States
OH
1803

Ohio was visited around 1670 by Sieur de La Salle, who claimed all the land that drained into the Mississippi River for France. That included Ohio, but the British also claimed it as western extensions of their Atlantic colonies. In 1750, the Ohio Company of Virginia sent a party to explore the area with the intention of settling it. Following the War for Independence, Ohio was included in the Northwest Territory. The first permanent settlement was at Marietta, which became the first capital of the territory. In 1800, the western part was separated into the Indiana territory.

Statehood was the objective when the state's first constitution was drawn up in late 1802. Ohio was admitted to the Union as the 17th state on March 1, 1803. Soon afterwards, the Louisiana Purchase provided Ohio with an All-American outlet to the sea and river transportation to Mississippi began.

In 1835, the border dispute with Michigan over a small triangle of land on Lake Erie grew hot and became known as the "Toledo War." No actual fighting took place and the matter was settled in 1836, by the granting of the disputed territory to Ohio. Michigan was compensated with land taken from Wisconsin on the Upper Peninsula.

The first Ohioan to become president of the United States was William Henry Harrison. It was a common practice for the Republican Party to nominate a "balanced ticket," consisting of one man from Ohio and another from New York. Since Republicans dominated national politics for the half century following the Civil War, that resulted in an unusually large number of presidents who have come from Ohio. In all, they have numbered seven.

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