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2. Ohio 1803 Coroner, Adams County
3. Ohio 1803 Coroner, Fairfield County
4. Ohio 1803 Coroner, Hamilton County
5. Ohio 1803 Coroner, Montgomery County
6. Ohio 1803 Coroner, Ross County
7. Ohio 1803 Coroner, Washington County
8. Ohio 1803 Fence Viewer, Greene County
9. Ohio 1803 Governor
10. Ohio 1803 House of Representatives, Adams County
11. Ohio 1803 House of Representatives, Belmont County
12. Ohio 1803 House of Representatives, Clermont County
13. Ohio 1803 House of Representatives, Clermont County
14. Ohio 1803 House of Representatives, Columbiana and Jefferson Counties
15. Ohio 1803 House of Representatives, Fairfield County
16. Ohio 1803 House of Representatives, Hamilton County
17. Ohio 1803 House of Representatives, Hamilton County
18. Ohio 1803 House of Representatives, Jefferson County
19. Ohio 1803 House of Representatives, Ross County
20. Ohio 1803 House of Representatives, Ross and Franklin Counties
21. Ohio 1803 House of Representatives, Trumbull County
22. Ohio 1803 House of Representatives, Washington County
23. Ohio 1803 House of Representatives, Washington County
24. Ohio 1803 Overseer of the Poor, Greene County
25. Ohio 1803 Road Master, Greene County
26. Ohio 1803 Sheriff, Adams County
27. Ohio 1803 Sheriff, Fairfield County
28. Ohio 1803 Sheriff, Hamilton County
29. Ohio 1803 Sheriff, Montgomery County
30. Ohio 1803 Sheriff, Ross County
31. Ohio 1803 Sheriff, Washington County
32. Ohio 1803 State Senate, Adams County
33. Ohio 1803 State Senate, Belmont County
34. Ohio 1803 State Senate, Clermont County
35. Ohio 1803 State Senate, Clermont County
36. Ohio 1803 State Senate, Columbiana and Jefferson Counties
37. Ohio 1803 State Senate, Fairfield County
38. Ohio 1803 State Senate, Hamilton County
39. Ohio 1803 State Senate, Hamilton County, 1 Year
40. Ohio 1803 State Senate, Hamilton County, 2 Year
41. Ohio 1803 State Senate, Jefferson County
42. Ohio 1803 State Senate, Ross County
43. Ohio 1803 State Senate, Ross and Franklin Counties
44. Ohio 1803 State Senate, Trumbull County
45. Ohio 1803 State Senate, Washington County
46. Ohio 1803 State Senate, Washington County, 1 Year
47. Ohio 1803 State Senate, Washington County, 2 Years
48. Ohio 1803 U.S. House of Representatives
49. Ohio 1804 Commissioner, Greene County
50. Ohio 1804 Commissioner, Hamilton County
51. Ohio 1804 Commissioner, Montgomery County
52. Ohio 1804 Commissioner, Montgomery County
53. Ohio 1804 Commissioner, Ross County
54. Ohio 1804 Commissioner, Trumbull County
55. Ohio 1804 Commissioner, Washington County
56. Ohio 1804 Coroner, Adams and Scioto Counties
57. Ohio 1804 Coroner, Belmont County
58. Ohio 1804 Coroner, Clermont County
59. Ohio 1804 Coroner, Hamilton County
60. Ohio 1804 Coroner, Ross County
61. Ohio 1804 Coroner, Washington County
62. Ohio 1804 Electoral College
63. Ohio 1804 House of Representatives, Adams and Scioto Counties
64. Ohio 1804 House of Representatives, Belmont County
65. Ohio 1804 House of Representatives, Butler County
66. Ohio 1804 House of Representatives, Clermont County
67. Ohio 1804 House of Representatives, Columbiana County
68. Ohio 1804 House of Representatives, Franklin and Ross County, Special
69. Ohio 1804 House of Representatives, Gallia, Muskingum, Washington County
70. Ohio 1804 House of Representatives, Greene County
71. Ohio 1804 House of Representatives, Hamilton County
72. Ohio 1804 House of Representatives, Montgomery County
73. Ohio 1804 House of Representatives, Ross County
74. Ohio 1804 House of Representatives, Trumbull County
75. Ohio 1804 Justice of the Peace, Montgomery County, German Township
76. Ohio 1804 Sheriff, Adams and Scioto Counties
77. Ohio 1804 Sheriff, Belmont County
78. Ohio 1804 Sheriff, Clermont County
79. Ohio 1804 Sheriff, Hamilton County
80. Ohio 1804 Sheriff, Ross County
81. Ohio 1804 Sheriff, Washington County
82. Ohio 1804 State Senate, Butler, Greene, Montgomery, Warren Counties
83. Ohio 1804 State Senate, Columbiana County
84. Ohio 1804 State Senate, Gallia, Muskingum, Washington County
85. Ohio 1804 State Senate, Hamilton County
86. Ohio 1804 State Senate, Ross County
87. Ohio 1804 State Senate, Trumbull County
88. Ohio 1804 U.S. House of Representatives
89. Ohio 1805 Commissioner, Hamilton County
90. Ohio 1805 Commissioner, Montgomery County
91. Ohio 1805 Commissioner, Ross County
92. Ohio 1805 Commissioner, Washington County
93. Ohio 1805 Coroner, Butler County
94. Ohio 1805 Coroner, Montgomery County
95. Ohio 1805 Coroner, Warren County
96. Ohio 1805 Governor
97. Ohio 1805 House of Representatives, Adams County
98. Ohio 1805 House of Representatives, Athens, Gallia, Muskingum and Washington County
99. Ohio 1805 House of Representatives, Butler County
100. Ohio 1805 House of Representatives, Clermont County
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In these years, Ohio changed from a virtually unpeopled frontier area within the Northwest Territory to the fourth most powerful state in federal elections. Its first significant elections were for the lower house of the Territorial Assembly in December 1798. Suffrage was restricted to adult males who owned fifty acres freehold (the most limited franchise in the nation), although Governor Arthur St. Clair extended the vote to those who owned town lots of comparable value. Voting took place viva voce at the county seat, under the supervision of men appointed by the governor, who also determined apportionment and could veto legislation and prorogue (postpone) and dissolve the Assembly. The upper house, the Council, was appointed by the president from a list of names drawn up by the house; Congress appointed the governor on the president's nomination. This authoritarian system was overthrown when Congress passed the Enabling Act of 1802, authorizing the calling of a convention elected virtually on the basis of manhood suffrage.
