me to present some very pertinent American history.

* A Little Note of History – Ohio became a state on March 1, 1803, although no formal declaration was made until 1953, when President Dwight Eisenhower officially signed the documents making it a state, retroactive to the original date.

Northwest Territory and "The Great 48"

The State of Ohio had very humble beginnings.

Initially colonized by French fur traders, Ohio became a British colonial possession following the French and Indian War in 1754. At the end of the American Revolution, Britain ceded control of the territory to the newly formed United States, which incorporated it into the Northwest Territory. known formally as the Territory Northwest of the River Ohio – land eventually becoming the states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin and a portion of Minnesota

Thomas Jefferson's Land Ordinance of 1784 was the first organization of the territory by the United States. The ordinance established a standardized system for surveying the land into saleable lots, although Ohio would be partially surveyed several times using different methods, resulting in a patchwork of land surveys in Ohio. The rest of the Northwest Territory was divided into roughly uniform square townships and sections, and all of this facilitated land sales and development.

The ordinance also stipulated that the territory would eventually form at least three but not more than five new states. American settlement officially began at Marietta, Ohio, on April 7, 1788, with the arrival of forty-eight pioneers from New England (originally from Connecticut) under General Rufus Putnam. It was the first of what would become a prolific number of New England settlements in the Northwest Territory. These Yankees were descended from the Puritan English colonists who had settled New England in the 1600s.

The entire list of these forty-eight names is found in Dr. Hildreth's Pioneer History (one-fourth of the group held commissions in the Revolutionary War). Marietta was named for Marie Antoinette, Queen of France and a U.S. ally during the Revolutionary War. This was before her unfortunate demise in 1793. In the state of Maine it was actually established to have a home in exile for her. Of course, the Revolutionary Tribunal of High Treason made other plans for the queen, and she was executed by guillotine.

Rufus Putnam

The “first forty-eight” have been lauded ever since for their bravery during an expedition that started a movement to add vast swaths of territory to the United States. By 1850, Ohio became the 3rd most populous state in the Union. Within 50 years, the state of Ohio had grown to a population of 1.5 million settlers.

The War of 1812

Ohio suffered through a bloody war.

The United States fought the British in the War of 1812, known by some historians as the “Second War for Independence.” It has also been called America's “most obscure conflict.” Historian Donald Hickey, known as “the dean of 1812 scholarship,” explains ...

“Most scholars agree that the war was fought over maritime issues, particularly the Orders in Council, which restricted American trade with the European Continent, and impressment, which was the Royal Navy’s practice of removing seamen from American merchant vessels. In contemporary parlance, the war was fought for 'Free Trade and Sailors' Rights.' These issues seem arcane today.”

The War of 1812 should be viewed as part of a larger, global conflict. The empires of England and France spent 1789-1815 locked in an almost constant war for global superiority. That war stretched from Europe to North Africa and to Asia and, when the Americans declared war on England, the war engulfed North America as well.

Most Ohioans actively supported the American war effort. Troops included the First Regiment of Ohio Volunteers, under Col. Duncan McArthur; the Second Regiment of Ohio Volunteers, under Col. James Findlay; and the Third Regiment, under Col. Lewis Cass. The Ohio volunteer units gathered around the small community of Dayton, with Col. McArthur's First Regiment south of Dayton (near the confluence of the Great Miami and Hole's Creek) and the other two regiments slightly north of town along the Mad River. On May 25, 1812, the regiments gathered together and Governor Return J. Meigs, Jr. handed over command to Brigadier General Hull.

Hull is most famously remembered as the person who surrendered Fort Detroit to the British on August 16, 1812 following the Siege of Detroit. After the battle, he was court-martialed, convicted of cowardice and neglect of duty, and sentenced to death, but he received a pardon from President James Madison and his reputation somewhat recovered.

The war ended with the Treaty of Ghent, signed on December 24, 1814. The conflict was considered a stalemate. The costs were sufficiently staggering. Roughly 15,000 Americans died as a result of the War of 1812. Roughly 8,600 British and Canadian soldiers died from battle or disease. The losses among Native American tribes are not known.

The treaty returned all territorial conquests made by the two sides. The British finally accepted the United States as a legitimate national entity; and the United States, in turn, gave up its designs on British territory in Canada. The resolution simply let each side get on with the business of trade and expansion by simply calling the whole thing off – in formal terms status quo ante bellum.

