Am reading it as we speak. Two of the non-negotiables for the leaders of the Ohio Company were that there would not be slavery in the Northwest Territory and that there would be a university. A change in one vote when Ohio was formed would have made Ohio a slave state. As for the university, it was never in doubt. Fascinating read.

Two things Alan: One the vote would not have made Ohio a slave state. That was prohibited by the Northwest Ordinance. It would have introduced "limited slavery" into Ohio, which certainly could have been expanded in a defacto way. The other is that McCullough repeated an oft cited myth. The vote to defeat the slavery clause was actually not just by one vote. The essence of the story, however, is true. Ephraim Cutler was brought to the convention on a stretcher. He got up and made an impassioned speech. Prior to his speech the slavery provision well might have passed. However, his speech was so effective that he changed several votes, enough for the measure to be defeated by several votes. The one vote story kind of captures the dramatic events and correctly gives Cutler the credit for the the defeat of the slavery provision. It's a benign legend.

So if that is true, how much of the other stuff that McCullough put in the book should we accept as truth?

I read his book on the Wright Brothers and loved it.

Me too. I have several books on my shelves.

Alan:

I went back and looked at the Ohio Archaelogical and Historical Publications, Volume V (John L. Trauger, Columbus: 1895), which contains the proceedings of the Constitutional Convention in 1802, and was reminded how complex these votes were. There were actually a series of votes on questions related to rights of blacks and the question of slavery.

The only one that I could find that was decided by only one vote was a motion to strike out of the constitution these words: "But no negro or mulatto shall ever be eligible to any office, civil or military, or give their oath in any court of justice against a white person, be subject to military duty, or pay a poll-tax in this State; Provided always, and it is fully understood and declared, that all negroes and mulattoes now in, or who may hereafter reside in, this State, shall be entitled to all the privileges of citizens of this State excepted by this constitution."

Striking these words from the constitution passed by one vote (17-16), and Cutler was in the affirmative. Those that voted with Cutler, include some other names prominent in SEO and Ohio University history: Abbot, Browne, Dunlavy, Gatch, Gilman, Goforth, Huntington, Kitchel, Milligan, Paul, Putnam, Reily, Sargent, Updegraff, Wells and Wilson.

Perhaps this is the vote upon which the legend rests?

Another close vote, 19-15, with Cutler in the affirmative, granted black suffrage to those who made a record of their citizenship within a certain time frame.

These were not, though, votes directly on the slavery issue. Those votes were all by fairly lopsided margins against slavery, or in the words of the convention, held as a "servant under the pretense of indenture."

The final words of the Ohio Constitution as passed by the convention on the slavery issue were as follows:

1 -- ". . . Nor shall any indenture of any negro or mulatto, hereafter made and executed out of the State, or if made in the State, where the term of service exceeds one year, be of the least validity, except those given in the case of apprenticeships."

2 -- "There shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in this State, otherwise than for punishment of crimes, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted; nor shall any male person, arrived at the age of twenty-one years, or female person arrived at the age of eighteen years, be held to serve any person as a servant, under the pretense of indenture or otherwise, unless such person shall enter into the such indenture while in a state of perfect freedom, and on a condition of bona fide consideration, received or to be received, for their service, except as beforehand excepted." [That exception refers to conviction for crime.]

3 -- And, in a related issue, in the bill of rights section, there were several instances where the word "white" was stricken from the original draft so that the statements applied to all men, not just white men. These tended to be close votes, with Cutler in the affirmative.

In conclusion, this is a very complex subject, which the legend kind of summarizes in an easily understandable way. In that sense, legends may serve a good and useful purpose.

If you want to wade through the proceedings yourself, you an do so at:
https://tinyurl.com/y2pxs45p

If you find any interesting nuggets that I've neglected, or come to different conclusions, please post.

I was there in person. It was a huge event for the Ohioana Library, on whose board I am one of four gubernatorial appointees. Hey, buck.cat, some of us old farts still do productive things. ;-)

Keep forgetting to post this.

In the "Acknowledgements" section of the boss,McCullough talks about getting
the inspiration to write the book when he came to O.U.to give the Commencement
Address for O.U.s 200th Anniversary.