Now for Number 3
Posted March 12, 2010

The 3rd Most Embarrassing Moment of Ohio History is

3. Ohio Admitted to the Union... in 1953

Columbus (1953). In 1953, during festivities celebrating Ohio's sesquicentennial, Ohio's congressional delegation asked the National Archives for the formal resolution declaring Ohio's admission to the Union.  When no resolution was found; it was discovered that such a resolution had never been adopted.   Congress quickly passed a resolution that declared admission of Ohio and postdated it to 1803.

Further Reading: Ohio has been a state in the Union since 1803, but because Congress had not established a method of granting statehood by resolution until 1812, when Louisiana was admitted as a state, confusion arose. Some in the United States declared that the 14th and 16th amendments to the United States Constitution were invalid. Admission of Ohio into the Union, by Benjamin H. Pershing, available in Volume 63 of Ohio History

Come back tomorrow for more from The Most Embarrassing Moments of Ohio History!

Number 10:  Ohio Antiquities are Treasured in London  Number 9:  Rhodes Road to Canada Number 8: Newark Board of Trade Finds a Curious Way to Save an Earthwork  Number 7:  Presidents and Generals First  Number 6:  Traitor Runs for Governor Number 5:  No One Believes the Passenger Pigeon Will Go Extinct Until it Does  Number 4:  Escape

Map of Ohio drawn by John Melish, ca. 1813, from the collections of the Ohio Historical Society.

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