1802, JULY 31.- The Sciota Gazette was published at Chillicothe, Ohio.

The paper for these two Ohio journals was brought from Georgetown, Kentucky, on horseback.

1802, OCTOBER 16.-The Spanish intendant of Louisiana issued a proclamation forbidding the depositing American merchandise at New Orleans.

The treaty of 1785 had secured this privilege for three years, and guaranteed that, if stopped, some other convenient place should be provided.

1802. — THE legislature of North Carolina purchased the right to use the cotton gin for the state, for a tax upon each machine, for five years.

1802. A MECHANICS' association was formed at Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

1803, FEBRUARY 16.-The commissioners who had negotiated the cession from Georgia reported concerning the claims to the territory.

They had been authorized to inquire into them. They reported in favor of liberal grants to all actual settlers prior to the Spanish evacuation of the territory, however defective their titles might be. The claims resting on the grants of 1789 they thought invalid. For those based on the grants of 1795 they proposed a compromise. The claimants wanted twenty-five cents an acre. The commissioners proposed to pay two millions and a half in interest-bearing certificates, or twice that amount in non-interest-bearing certificates, payable out of the first receipts for the Mississippi territory, after Georgia had been paid.

1803, MARCH 1.-Ohio began its state government.

Its constitution had been framed by the convention of the year before. It gave the right of suffrage to all white male inhabitants over twenty-one years of age, resident in the state for a year, and on whom taxes had been assessed. The governor was elected by the people. The freedom of the press was secured.

1803, MARCH 3.- Congress passed an act intrusting to the President the matter of the closing of the Mississippi by the Spanish intendant of Louisiana.

He was authorized, if he saw fit, to call upon the governors of the states for eighty thousand volunteers; and two millions of dollars were appropriated for purchasing a place of deposit. The West was much excited concerning the closing of the Mississippi.

1803. CONGRESS passed an act prohibiting the slave trade.

It imposed a fine of a thousand dollars upon the captain of the ship, with the forfeiture of the vessel, for each person imported contrary to the laws of any state. The law was passed from the remonstrance of South Carolina concerning the importation of slaves from Africa, and slaves and free blacks from the West Indies.

1803, MARCH 3.- Congress created two boards of commissioners to adjudicate the claims on the Mississippi territory.

Settlers prior to the Spanish evacuation, whose titles proved defective, were to be granted lots not exceeding six hundred and forty acres each; those who had settled in the territory prior to this act, without any title, were to have a pre-emption right of purchase for their lands, payable in the usual instalments, without interest. The territory remaining after settling these claims was to be used for settling such other claims as should be recorded in the office of the secretary of state before the end of the year; the same commissioners being appointed to receive such claims and submit them to the next Congress. The act also provided for the survey and sale of the lands, by a system similar to that provided for Ohio. Only that portion of the territory which now constitutes the states of Mississippi and Alabama had the Indian title extinguished, and were to be surveyed. 1803, MARCH 19. The New York legislature granted a charter to the State Bank, at Albany.

There were only three banks in the state, out of New York city: the Bank of Columbia, at Hudson; the Bank of Albany; and the Farmers' Bank, near Troy. A treaty was concluded, transferring Louis iana to the United States for fifteen million dollars.

1803, APRIL 30.

-

The treaty consisted of three parts, all dated the same day. The first provided for the cession, and the other two regulated the payment of the consideration. It was provided that the inhabitants should be secure in their liberty, property, and religion, and as soon as possible admitted to the rights of citizens of the United States. The payment was to be made - eleven million, two hundred and fifty thousand dollars in six per cent. stock of the United States, the interest payable in Europe, and the principal to be redeemed, after fifteen years, in annual instalments of not less than three millions of dollars. The claims of citizens of the United States against France were to be paid, to the amount of three million, seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars, at the American treasury, on orders from the American minister in France. The claims to be decided by a joint commission, consisting of the French bureau, to which the claims had been referred, and three American commissioners, to be appointed. In case of any dispute, the final decision to be with the French minister of finance. The territory ceded embraced not only the state of Louisiana, but also that occupied by the states of Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, Kansas, and the Indian territories. The American flag was first raised in Louisiana December 20, 1803. The treaty required a mutual ratification within six months.

1803, APRIL.

The legislature of New York extended for twenty years the privilege granted in 1798 to Livingston and Fulton.

It also extended for two years, and later to 1807, their time for practically demonstrating they could propel a boat of twenty tons four miles an hour against the current of the Hudson River.

1803. THE Middlesex Canal, in Massachusetts, connecting the Merrimac and the Charles Rivers, was completed.

It was chartered by the state, June 22, 1793. It was a great aid to local trade, until the railroad superseded it.

It was published by Fontaine. Louisiana was still in the possession of France.

1803.THE legislature of South Carolina repealed the contract made with the proprietors of the cotton gin, retained the payment of the balance due, and began a suit to recover what had already been paid.

In Georgia, claims for a prior invention were made, and the governor, in a message, advised withholding compensation for it, and invited the other states to co-operate with Georgia in getting Congress to buy the patent. The next year, the legislature of South Carolina rescinded the repeal.

1803. 1803.

THE flax rust appeared on Long Island.

A PLASTER-MILL was erected at Newburg, New York.

The use of plaster as a fertilizer was becoming general.

1803.—THE "Miami Exporting Company," of Cincinnati, was incorporated.

Its capital was four hundred and fifty thousand dollars, and was used for banking purposes. It was the first such institution in that city.

1803, MAY 17.- An improved machine "for cutting grain and grass was patented by Richard French and John T. Hawkins of New Jersey.

It is said to have been the first mowing or reaping machine on record.