Ohio became a state in March 1803, operating under the constitution drafted in November 1802. That instrument gave little power or patronage, and no veto, to the governor, who was elected biennially. The all-powerful General Assembly was divided into two chambers: The House was elected annually by county constituencies, and the Senate was elected biennially, half the members each year, in districts made up of one or more counties. There were no property qualifications for membership in the Assembly. Every four years the state took a census of adult males and redistributed legislative seats, and congressional districts were reapportioned each decade immediately after Congress had reapportioned the federal House and electoral college. Beginning with the first presidential election in 1804, the electors were chosen by statewide popular vote. The right to vote was limited to white adult males who had been resident for one year and had paid a tax. However, because the state constitution defined compulsory work on the roads as a tax and all adult males between the ages of 18 and 55 were obliged to work on the roads (or buy a substitute), this amounted to a nearly all-inclusive franchise for white males. From the start, voting was by secret ballot, with ballots deposited in special locked boxes, and whereas under the territory, voters had had to travel to the few county seats to vote, people now voted at a central place in each of the rapidly multiplying townships.
This democratic electoral system produced elections that saw a surprising degree of partisan action and comparatively high—but fluctuating—voter involvement, especially after 1807 when the key elections began to coincide in even years. The Federalist predominance of the territorial period was overthrown in 1802—1803, and the then overwhelmingly dominant Democratic-Republican party soon divided along factional lines, notably over the role of the judiciary. In some parts of the state, the Federalist Party revived after 1807 but suffered a severe decline after 1816. As a consequence, nonpartisan elections became even more common, although old-party considerations operated in some local elections into the 1820s. In 1824 Ohio's first competitive election for the presidency saw turnout surge as voters began giving their allegiance to entirely new political formations.
Bibliography
Annual Report of the Secretary of the State to the Governor of the State of Ohio: including the statistical report to the general assembly for the year 1875. Colombus, OH: Nevins & Myers, State Printers, 1876. (Lists members of the General Assembly and their districts from the formation of the state)- Brown, Jeffrey P. and Andrew R. L. Cayton, eds.
The Pursuit of Public Power: Political Culture in Ohio, 1787–1861. Kent, OH: Kent State University Press, 1994. - Cayton, Andrew R. L.
The Frontier State: Ideology and Politics in the Ohio Country. Kent, OH: Kent State University Press, 1986. - Ohio Historical Society, Ohio Fundamental Documents Searchable Database,
http://www.ohiohistory.org/resource/database/funddocs.html - Ratcliffe, Donald J.
"Voter Turnout in Early Ohio," Journal of the Early Republic, 7 (1987): 223–251. Reprinted in New Perspectives on the Early Republic, ed. Ralph D. Gray and Michael A. Morrison. Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1994, pp. 269–297. - ________.
"The Mystery of Ohio's Missing Presidential Election Returns, 1804–1848," Archival Issues: The Journal of the Midwest Archives Conference, 17(2)(1992): 137–144. - ________.
Party Spirit in a Frontier Republic: Democratic Politics in Ohio, 1793–1821. Columbus, OH: Ohio State University Press, 1998. - ________.
The Politics of Long Division: The Birth of the Second Party System in Ohio, 1818–1828. Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 2000. - ________.
"The Changing Political World of Thomas Worthington." inThe Center of a Great Empire: The Ohio Country in the Early Republic , ed. Andrew R. L. Cayton and Stuart D. Hobbs. Athens: Ohio University Press, 2005, pp. 36–61. - Utter, William T.
The Frontier State, 1803–1825 , 1943 reprint ed. Columbus: Ohio Historical Society, 1968), Vol. 2 of Carl Wittke, ed., A History of the State of Ohio, 6 vols. Columbus: Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society, 1941–1944.