The sale illustrated the tendency of Congress at that time to sell the land in large tracts; a most unwholesome tendency, fruitful of evil to the whole community.

It was only by degrees that the wisdom of selling the land in small plots, and to actual occupiers, was recognized.
Together with the many wise and tolerant measures included in the famous Ordinance of 1787, and in the land Ordinance of 1785, there were one or two which represented the feelings of the past, not the future.

One of them was a regulation which reserved a lot in every township to be given for the purposes of religion.

Nowadays, and rightfully, we regard as peculiarly American the complete severance of Church and State, and refuse to allow the State to contribute in any way towards the support of any sect.
A regulation of a very different kind provided that two townships should be set apart to endow a university.

These two townships now endow the University of Ohio, placed in a town which, with queer poverty of imagination, and fatuous absence of humor, has been given the name of Athens.
Organization of the Company.
The company was well organized, the founders showing the invaluable New England aptitude for business, and there was no delay in getting the settlement started.