Indeed he sometimes overdid it and offended people. Once
the British Minister was to be presented to him and went dressed
in his grandest uniform. But to his disgust he found Jefferson in
the very shabbiest of clothes, and slippers down at the heel. So the
good gentleman went away feeling that the President of the United
States had meant to insult not merely himself but the King he
represented.
It was while Jefferson was President in 1803 that Ohio joined the
Union as the seventeenth state. For a long time there had been
a few squatters on the land. But it was only after the Revolution
that it really began to be inhabited by white men.
In 1788 about fifty men led by Rufus Putnam, "the Father of Ohio,"
settled there. They founded a town and called it Marietta in honour
of Maria Antoinette, the French Queen. Others followed, and soon
villages were sprinkled all along the north bank of the Ohio River.
Then some years later Moses Cleaveland founded the town of Cleveland
on the shores of Lake Erie. But all along the banks of the Ohio
Indians lived. And they would not let the white men settle on their
land without protest. So the new settlers were constantly harassed
and in danger of their lives, and many murders were committed.
At length it was decided that this must cease. And as the Indians
would listen to no argument General St.
Pages:
503
504
505
506
507
508
509
510
511
512
513
514
515
516
517
518
519
520
521
522
523
524
525
526
527