# 3595 FDC - 2002 34c Greetings From America: Ohio

Ohio And Nebraska Join The Union

Early American Indians known as the Mound Builders lived in Ohio thousands of years ago. When Europeans first reached this area, they found Indians from the Delaware, Miami, Shawnee, and Wyandot (also known as the Huron).

History credits France’s Rene-Robert Cavelier, titled Sieur de La Salle, as the first European to visit Ohio in 1669. In fact, France claimed the entire American Northwest, based on La Salle’s explorations. However, the British claimed all of the land west of their Atlantic colonies, which included this area. Land ownership disputes resulted in the French and Indian War, which lasted from 1754-63. The British were victorious, and France relinquished most of its land claims west of the Mississippi.

Ohio became part of the Northwest Territory in 1787. That year, the Northwest Ordinance passed, which provided the foundation for granting Ohio and other territories statehood. On April 7, 1788, the Ohio Company of Associates established Marietta, the first permanent European settlement in Ohio. That July, Marietta became the first capital in the Northwest Territory. Veterans of the American Revolution were rewarded for their service with land grants. Many of these veterans began settling along the Ohio River. For several years, Indian attacks disturbed the growth and prosperity of the settlements. Then, in 1794, General Anthony Wayne defeated the Indians at the Battle of Fallen Timbers. With peace restored, even more settlers moved to the region.

Now let’s take a trip west and follow Nebraska’s path to statehood…

Though both France and Spain claimed the territory that included Nebraska as early as 1541, the first Europeans to set foot there didn’t arrive until nearly 200 years later. That likely occurred in 1739, when French explorers, brothers Pierre and Paul Mallet, traveled from Illinois to Santa Fe.

In 1803, the United States bought the vast Louisiana Territory, which included Nebraska, from France. President Thomas Jefferson sent an expedition led by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark to explore the Louisiana Territory in 1804. During their journey, Lewis and Clark explored the eastern portion of Nebraska. Explorer Zebulon M. Pike reached south-central Nebraska in 1806. From 1807 to 1820, the Spanish-American trader Manuel Lisa established several fur trading posts along the Missouri River. These included Fort Lisa, located about 10 miles from the site of today’s Omaha, Nebraska.

Despite the establishment of fur trading posts, Nebraska was considered Indian land and was not available for settlement. Then, Congress passed the Kansas-Nebraska Act in 1854, creating these two territories and making them available for settlement. These territories would have been established earlier, but disagreements over slavery prevented Congress from doing so. Northerners wanted to ban slavery from new territories, while Southerners wanted to permit it. The Kansas-Nebraska Act allowed the people of the new territories to decide for themselves. The vast majority of Nebraskans were opposed to slavery.

On March 1, 1867, Congress admitted Nebraska to the Union, overriding President Andrew Johnson’s veto. Republican David Butler was elected the state’s first governor. President Johnson, a democrat, had opposed Nebraska’s statehood, as he believed the republican state’s two senators would allow impeachment proceedings, which were already in progress, to convict him.

 

Issued as part of the ongoing Bicentennial celebration, the 13¢ State Flags pane was a first in U.S. history. This was the first time a pane with 50 face-different stamps was issued. Each state is represented by its official flag, with the stamps arranged on the sheet in the same order each state was admitted into the Union.

 

Ohio's state flag was adopted in 1902.  A large blue triangle represents Ohio's hills and valleys, while the stripes represent roads and waterways. A circle of 13 stars represents the original states of the union.  Four stars added to the peak of the triangle symbolize that Ohio was the 17th state admitted to the union. The white circle with its red center represents the "O" in Ohio and refers to the state’s nickname, "The Buckeye State."

 

The U.S. Bicentennial was a series of celebrations during the mid-1970s that commemorated the historic events leading to America’s independence from Great Britain. The official events began on April 1, 1975, when the American Freedom Train departed Delaware to begin a 21-month, 25,338-mile tour of the 48 contiguous states. For more than a year, a wave of patriotism swept the nation as elaborate firework displays lit up skies across the U.S., an international fleet of tall-mast sailing ships gathered in New York City and Boston, and Queen Elizabeth made a state visit. The celebration culminated on July 4, 1976, with the 200th anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence. 

 

The U.S.P.S. issued 113 commemorative stamps over a six-year period in honor of the U.S. bicentennial, beginning with the American Revolution Bicentennial Commission Emblem stamp (U.S. #1432). As a group, the Bicentennial Series chronicles one of our nation’s most important chapters, and remembers the events and patriots who made the U.S. a world model for liberty.