The History of Louisville, from the Earliest Settlement till the Year 1852Casseday, Ben
History
The History of Louisville, from the Earliest Settlement till the Year 1852
Casseday, Ben
Louisville (Ky.) -- Description and travel; Louisville (Ky.) -- History
In the year 1785 the convention again met, first on the 23d of May, and
afterwards on the 8th of August, to take action in relation to the
formation of the new State. An address to Virginia and another to
Kentucky, together with resolutions in favor of the proposed separation,
were unanimously passed in the earlier of these meetings. These addresses,
however, were not deemed strong enough by the third or August convention,
and that meeting accordingly changed them to a new and still stronger form
of petition or remonstrance, and sent them forward for the action of the
parent State. Accordingly in January of 1786, Virginia passed a law
allowing independence to Kentucky, on this, among other conditions, that
the separation should not take place until Congress should assent thereto,
which assent of Congress was not gained until 1791.
In January of this year the county of Nelson was erected out of all that
part of Jefferson county south of Salt river.
In the early part of 1785 Gen. Clark, together with Messrs. Lee and
Butler, had held a treaty with the Western Indians at Fort McIntosh; but
later in the year an Indian council of a hostile character had also been
held on the Wabash, and the Indians had annoyed the settlers greatly
during the latter part of the year. It was therefore thought advisable to
enter into another treaty with the Indians on the Wabash, and accordingly
Gen. Clark and Messrs. Butler and Parsons met those tribes at the mouth of
the Great Miami in January of 1786. It was with great difficulty that the
various tribes could be brought to treat at all, and, but for Gen. Clark's
knowledge of their character, and for the high estimation in which he was
held by them, these commissioners would have been murdered outright. Judge
Hall, of Cincinnati, has given a glowing and vivid description of this
meeting, which is here inserted. After noticing their abrupt and scornful
manner of entering the council, he says: "The commissioners, without
noticing the disorderly conduct of the other party, or appearing to have
discovered their meditated treachery, opened the council in due form. They
lighted the peace-pipe, and after drawing a few whiffs, passed it to the
chiefs, who received it. Col. Clark then rose to explain the purpose for
which the treaty was ordered. With an unembarrassed air, with the tone of
one accustomed to command, and an easy assurance of perfect security and
self-possession, he stated that the Commissioners had been sent to offer
peace to the Shawnees; that the President had no wish to continue the war;
he had no resentment to gratify; and, if the red men desired peace, they
could have it on reasonable terms. 'If such be the will of the Shawnees,'
he concluded, 'let some of their wise men speak.'
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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