"Second: That they shall be subject to the Articles of Confederation in all those cases in which the original States shall be so subject, and to all the acts and ordinances of the United States in Congress assembled, conformable thereto.

"Third: That they in no case shall interfere with the primary disposal of the soil by the United States in Congress assembled, nor with the ordinances and regulations which Congress may find necessary, for securing the title of such soil to the bona fide purchasers.

"Fourth: That they shall be subject to pay a part of the Federal debts, contracted or to be contracted, to be apportioned on them by Congress, according to the same common rule and measure by which apportionments thereof shall be made on the other States.

"Fifth: That no tax shall be imposed on lands, the property of the United States.

"Sixth: That their respective governments shall be republican.

"Seventh: That the lands of non-resident proprietors shall, in no cases, be taxed higher than those of residents within any new State, before the admission thereof to a vote by its delegates in Congress.

"Eighth: That after the year 1800 of the Christian era, there shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in any of the said States, otherwise than in the punishment of crimes, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted to have been personally guilty."

The States thus authorized, were to be admitted by their delegates into Congress, when any of them should have, of free inhabitants, as many as the least numerous of the thirteen original States, provided the consent of nine States to such admission was given. An amendment of the Articles of

Confederation, substituting the vote of two-thirds of the States, wherever nine had been previously requisite, was also proposed. During the temporary government, Congress might take measures for the preservation of peace and good order among the settlers in any of the said new States; and the latter were allowed, before their temporary organization, to "keep a member in Congress, with a right of debating but not voting." The plan under consideration closed with the following provision:

"That the preceding articles shall be formed into a charter of compact; shall be duly executed by the President of the United States in Congress assembled, under his hand, and the seal of the United States; shall be promulgated, and shall stand as fundamental constitutions between the thirteen original States, and each of the several States now newly described, unalterable from and after the sale of any part of the territory of such State, pursuant to this resolve, but by the joint consent of the United States in Congress assembled, and of the particular State within which such alteration is proposed to be made."

On the 19th of April, Mr. Spaight of North Carolina moved that the anti-slavery proviso be stricken out. Under the Articles of Confederation, which governed the proceed ings of Congress, a majority of the thirteen States was ne cessary to an affirmative decision of any question; and the vote of no State could be counted, unless represented by at least two delegates.

The question upon Mr. Spaight's motion was put in this form:

"Shall the words moved to be struck out stand?” The vote stood

For the Proviso, six States, viz: New Hampshire, Massa

chusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York and Penn

sylvania.

Against the Proviso, three States, viz: Virginia, Maryland and South Carolina.

Delaware and Georgia were not represented. New Jersey, by Mr. Dick, voted aye, but her vote, only one delegate being present, could not be counted. The vote of North Carolina was divided-Mr. Williamson voting aye, Mr. Spaight, no. The vote of Virginia stood-Mr. Jefferson, aye, Messrs. Hardy and Mercer, no. Of the twenty-three delegates present and voting, sixteen voted for, and seven against the proviso, which was thus defeated by a minority vote. It so happened that Mr. Beatty of New Jersey, the colleague of Mr. Dick, had left Congress a day or two before, and returned a day or two after. Had he been present, or had one of Mr. Jefferson's colleagues voted with him, the result would have been changed.5

The ordinance of 1784, with this material omission, was passed on the 23d of April following. In 1785, Mr. Jefferson went as minister to France, and on the 16th of

5) Journals Cong. Confed., vol. iv. p. 374: See also Congressional Globe, 1848-9, Appendix, 294, Speech of John A. Dix; also Speech of S. P. Chase, on Mr. Clay's Compromise Resolutions, in U. S. Senate, March 26, 1850. Besides the general provisions for the division of the Western Territory, Jefferson's original draft designated the States north of the Ohio-ten in number-by specific boundaries and names. This paragraph, which the committee suppressed on a recommitment, was as follows:

"That the territory northward of the forty-fifth degree, that is to say, of the completion of forty-five degrees from the equator, and extending to the Lake of the Woods, shall be called Sylvania; that of the territory under the forty-fifth and forty-fourth degrees, that which lies westward of Michigan, shall be called Michigania; and that which is eastward thereof, within the peninsula formed by the lakes and waters of Michigan, Huron, St. Clair, and Erie, shall be called Cheronesus, and shall include any part of the peninsula which may extend above the forty-fifth degree. Of the territory under the forty-third and forty-second degrees, that to the westward

March, Rufus King of Massachusetts, preceded the assent of his colleague and himself to a cession of western lands in behalf and by the authority of the State of Massachusetts, with a motion that the following proposition be committed to a committee of the whole House:

"That there shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in any of the States described in the resolves of Congress of the 23d of April, 1784, otherwise than in the punishment of crimes, whereof the party shall have been personally guilty; and that this regulation shall be an article of compact, and remain a fundamental principle of the constitutions between the thirteen original States, and each of the States described in the said resolve of the 23d of April, 1784."

The motion was seconded by Mr. Ellery of Rhode Island, and prevailed by the votes of New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Maryland-eight; against the votes of Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgiafour. Delaware was not represented. The vote of Maryland was determined by two ayes against one no, while that

through which the Assenisipi or Rock River runs, shall be called Assenisipia; and that to the eastward, in which are the fountains of the Muskingum, the two Miamies of Ohio, the Wabash, the Illinois, the Miami of the Lake, and the Sandusky Rivers, shall be called Metropotamia. Of the territory which lies under the forty-first and fortieth degrees, the western, through which the river Illinois runs, shall be called Illinoia; that next adjoining, to the eastward, Saratoga; and that between this last and Pennsylvania, and extending from the Ohio to Lake Erie, shall be called Washington. Of the territory which lies under the thirty-ninth and thirty-eighth degrees, to which shall be added so much of the point of land within the fork of the Ohio and Mississippi as lies under the thirty-seventh degree, that to the westward, within and adjacent to which are the confluences of the rivers Wabash, Shawnee, Tanisee, Ohio, Illinois, Mississippi and Missouri, shall be called Polypotamia; and that to the eastward, farther up the Ohio, otherwise called the Pelisipi, shall be called Pelisipia."

of Virginia was determined by two noes against one aye-the single affirmative from Virginia being the vote of Mr. Grayson, the successor of Mr. Jefferson.6

The resolution of Mr. King differed from the proposition of Mr. Jefferson, inasmuch as the prohibition of slavery was total and immediate, and not deferred to the year 1800: but was identical with it in the extension of the prohibition over the whole western territory, from the thirty-first parallel of north latitude to the northern boundary of the United States. No expression could be more conclusive of a determination by the statesmen and patriots of the revolutionary epoch, to confine slavery to the Atlantic States.

The division of States contemplated by the ordinance or resolution of 1784, was found inexpedient, and an act exclusively applicable to the recent cessions by New York, Massachusetts, Virginia and Connecticut-the entire territory then belonging to the United States-was proposed in Congress, and resulted in the celebrated ordinance of July 13, 1787. It was reported in September, 1786, by a committee composed of Messrs. Johnson of Connecticut, Pinckney of South Carolina, Smith of New York, Dane of Massachusetts, and Henry of Maryland. Subsequently it was submitted to another committee, consisting of Messrs. Carrington of Virginia, Dane of Massachusetts, R. H. Lee of Virginia, Keen of South Carolina, and Smith of New York. On its final passage, the Ordinance received the unanimous vote of the States, and with a single exception from New York, of all the delegates.

This well-known enactment organized a single territory northwest of the Ohio and eastward of the Mississippi, but

6) Journals Cong. Confed., vol. iv. p. 481.