Monette, John W. History of the Discovery and Settlement of the Valley of the Mississippi, by the Three Great European Powers, Spain, France and Great Britain, and the Subsequent Occupation, Settlement, and Extension of Civil Government by the United States, Until the Year 1846, in two volumes, Volume II . New York: Harper and Brothers, Publishers, 1846. [format: book], [genre: history]. Permission: Schingoethe Center for Native American Cultures, Aurora University
Persistent link to this document: http://lincoln.lib.niu.edu/file.php?file=monette2.html

The first civil court ever held in the Northwestern Territory convened on the 2d day of September, 1788: it was the "Court of Common Pleas," held in the hall of the Campus Martius, with Rufus Putnam and Benjamin Tupper presiding justices.

The opening of this court in the remote wilderness was attended with an imposing ceremony, for the first time seen in the West. The governor and judges of the territory having collated, examined, and adopted such of the statutes of the states as were deemed appropriate to the condition of the new colony, proceeded to assert the supremacy of the laws by the organization of a regular court.

A procession was formed on the point near the residence of the citizens; the sheriff, with a drawn sword, in advance, followed by the citizens, officers of the garrison at Fort Harmar, the members of the bar, the judges of the Supreme Court, the governor and a clergyman, with the judges of the newly-organized Court of Common Pleas, in the order they are named.

Arriving at the hall of the Campus Martius, the whole procession was countermarched into it, and the judges Putnam and Tupper took their seats on the bench; the audience was seated, and, after the divine benediction was invoked by the Rev. Dr. Cutler, the high sheriff, Ebenezer Sproat, advanced to the door, and proclaimed aloud, "Oyes! Oyes! a court is opened for the administration of even-handed justice to the poor and the rich, to the guilty and the innocent, without respect of persons; none to be punished without a trial by their peers, and in pursuance of the laws and evidence in the case."

Besides the crowd of emigrants and settlers, there were present to witness the ceremonies hundreds of Indians, who had their encampment in the vicinity, for the purpose of entering into a treaty with the Federal government.

The population continued to increase by the arrival of emigrants during the autumn and winter, and by other colonies which arrived subsequently.

In the spring following, it had been determined to make other settlements on the Ohio below the Muskingum, and General Putnam, with a number of families, descended the river to a beautiful level tract about twelve miles below Marietta; and on the 11th day of April, 1789, he commenced a new settlement near a natural meadow, and called it Belpre. ²⁶³ The

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