The Ohio Company of Associates was formed in Boston on Mar. 1, 1786, to settle lands along the Ohio River that had recently been ceded to the U.S. government.  The organizers, Generals Rufus Putnam and Benjamin Tupper, obtained support largely from veterans of the American Revolution. The company's activities encouraged Congress--which was desperately in need of revenue--to pass the Ordinance of 1787, which provided for the organization of the Northwest Territory. The Reverend Manasseh Cutler served the company as lobbyist; in 1787 he allied himself with a group of New York speculators and negotiated the purchase of more than 1.5 million acres (600,000 ha) at less than 10 cents an acre. Cutler arranged these advantageous terms by involving a group of politicians in the Scioto Company, which was granted an option on some 5 million acres (2 million ha). The Scioto Company failed, however. Although the Ohio Company did not complete payments on all its land, it established (1788) Marietta, Ohio's first permanent settlement. The company ceased most of its land operations in 1796.