Commems Collection Classic: What If? 1937 Northwest Territory 150th Anniversary

In July 1787, the Continental Congress, working under the Articles of Confederation, passed "An Ordinance for the Government of the Territory of the United States North-West of the River Ohio" - more commonly referred to as the Northwest Ordinance. The Ordinance established the Northwest Territory, provided the steps to be followed for statehood by the geographic divisions specified in the Territory and created a bill of rights for those in the Territory. The Rights provided for, among other things, freedom of religion and trial by jury, plus also forbade slavery.

The present-day states of Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, and Wisconsin were wholly carved from the original Territory, Ohio was nearly so and a portion (about one-third) of present-day Minnesota was also included. Prior to the Ordinance, Connecticut, Massachusetts and Virginia all claimed portions of the region.

Northwest Territory Map

(Image Credit: Center for the Study of the American Constitution. Fair Use; Educational Purposes.)

The Northwest Territory coin request has a somewhat unusual history. In January 1937, Representative Byron Berry Harlan (D-OH) introduced a coin bill in the House of Representatives that called for half dollars "in commemoration of the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the establishment of the North West Territory." The bill was immediately referred to the House Committee on Coinage, Weights, and Measures.

The bill called for 25,000 coins to be struck at a single US Mint facility, all of which were to bear the date "1937" regardless of when struck. The Northwest Territory Commemorative Coin Association, sponsored by the Butler County Historical Society, was to be the coin's beneficiary. (Butler County is located in western Ohio, near Cincinnati.) The bill required that all coins be delivered in a single batch, and that they would be issued within one year of the enactment of the bill.

A month later, in February 1937, a competing bill was introduced in the House by Representative Robert Thompson Secrest (D-OH). It matched the parameters of the Harlan bill, but named Mayor J. Morton Harper, the Chairman of the Marietta Northwest Territory Celebration Committee as the coin's beneficiary. The City of Marietta is located in eastern Ohio, in Washington County.

Two things add a measure of priority to the Secrest bill: 1) Marietta was the first settlement and capital in the Territory and it could easily be argued that it would be the most appropriate focal point for a Northwest Territory celebration, and 2) In 1934, Representative Secrest introduced a joint Resolution in the US Congress that proposed the establishment of the Northwest Territory Celebration Commission; the Resolution was passed and became Law in August 1935. The Commission was "to prepare and carry out a comprehensive plan for the observance and celebration of the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the adoption of the Ordinance of 1787 and the settlement of the Northwest Territory."

In April 1937, a companion bill to the Harlan bill was introduced in the Senate by Robert Johns Bulkley (D-OH). As a companion bill, it included the same provisions as Halran's original bill, including naming the Northwest Territory Commemorative Coin Association, sponsored by the Butler County Historical Society, as the coin's beneficiary.

None of the bills was subject to a Hearing, nor was a Committee Report issued for any of them. All three bills died when the 75th Congress adjourned.

I can't help but to think that if the multi-state, Congressionally-authorized Commission had been brought on board as the coin's sponsor (or at least a named supporter) rather than just a local Ohio city or county, the chances of the bill's passage would have increased dramatically. I think this one was a missed opportunity.

Though no commemorative coins were struck for the anniversary, the Post Office Department did cooperate with the Commission and print commemorative stamps in 1937 and 1938.

1937 Northwest Territory Sesquicentennial Stamp

(Image Credit: Smithsonian National Postage Museum. Fair Use; education,)


1938 Northwest Territory - First Settlement (Marietta) Sesquicentennial Stamp

(Image Credit: Smithsonian National Postage Museum. Fair Use; education,)


For more of my topics on commemorative coins and medals, including more What If? stories, see: Commems Collection.


The Northwest Territory Celebration Commission was responsible for the publication of the book History of the Ordinance of 1787 and the Old Northwest Territory. You can read it online here:

- Project Gutenberg - Ordinance of 1787