1802, APRIL 30. The people residing in the northwest territory north of the Ohio were authorized to organize themselves into a state.

They had petitioned for this permission. Congress provided that a convention should meet at Chillicothe in November, and form a constitution for the state. The remainder of the territory was to be annexed to Indiana. The convention in November formed the constitution of the state of Ohio. By an irrepealable ordinance, all lands newly purchased from the United States were exempted from taxation for four years, and Congress in return granted one township in each section for school purposes, together with five per cent. of the proceeds of the lands sold for the construction of roads, which was subsequently divided so that three per cent. was spent for roads constructed within the state, and two per cent. upon roads leading eastward.

1802. By act of Congress the board of commissioners hav. ing charge of the affairs of the city of Washington was dissolved, and a superintendent appointed.

A municipal government was also provided for the city.

1802. A BILL was passed by Congress appropriating the means for the payment of two million six hundred and sixtyfour thousand dollars, in three annual payments, to Great Britain. The commission under the treaty had made an agreement to pay this sum. 1802, JUNE. A trade-sale for books was held in New York city.

It was held under the auspices of the American Company of Booksellers. 1802. THE Natchez Gazette appeared in Natchez, Mississippi. It was established by Colonel Andrew Marschalk. The circulation of the territory at this time consisted of "cotton receipts; " that is, receipts for cotton deposited for ginning in public gins.

1802, JUNE 16.- The Creeks ceded the territory between the Oconee and the Ocmulgee.

A treaty was held with them, and considerable presents made them. This was the territory Georgia reserved in the compact of cession with the United States; and this cession by the Creeks chiefly induced Georgia to allow the compact to go into force.

1802. AN act was passed by Congress regulating intercourse with the Indians.

The public trading-houses for supplying them with goods were maintained.

1802. A SQUADRON was ordered to be got ready for service against Tripoli.

Tripoli had declared, and Congress had recognized the existence of war.

1802. THE Repertory appeared at Boston, Massachusetts. 1802, JULY 31.-The Western Spy was published at Cincinnati.

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 gov ernor 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.

1803, APRIL 30.-A treaty was concluded, transferring Louisiana to the United States for fifteen million dollars.

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.

1803. THE Moniteur appeared in New Orleans.

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 Boston, 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