The secretary of the Northwest Territory was Winthrop Sargent, a graduate of Harvard, a Revolutionary soldier with a fine record, and the scion of an American family whose representatives have risen to fame in literature, science and art. Judge James Mitchell Varnum, Samuel Holden Parsons and John Cleves Symmes, who constituted the first members of the Supreme Court of the territory, had all risen to high rank as officers of the Colonial Army in the Revolutionary War. Varnum was a graduate of Brown University and Parsons of Harvard. All were able lawyers, and Symmes had been chief justice of the Supreme Court of New Jersey. Under the ordinance for the government of the Northwest Territory, St. Clair, Varnum, Parsons, and Symmes constituted the legislature. Their law-making power, however, was limited in the ordinance, which declared: “The governor and judges, or a majority of them, shall adopt and publish in the district, such laws of the original states,—as may be necessary and best suited to the circumstances of the district.” This seems perfectly clear. This little legislature of the governor and three judges could only _adopt_ such laws as were already in force in the original states. This lucid statement, however, was made somewhat obscure by the following language in another clause of the ordinance: “The laws to be adopted or made, shall be in force in all parts of the district.” At least that appears to have been the practical conclusion of this legislature, with the exception of St. Clair, who somewhat mildly warned his fellow members against enacting laws not drawn from the statutes of the states. After sounding the warning, however, he joined the other members in enacting laws with small regard to the statutes of the original states. [Illustration: GOVERNOR ARTHUR ST. CLAIR _Drawn by Jane Cory, Frankfort, Ohio_] The first law enacted by the governor and judges provided for a territorial militia in which all men over 16 years of age were to be enlisted. Each man was required to provide himself with musket and cartridge box. Murder and treason were punishable by death according to another law, and flogging was prescribed for theft and minor offenses. A fine of ten dimes was imposed for drunkenness; and, if the guilty person did not pay the fine, he served an hour in stocks. Other laws regulated marriage, set aside Sunday as a day of rest, and urged all citizens to avoid swearing and “idle, vain, and obscene conversations.” On July 27, 1788, St. Clair established Washington County, which originally included almost half of the present state of Ohio.