OH, USA
Northwest Territorial Government Established at Marietta
July 15, 1788
Governor Arthur St. Clair arrived at Marietta in July 1788 and formally established the government of the Northwest Territory, with Marietta as the territorial capital. St. Clair appointed the territorial judges, organized the first courts, and began the process of creating the legal infrastructure the Ordinance required.
The territorial government at Marietta was the first republican civil government in American history to be extended to a newly settled region. It demonstrated that the constitutional framework created by the Northwest Ordinance was workable in practice. Marietta simultaneously housed the territorial executive, judiciary, and the beginnings of a legislative process.
People Involved
Pennsylvania-born Continental Army general who served as President of the Continental Congress before becoming the first Governor of the Northwest Territory in 1788. He established his territorial government at Marietta, creating the legal and administrative institutions the Northwest Ordinance required. His 1791 military defeat by a confederacy of Native nations was the worst American military defeat by Native forces in the nation's history.