Brief guide to manuscripts collections| William L. Clements Library The University of Michigan Northwest Territory Collection |
The United States Congress created a temporary district in the 'Territory North West of the Ohio' by the Ordinance of 1787. Provisions were made for boundaries, a bill of rights for the inhabitants, and an evolutionary process by which the territory would become a state. In the immediate years following the Revolutionary War, the federal government was faced with the triple problem of creating a land system which would insure orderly expansion, providing an effective government for the independent-minded western settlers, and removing Indians from the territory.
Collection of miscellaneous manuscripts relating to the government, defense, and settlement of the Northwest Territory.
This collection contains papers of government officials, military leaders, and land speculators involved in the development of the Northwest Territory. It includes 10 letters by Arthur St. Clair, first territorial governor, dealing with administrative matters, 1787-1808; 21 items by Henry Knox, secretary of war, relating to the defense of the area and maintenance of the United States Army in the West, 1789-1794; 15 letters and orders to Major Henry Burbeck from General James Wilkinson during his command of Detroit, 1796-1797; 12 letters between Rufus Putnam and Oliver Wolcott regarding the survey of the Greenville Treaty line, 1797-1799; correspondence concerning Indian negotiations; documents and letters relating to the activities of the Ohio Land Company, Scioto Land Company, Connecticut Land Company, and John Cleves Symmes.
Purchased, 1951-1963
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