Evolution of the Ordinance of 1787: With an Account of the Earlier Plans for the Government of the Northwest Territory |
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¹ Bancroft amendments Amer anti-slavery appointed April April 23 Arthur St Biog Carrington Charters citing Journals Clair Papers clause committee constitution council Crit Cutler Cutler's Diary district divided Donaldson Dunn estates Federal Force Formation of Const formed free male governor Grayson Hampshire Constitution Hist History Ibid idea Illinois Indiana inhabitants Jefferson Journals of Cong Journals of Congress July Kean Lake Michigan Land Question legislative legislature letter Madison Manasseh Cutler Maryland Massachusetts Melancthon Smith ment meridian Merriam Mississippi Monroe motion Narr Nathan Dane Northwest officers Ohio Arch Ohio Company Old Congress Ordinance of 1787 Papers of Old Penn person Pickering Public Domain Quar resolve of Congress Rufus King Sato settlement slavery soldiers South Carolina temporary government territory U. S. Fin United Virginia vols vote West western William William Grayson Winsor Writings of Washington York
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Page 34 - ... hereafter shall be formed in the said territory; to provide also for the establishment of states, and permanent government therein, and for their admission to a share in the federal councils on an equal footing with the original states, at as early periods as may be consistent with the general interest...
Page 34 - And, for extending the fundamental principles of civil and religious liberty, which form the basis whereon these republics, their laws and constitutions are erected; to fix and establish those principles as the basis of all laws, constitutions, and governments, which forever hereafter shall be formed in the said territory...
Page 58 - It is hereby ordained and declared by the authority aforesaid, that the following articles shall be considered as articles of compact between the original states and the people and states in the said territory, and forever remain unalterable, unless by common consent...
Page 61 - There shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in the said territory otherwise than in the punishment of crimes, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted; Provided, always, That any person escaping into the same, from whom labor or service is lawfully claimed in any one of the original States, such fugitive may be lawfully reclaimed and conveyed to the person claiming his or her labor or service as aforesaid.
Page 39 - III. [As the happiness of a people, and the good order and preservation of civil government, essentially depend upon piety, religion and morality ; and as these cannot be generally diffused through a community, but by the institution of the public worship of God, and of public instructions in piety, religion and morality...
Page 55 - There shall be appointed from time to time by Congress a secretary, whose commission shall continue in force for four years, unless sooner revoked ; he shall reside in the district, and have a freehold estate therein, in five hundred acres of land, while in the exercise of his office.
Page 36 - ... no man shall be deprived of his liberty or property, but by the judgment of his peers, or the law of the land; and should the public exigencies make it necessary for the common preservation to take any person's property, or to demand his particular services, full compensation shall be made for the same...
Page 38 - And, in the just preservation of rights and property, it is understood and declared that no law ought ever to be made or have force in the said Territory that shall, in any manner whatever, interfere with or affect private contracts, or engagements, bona fide, and without fraud previously formed.
Page 39 - Wisdom, and knowledge, as well as virtue, diffused generally among the body of the people, being necessary for the preservation of their rights and liberties; and as these depend on spreading the opportunities and advantages of education in the various parts of the country, and among the different orders of the people, it shall be the duty of legislators and magistrates, in all future periods of this Commonwealth, to cherish the interests of literature and the sciences, and all seminaries of them;...
Page 59 - The said Territory and the States which may be formed therein shall forever remain a part of this Confederacy of the United States of America, subject to the Articles of Confederation and to such alterations therein as shall be constitutionally made, and to all the acts and ordinances of the United States in Congress assembled, conformable thereto.