James Madison, “the Father of the Constitution,” was the president throughout the war. He took lot of criticism and blame for difficulties stemming from the conflict. Trade between the U.S. and Europe had stopped, hurting American merchants. New England even threatened secession from the Union. The Federalists undermined Madison’s efforts; and Madison was forced to flee Washington, D.C., in August 1814 as British troops invaded and burned buildings, including the White House, the Capitol and the Library of Congress.

In the end, however, partly thanks to a U.S. victory at the Battle of New Orleans ironically fought before word of the Treaty of Ghent had reached the troops, American confidence improved, and Madison was hailed for the key victories in the struggle.

James Monroe -- A Friendly Guy

James Monroe was President.

James Monroe, Madison's last Secretary of War, decided to seek the presidency in the 1816 election, and his war-time leadership had established him as Madison's heir apparent. Monroe, a fellow Virginian, easily won the election and prepared to take office.

Monroe knew that the U.S. had a new sense of confidence from its various victories during the War of 1812, and he understood the nation was growing quickly and offering new opportunities to its citizens. As a veteran of the American Revolution himself, Monroe recognized that the Revolution was a powerful shared experience he could employ to inspire further national unity.

Therefore, prior to moving into the still damaged Executive Mansion, President Monroe revived the presidential tour of the country, which was first undertaken by George Washington. The stated reason for the tour was to inspect defense fortifications, but it also allowed Monroe to reach out to Americans throughout the nation and exhibit his relaxed and affable personality. Monroe preferred this hands-on management style.

In June 1817, Monroe began his first tour of the North, traveling up the coast to Portland, Maine. From there, he turned west to Detroit and then southeast back to Washington, D.C. The trip took fifteen weeks and allowed Monroe to come in contact with more people than any previous sitting President.

On his tour, Monroe wore a Revolutionary War officer's uniform and tied his long powdered hair in a queue according to the old-fashioned style of the 18th century. He had a very personable manner and made a good impression on his audiences. Historian George Dangerfield wrote of Monroe, "In spite of his formality, he had the unusual ability to put men at their ease by his courtesy, lack of condescension, his frankness, and what his contemporaries looked upon as the essential goodness and kindness of heart which he always radiated."

Monroe’s tour therefore created a national sensation. Everywhere he went, Monroe was praised and applauded. Americans came out by the thousands, thrilled by the opportunity to see the president, and newspapers across the country gave day-by-day accounts of his progress. The Boston Columbian Centinel described his reception in Massachusetts as the beginning of an "Era of Good Feelings" for the nation—a phrase that is now often used to describe Monroe's presidency.

It is written of the time that “a sense of self-confidence pervaded the nation, and it inspired the western expansionism that characterized the rest of the nineteenth century. The United States had effectively broken away from its colonial past and made known to Europe that a new player had emerged on the world stage. As British diplomat Augustus J. Foster acknowledged, “The Americans . . . have brought us to speak of them with respect.”

                              President James Monroe in Worthington, Ohio (1817)

Ohio and the “Good Feelings” Tour

Now, if you will, settle back into that time warp of 1817.

I hope you better feel some of the spirit that existed then. Those who stayed here had good reason for building their shelters, planting their crops, and raising their families in what would soon become a small town platted as “Lucasville, Ohio,” a rural village smack in the middle of one of the most fertile valleys of American civilization.

James Monroe visited the new state of Ohio on his 1817 tour, passing through Delaware, Columbus, Worthington, Circleville, Chillicothe, and Zanesville. There, he was greeted with great enthusiasm and respect.

Of President Monroe's visit to the state, one journalist reflected …

“He came to Ohio with the most favorable impression, respecting its soil, climate, situation and people; he had considered the country as being excellent and the citizens intelligent, brave, and attached to our National Institutions on a view of the country and acquaintance with the people, exceeded his anticipations; and that he considered this State, which, as such, a few years since, had no existence, as being now an important member of the Union.”

And, in fact, at Chillicothe, the President shared …

“Wherever I have travelled, I have been much delighted with the kind attentions of my fellow citizens, particularly, as I did not consider them (the 'attentions') as resulting to much from personal regard as for the respect and love they bear to their excellent Constitution. I see them devoted to the true principles of Liberty.”

This is an American success story that should be shared. To the land and to the Almighty, we give thanks for the gracious sustenance that permits our existence some 200 years later. And to those who lived here thousands of years before us – the Mound Builders and the Native Americans – we must promise to continue to be good stewards, always mindful of protecting not only liberty but also our home soil.