FRONTIER OHIO

1788-1803. By Randolph C. Downes '23. The Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society, Columbus, Ohio, 1935.

This history of early days in Ohio, expanded from a doctoral dissertation submitted at Ohio State University, illustrates admirably what the resourceful and painstaking student can do with a subject which may appear on the surface to have been thoroughly worked. As the first state to have passed through all the successive territorial stages, starting in 1788 with the appointment of General Arthur St. Clair as territorial governor and ending in 1803 with full statehood, the early history of Ohio has been very much studied. As the laboratory for the development of an American colonial system and a unique frontier civilization destined to be repeated on successive frontiers, the Old Northwest has bulked large in the study of American history. But Frontier Ohio makes even in this field a definite contribution.

Professor Dowries does not neglect the social and economic aspects and he has collected some new and interesting ma- on frontier life and people. He has thrown new light on the land question in Ohio, from the points-of-view both of speculation and sale. He has included discussion of the commercial problems of the time, particularly of the importance of the downstream trade. But it is in the political field that the book makes its greatest contribution. Five of the eight chapters deal chiefly with political aspects. He gives in considerable detail the account of the autocratic regime of Winthrop Sargent, acting governor during the long absence of General St. Clair. He describes clearly the struggle for greater local autonomy and the maneuvers for the division of the Northwest Territory. And he describes the complicated contest for the control of the movement for statehood which developed between the Cincinnati settlements on the one hand and the Chillicothe group on the other, with the Cincinnatians supported by the citizens of Marietta and by General St. Clair. Several sketch maps aid in the understanding of this problem which was at bottom a geographical one.

The other three chapters contain valuable material on Indian relations, early settlements, and frontier religion. We see repeated on this frontier the settlement of disputes by the spontaneous action of the community, ranging from the simple matter of the theft of a barrel of flour to the larger question of the taking of a census in preparation for statehood. We see paper money and the banking business in Ohio develop from the warehouse certificates issued by the Miami Exporting Company. This is, indeed, the sort of an account which will bring interesting information to the general reader and a peculiar satisfaction to the closer student of frontier history.