Downton Abbey and the Northwest Ordinance

Viewers of the popular British series Downton Abbey may recall the initial episode that set in motion all the frantic efforts to keep the estate in the family and have a suitable marriage for the aloof but beautiful Mary Crawley. The lovely Mary was pledged to marry her cousin Patrick but all the plans for this arranged nuptial were drowned along with the Titanic upon which Patrick had been aboard. Not only were Mary’s marital hopes dashed, but the future of Downton Abbey suddenly became uncertain since the Laws of Primogeniture and Entail complicated inheritance details of property owning families that had no sons. Here’s a quick review of these laws: Primogeniture ensured that the eldest son in a family inherited the largest portion of his father’s property upon the father’s death. The practice of entail, guaranteeing that a landed estate remain in the hands of only one male heir, was frequently practiced in conjunction with primogeniture. When there was no son to inherit the property, it was to go to the closest male relative. These laws existed in Europe for many years and was a sure recruitment tool for the church and the military as a place for those younger sons. Since Lord Grantham was blessed with three daughters and no male heirs, the title and the property would no longer remain in the hands of the immediate family. Conveniently for the plot, the distant cousin, handsome Matthew Crawley, was brought in and, after the usual ups and downs of soap operas, fell in love and married Mary. Now the inheritance would flow through HIS line, guaranteeing that the estate would go to their son, George. After Matthew’s death, it is understood that no matter if Mary should wed again, George would become the next Lord Grantham and the owner of Downton Abbey. So what has that to do with the settlement of the America and the Northwest Ordinance? Think about the early colonists who came to the new country across the ocean. Many were the younger sons of British gentry who could take their monetary inheritances and build up their own estates in the new lands. Benjamin Franklin, for example, said in his autobiography that he was the youngest son of the youngest son for five generations back! The colonies had acres and acres of land…while most land in Europe was entailed. The colonies remained under British Law until the Declaration of Independence when the individual states began to write their own Constitutions and laws. Virginia abolished entail in 1776, but permitted primogeniture to persist until 1785. In 1777, Georgia formally adopted a new state constitution and became the first state to abolish the inheritance practices of primogeniture and entail. Move ahead to 1787. The Revolutionary War had ended and all the land that was west of the Ohio River and had been claimed by the British, the French and various states was now federal land, the Northwest Territory. The national government at the time was operating under the Confederation Congress and needed a rule of law for the new territory. There had been several attempts to regulate the borders, settlement, financial obligations and legal status of the area, but finally on July 13, the Congress of the Confederation of the United States passed the definitive Ordinance of 1787, probably one of the most influential and important documents in American history. Among the notable features of the Northwest Ordinance was the abolition of the traditional laws of primogeniture and entail, guaranteeing inheritance to both widows and offspring. Section 2 of the Ordinance reads: Be it ordained by the authority aforesaid, That the estates, both of resident and nonresident proprietors in the said territory, dying intestate, shall descent to, and be distributed among their children, and the descendants of a deceased child, in equal parts; the descendants of a deceased child or grandchild to take the share of their deceased parent in equal parts among them: And where there shall be no children or descendants, then in equal parts to the next of kin in equal degree; and among collaterals, the children of a deceased brother or sister of the intestate shall have, in equal parts among them, their deceased parents' share; and there shall in no case be a distinction between kindred of the whole and half blood; saving, in all cases, to the widow of the intestate her third part of the real estate for life, and one third part of the personal estate; and this law relative to descents and dower, shall remain in full force until altered by the legislature of the district. And so, dear reader, if Downton Abbey had been set in Ohio in 1912, there would have been no drama other than sadness at the loss of Patrick on the Titanic. Mary, Edith and Sybil probably would have had rousing, vicious, biting and hair-pulling arguments about who would get what part of the estate…but that would have to be another PBS series. Until then, you can learn more about the other important details of the Northwest Ordinance, including the restrictions on slavery, during a tour of Historic Fort Steuben.