Dearborn County IN Archives History - Books .....Page 42 1915 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/in/infiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Ann Anderson ann.g.anderson@gmail.com May 12, 2006, 2:18 am Book Title: History Of Dearborn County Indiana 42 DEARBORN COUNTY, INDIANA. representative stage. In the summer of 1798 Governor St. Clair had ascertained that the territory had a population of at least five thousand free male inhabitants and, in accordance with the provisions of the Ordinance of 1787. was ready to make the change in its form of government. On October 29, 1798, the governor issued a proclamation to the qualified voters of the territory directing them to choose members for the lower house of the territorial Legislature at an election to be held on the third Monday of the following December. The twenty-two members so elected met on January 16, 1/99, and, pursuant to the provisions of the ordinance, selected the ten men from whom the President of the United States later chose five for the Legislative Council. They then adjourned to meet on September 16, 1/99, but since there was not a quorum on that day they held adjourned sessions until the 23rd, at which time a quorum was present. At the time the change in the form of government went into effect there were only nine counties in the whole territory. These counties had been organized either by the governor or his secretary. The following table gives the nine counties organized before 1799 with the dates of their organization and the number of legislators proportioned to each by the governor: Date of Number of County. Organization. Representatives. Washington July 27, 1788 2 Hamilton January 4, 1790 7 St. Clair Aprirl 27, 1790 1 Knox June 20, 1790 1 Randolph October 5, 1795 1 Wayne August 6, 1796 3 Adams July 10, 1797 2 Jefferson July 29, 1797 1 Ross August 20, 1798 4 FIRST TERRITORIAL LEGISLATURE OF NORTHWEST TERRITORY. The twenty-two representatives and five councilors were the first representative body to meet in the Northwest Territory and they represented a constituency scattered over a territory of more than two hundred and sixty-five thousand square miles, an area greater than Germany or France, or even Austria-Hungary. It would be interesting to tell something of the delibera- File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/in/dearborn/history/1915/historyo/page42356gms.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/infiles/ File size: 3.0 Kb