1820. The enabling act for Missouri was passed, providing that Missouri might become a State, but under the condition that slavery should be forever excluded from all other parts of the Louisiana Purchase lying north of the southern limit of the State, or latitude 36° 30'.

1854. An act was passed organizing the Territories of Kansas and Nebraska and providing that they might be admitted as States at the proper time with or without slavery, thus setting aside the provisions of the so-called Missouri Compromise and declaring them void.

1862. The first proclamation concerning the emancipation of the slaves was issued by President Lincoln. This was a call and a warning. By it President Lincoln called to the inhabitants of the revolted States to lay down their arms and return to the position of loyal citizens. Through it he moreover warned them that unless they resumed their allegiance to the Government of the United States before the first of January, 1863, he would declare their slaves free men and use the forces of the army and the navy to uphold this declaration. The only evident effect of this proclamation was that the president of the Confederacy ordered certain measures of retaliation.

1863. The emancipation proclamation was issued on January 1, 1863. This proclamation designated the States and parts of States in which it was to apply, and enumerated the places that were to remain as if it had not been issued. It ordered and declared "that all persons held as slaves within said designated States and parts of States are, and henceforward shall be, free; and that the executive government of the United States, including the military and

naval authorities thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of said persons." This proclamation was issued not by virtue of any power specifically granted to the President by the Constitution, but "by virtue of the power in him vested as commander in chief of the army and navy of the United States in time of actual armed rebellion against the authority and government of the United States, and as a fit and necessary war measure for suppressing said rebellion." The authority of the President as commander in chief did not extend practically within the lines of the forces in revolt; but even if the status of the slaves there was not materially affected, the proclamation was at least an announcement that this authority would become effective as fast as territory was brought within the lines of the Federal forces.

1865. The thirteenth amendment to the Constitution was adopted, providing that "neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction."

1870. The fifteenth amendment to the Constitution was adopted, providing that "the right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude."

Topics.-Importation of slaves.-Ordinance of 1787.-Slave trade.-Enabling act for Missouri.-Kansas and Nebraska Bill.— Emancipation.-Thirteenth amendment.-Fifteenth amendment.

References.-Bryce, American Commonwealth, i, 55, 472, 475; Dawes, How We Are Governed, 320-324; Hinsdale, American Government, 325, 326, 332, 357-367; Lalor, Cyclopædia, i, 838; iii, 540; Miller, Lectures, 406, 456.

FOR ADVANCED STUDY

Personal Rights.-Burgess, Political Science, i, 174-252; Cooley, Constitutional Law, Chap. IV, §§ 3, 14; Chaps. XII-XVI; Cooley, Constitutional Limitations, Chaps. IX-XIII; H. von Holst, Constitutional Law, §§ 72-78, 84-87; Hinsdale, American Government, Chaps. XLVII, XLVIII.

Liberty. Lieber, On Civil Liberty and Self-Government, Chaps. VI, VII; Mill, On Liberty; Hurd, Law of Freedom and Bondage; Cooley, Constitutional Limitations, Chap. X; Hill, Liberty Documents, Chaps. VIII, XXI-XXIII.

The Development of Religious Liberty.—Eliot, American Contributions to Civilization, Nos. 1, 2, 15; Bryce, American Commonwealth, ii, Chaps. CVI, CVII; Lecky, Democracy and Liberty, i, 540-557; Jennings, Eighty Years of Republican Government, Chap. IX; H. von Holst, Constitutional Law, §§ 94-98; Wright, Practical Sociology, §§ 38, 39.

The Emancipation of the Slaves.-Nicolay and Hay, Lincoln, vi, Chap. VIII, XIX; Burgess, Civil War, ii, 97-101; Morse, Lincoln, ii, 116-121; Rhodes, History of the United States, iii, 157-163.

The Right to Vote.-Lalor, Cyclopædia, iii, 822-833; See bibliography on page 833.

Magna Charta.-Consult the text of the charter and the discussion in Stubbs's Constitutional History of England.

Slaves as "Contraband of War."-Nicolay and Hay, Lincoln, iv, 387-396; Rhodes, History of the United States, iii, 466– 468.

Changes in the Federal Constitution.-Cooley and others, Constitutional History as Seen in Constitutional Law; Burgess, Reconstruction and the Constitution, 73–79; Bryce, American Commonwealth, abridged edition, 271-284.

Equality. Harris, Progress and Inequality; Moses, Democracy and Social Growth, 1-35.

CHAPTER IX

THE CONTINENTAL TERRITORIES

142. The Government of the Northwestern Territory. At the close of the War of Independence the General Government did not possess, or exert direct control over, any territory whatsoever. All lands embraced within the boundary fixed by the treaty of 1783 were covered by the claims of the States. The territorial claims of several of these States-New Hampshire, Rhode Island, New Jersey, Delaware, and Maryland-did not reach beyond the region now occupied by New England and the middle and southern Atlantic States. The rest of the territory between Florida and the Lakes was claimed by the other States. An important step in the development of the dignity and independence of Congress was the cession of the territory bounded by the Great Lakes and the Mississippi and Ohio rivers to the General Government. Such a cession had been contemplated before the end of the war, as may be seen by the following resolution, submitted to Congress in October, 1777:

"That the United States in Congress assembled shall have the sole and exclusive right and power to ascertain and fix the western boundary of such States as claim to the Mississippi or the South Sea, and lay out the land beyond the boundary so ascertained into separate and independent States, from time to time, as the numbers and circumstances of the people thereof may require."

Maryland alone voted for this resolution. Other resolutions of a somewhat similar import were considered in connection with the adoption of the Articles of Confederation; but they were not carried, and the failure to make any satisfactory provision respecting the northwestern lands caused Maryland to withhold her assent to the Articles of Confederation until 1781. The beginning of a solution of the problem of a central Government appeared, when, in 1780, the legislature of New York provided: (1) That the delegates of that State in Congress should restrict the boundaries of the States in the western parts, as they might think to be expedient, with respect either to the jurisdiction or the right of the soil, or both; (2) that the territory so ceded should inure to the benefit of the States in the Union; (3) that if any lands so ceded should remain within the jurisdiction of the State, they should be surveyed and disposed of only as Congress might direct.

This was the first important step taken toward the cession of territory to the Federal Government. It set an example for the other States to follow. The policy of the Federal Government with respect to the lands that had been or might be ceded to it was indicated in a resolution adopted by Congress, October 10, 1780, in which it was announced that these lands would "be disposed of for the common benefit of the United States, and be settled and formed into distinct republican States, and that these States would become members of the Federal Union, and have the same rights of sovereignty, freedom, and independence as the other States."

Connecticut was the last of the States to cede its western lands. Its "deed of release and cession" was authorized, May 11, 1786. This action completed the title of the Federal Government to the lands that came to be known as the Northwestern Territory; but it left the tract known as the Western Reserve in the hands of Connecticut. In the