The Ministerial Lands were tracts of land in the

Northwest Territory The Northwest Territory, also known as the Old Northwest and formally known as the Territory Northwest of the River Ohio, was formed from part of the unorganized western territory of the United States after the American Revolution. Established ...

, later

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

, that the

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donated for the support of clergy. In the contracts that the Congress wrote for purchases of large tracts of land in the

in the 1780s by the

Ohio Company of Associates The Ohio Company of Associates, also known as the Ohio Company, was a land company whose members are today credited with becoming the first non-Native Americans in the United States, Native American group to permanently settle west of the Alle ...

and John Cleve Symmes, tracts of land were set aside for support of religion. This was before the passage of the

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. These land purchases were divided into

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six miles square arranged on a checkerboard pattern. Each township was further divided into one mile square

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numbered systematically from 1 to 36. In the Ohio Company and Symmes purchases, section 29 of each township, except the two townships set aside to support

Ohio University Ohio University (Ohio or OU) is a Public university, public research university with its main campus in Athens, Ohio, United States. The university was first conceived in the 1787 contract between the United States Department of the Treasury#Re ...

, was set aside for support of religion. Ohio’s Ministerial Lands totaled . Monies realized from the leasing or sale of section 29 were to be distributed to the township’s churches on a pro rata basis according to each denomination’s membership. The legislature of the state was designated to be the trustee for the ministerial lands in the First purchase of the Ohio Company and the Symmes Purchase by Congress, while the trustees of the Ohio Company designated the Legislature as trustee of the sections in their second purchase. In 1833, - Text of Act of February 20, 1833

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...

Congress authorized Ohio to sell Ministerial Lands and invest proceeds in a fund to support religion in the various townships in which they sat. This lasted until 1968, when the constitutionality of such church-state relationships was challenged. Congress then authorized the remaining ministerial funds to be disbursed for schools. In May, 1968, Ohio voters approved a constitutional amendment that directed any future ministerial income be used solely for educational purposes. Grants by the Government for support of religion came to an end in 1811 when President

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vetoed a bill for relief for a Baptist Society who had built a church on Government land in Salem Mississippi. He cited that the bill “comprises a principle and precedent for the appropriation of funds of the United States for the use and support of religious societies, contrary to the article of the Constitution which declares that Congress shall make no law respecting a religious establishment.”

Notes

References

* * * * {{Ohio-Lands Pre-statehood history of Ohio

See also

Notes

References