1803, AUGUST 13. At a treaty held with Governor Harrison, the Kaskaskias ceded to the United States a large tract north of the Ohio.

The consideration was five hundred and eighty dollars in cash, an increase of their annuity to one thousand dollars, three hundred dollars towards building a church, and one hundred dollars a year, for seven years, to a Catholic priest. The territory ceded embraced, with the exception of a small reservation, all the land bounded by a line from the mouth of the Illinois, down the Mississippi to its junction with the Ohio, up the Ohio to the Wabash, and then west to the Mississippi. The Kaskaskias, now consisting of a few hundreds, claimed to represent the Illinois.

1803, OCTOBER 17.- Congress, called by proclamation, met. The cession of Louisiana was ratified by Congress on the 25th.

1803. THE Commissioners under the treaty with England awarded American claims to about six millions of dollars.

The award was paid by the British government.

1803, OCTOBER 31.-The frigate Philadelphia, Captain Bainbridge, while blockading the port of Tripoli, ran aground, and was captured by the Tripolitans.

The officers were well treated, but the men were reduced to slavery.

1803, DECEMBER. A commission received the island and city of Orleans from Citizen Lansat, the French commissioner.

Lansat had a few days before received them from the Spanish authorities. The American commissioners were General Wilkinson, the commander of the army, and C. C. Claiborne, who had been made governor of the Mississippi Territory. Claiborne chartered the Bank of Louisiana, with a capital of six hundred thousand dollars.

1803. A HOUSE for the relief of shipwrecked sailors was founded at Sable Island, and four hundred pounds granted yearly for its support.

1803. As late as this, persons were publicly whipped in Bos. ton, Massachusetts.

In the court of sessions, the judge's charge was: "Gentlemen of the grand jury, you are required by your oath to see to it that that the several towns in the county be provided according to law with pounds, schoolmasters, whipping posts, and ministers."

1803. WILLIAM E. CHANNING, the founder of Unitarianism in America, was settled minister of the Federal Street church in Boston, Massachusetts.

Channing was born April 7, 1780, at Newport, Rhode Island; died October 2, 1842, at Bennington, Vermont.

1803.

THE legislature of Massachusetts granted a bounty on the manufacture of window-glass.

A German, named Lint, took charge of the works in Boston, Massachusetts. 1803. THE state of Tennessee purchased the right to use the cotton gin, by a tax on each machine used for four years. It suspended the payment later in the year.

1803-4. OLIVER EVANS furnished a steam-engine for a boat to ply between New Orleans and Natchez.

The boat was built in Kentucky by Captain James McKeever, of the navy, and Louis Valcour, and floated to New Orleans to be supplied with her engine. She was eighty feet keel, and eighteen feet beam. The river subsiding, left her grounded, and the engine was put up in a saw-mill, where it cut three thousand feet of boards in twelve hours.

1804. CONGRESS divided the territory obtained from France into two provinces.

They were divided by a line drawn along the thirty-third parallel of north latitude. That on the south of this line was called the Territory of Orleans, that west of the Mississippi and north of Orleans was called the District of Louisiana. Orleans contained at this time about fifty thousand persons, more than half of whom were slaves. The President was authorized to appoint the governor and secretary of the territory, and to nominate annually the thirteen members to compose the legislative council. To the cession of Louisiana to Spain, the laws of France had been in force. On taking possession, the Spanish governor substituted the Spanish code, and this remained in force, except where repugnant to

the constitution and laws of the United States. A Federal district court and a superior territorial court were organized by the act. The trial by jury was instituted, and the writ of habeas corpus guaranteed the inhabitants. Claiborne was continued as governor. New Orleans contained about eight thousand inhabitants. In the District of Louisiana, the chief settlement was St. Louis. The President was authorized to propose to the Indians on the east of the Mississippi to exchange their lands for those west of that stream; in the meanwhile the whole territory was annexed to the territory of Indiana. The territory east of the Mississippi, in which the Indian title had been extinguished, were, by another act, ordered to be surveyed, and land offices were opened at Detroit, Vincennes, and Kaskaskia. The lands were offered for sale in quarter-sections of one hundred and sixty acres, without interest on the instalments if prompt payment was made. The salt-springs were reserved, and every sixteenth section in each township reserved for schools, and an entire township in each district for a seminary.

1804, FEBRUARY.- A memorial was presented to Congress from a convention of delegates from the societies in the different states for promoting the abolition of slavery and improving the condition of the African race, asking that the importation of slaves into the Territory of Louisiana, recently obtained, be prohibited.

It was referred to the committee on the government of Louisiana, and in the act creating the Territory of Orleans it was forbidden to introduce slaves except from some part of the United States, and by actual settlers in the new territory; slaves introduced into the United States since 1798 being exempted from this permission.

1804. THE legislature of South Carolina repealed the act prohibiting the slave trade.

The representative from the state defended it in the national House, on the ground that it was done because slaves were constantly imported, and to avoid the daily open infraction of the law. The law was repealed.

1804, FEBRUARY 15.-The legislature of New Jersey passed an act abolishing slavery.

It made all persons born in the state after the fourth of the next July, free. The children of slaves to become free, males at twenty-five and females at twenty

one.

1804.-CONGRESS passed an act giving to the electors the right of designating their candidates for President and VicePresident.

It was passed by the speaker's vote.

1804.

AN additional duty of two and a half per cent. was laid on goods subject to an ad valorem duty.

It was to remain in force during the continuance of hostilities in the MediterThe news had arrived of the capture of the Philadelphia. A million of dollars was also appropriated, and additional frigates ordered.

ranean.

1804, FEBRUARY 16.-The captured frigate Philadelphia was