On May 7, 1800, President John Adams approved a bill that divided the Northwest Territory into two districts. A principal supporter of the bill was William Henry Harrison of North Bend, delegate of the Northwest Territory to Congress, who held that the territory's size was too unwieldy for good government. The law designated the present state of Ohio, about half of Michigan and Southeast Indiana as the Ohio Territory and constituted the rest as Indiana Territory.

Rebecca Goodman

E-mail rgoodman@enquirer.com or call 768-8361.