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months at least before the expiration of the time of service of the members of the council, the said house shall nominate ten persons, qualified as aforesaid, and return their names to Congress; five of whom Congress shall appoint and commission to serve as members of the council five years, unless sooner removed. And the governor, legislative council, and house of representatives, shall have authority to make laws in all cases, for the good government of the district, not repugnant to the principles and articles in this ordinance established and declared. And all bills, having passed by a majority in the house, and by a majority in the council, shall be referred to the governor for his assent; but no bill, or legislative act whatever, shall be of any force without his assent. The governor shall have power to convene, prorogue, and dissolve the General Assembly, when, in his opinion, it shall be expedient.

The governor, judges, legislative council, secretary, and such other officers as Congress shall appoint in the district, shall take an oath or affirmation of fidelity and of office; the governor before the President of Congress, and all other officers before the governor. As soon as a legislature shall be formed in the district, the council and house assembled in one room, shall have authority, by joint ballot, to elect a delegate to Congress, who shall have a seat in Congress, with a right of debating but not of voting during this temporary government.

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 hereaf ter 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:

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, to wit:

ART. 1. No person, demeaning himself in a peaceable and orderly manner, shall ever be molested on account of his mode of worship or religious sentiments, in the said territory.

ART. 2. The inhabitants of the said territory shall always be entitled to the benefits of the writ of habeas corpus, and of the trial by jury; of a proportionate representation of the people in the legislature; and of judicial proceedings according to the course of the common law. All persons shall be bailable, unless for capital offences, where the proof shall be evident or the presumption great. All fines shall be moderate; and no cruel or unusual punishments shall be inflicted. No man shall

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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. 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.

ART. 3. Religion, morality, and knowledge, being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged. The utmost good faith shall always be observed towards the Indians; their lands and property shall never be taken from them without their consent; and, in their property, rights, and liberty, they shall never be invaded or disturbed, unless in just and lawful wars authorized by Congress; but laws founded in justice and humanity, shall, from time to time, be made for preventing wrongs being done to them, and for preserving peace and friendship with them.

ART. 4. 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. The inhabitants and settlers in the said territory shall be subject to pay a part of the federal debts contracted or to be contracted, and a proportional part of the expenses of government, 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; and the taxes, for paying their proportion, shall be laid and levied by the authority and direction of the legislatures of the district or districts, or new States, as in the original States, within the time agreed upon by the United States in Congress assembled. The legislatures of those districts or new States, shall never interfere with the primary disposal of the soil by the United States in Congress assembled, nor with any regulations Congress may find necessary for securing the title in such soil to the bona fide purchasers.* No tax shall be imposed on lands the property of the United States; and, in no case, shall non-resident proprietors be taxed higher than residents. The navigable waters leading into the Mississippi and St. Lawrence, and the carrying places between the same, shall be common high-ways, and forever free, as well

Act of 25th February, 1811, provides the same in Louisiana; and, also, that lands sold by Congress shall not be taxed for five years after sale-Post, No. 160-in Mississippi, by act of 1st March, 1817, Post, 396, and so of all others.

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to the inhabitants of the said territory as to the citizens of the United States, and those of any other States that may be admitted into the Confederacy, without any tax, impost, or duty, therefor.

ART. 5. There shall be formed in the said territory, not less than three nor more than five States; and the boundaries of the States, as soon as Virginia shall alter her act of cession, and consent to the same, shall become fixed and established as follows, to wit: The western State in the said territory, shall be bounded by the Mississippi, the Ohio, and Wabash rivers; a direct line drawn from the Wabash and Post St. Vincent's due north, to the territorial line between the United States and Canada; and, by the said territorial line, to the lake of the Woods and Mississippi. The middle State shall be bounded by the said direct line, the Wabash from Post St. Vincent's, to the Ohio; by the Ohio, by a direct line, drawn due north from the mouth of the Great Miami, to the said territorial line. The castern State shall be bounded by the last mentioned direct line, the Ohio, Pennsylvania, and the said territorial line: Provided, however, and it is further understood and declared, that the boundaries of these three States shall be subject so far to be altered, that, if Congress shall hereafter find it expedient, they shall have authority to form one or two States in that part of the said territory which lies north of an east and west line drawn through the southerly bend or extreme of Lake Michigan. And, whenever any of the said States shall have 60,000 free inhabitants therein, such State shall be admitted, by its delegates, into the Congress of the United States on an equal footing with the original States in all respects whatever, and shall be at liberty to form a permanent constitution and State government: Provided, the constitution and government so to be formed, shall be republican, and in conformity to the principles contained in these articles; and, so far as it can be consistent with the general interest of the confederacy, such admission shall be allowed at an earlier period, and when there may be a less number of free inhabitants in the State than sixty-thousand.

ART. 6. 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.

Be it ordained by the authority aforesaid, That the resolutions of the 23d of April, 1784, relative to the subject of this ordinance, be, and the same are hereby, repealed and declared null and void. Done, &c.*

Land Laws, p. 356.

1787.

Symmes applies for Land.

299 The passage of this ordinance and the grant to the New England associates was soon followed by an application to government by John Cleves Symmes, of New Jersey, for the country between the Miamis. This gentleman had been led to visit that region by the representations of Benjamin Stites, of Red Stone, (Brownsville,) who had examined the valleys of the Shawanese soon after the treaty of January 1786.† Symes found them all and more than all they had been represented to be, and upon the 29th of August, 1787, wrote to the President of Congress, asking that the Treasury Board might be empowered to contract with him for the district above named. This petition, on the 2d of October was referred to the board, with power to act, and a contract was concluded the next year. Upon the 18th of the month last named, another application was made by Royal Flint and Joseph Parker, for lands upon the Wabash and Mississippi; ‡ this was also referred to the Board of Treasury.

During this autumn the directors of the company organized in New England were preparing for an actual settlement in the ensuing spring, and upon the 23d of November made arangements for a party of forty-seven men, under the superintendance of General Rufus Putnam, to set forward. Six boat-builders were to leave the next week; on the 1st of January, 1788, the surveyors and their assistants, twenty-six in number, were to meet at Hartfort and go westward; and the remainder to follow as soon as possible. Congress, meantime, upon the 3d of October, had ordered seven hundred troops for the defence of the western settlers, and to prevent unauthorized intrusions; and two days later appointed St. Clair governor of the north-western territory.||

*Land Laws, 372. See also Burnet's Letters in the Ohio Historical Transactions, p. 335 to 147.

+ Cincinnati Directory, 1819, p. 16. The Historical sketch in this volume was compiled from the statements of the earliest settlers. The Miami country had been entered in. 1785, and some "improvements" made. Cist's Cincinnati Miscellany, ii. 33.

‡ Old Journals, iv. Appendix 19.

North American Review, liii. 344. Old Journals, iv. 785. 786.

The two leading causes of disquiet to the western people through 1787, the Indian incursions, and the Spanish possession of the Mississippi did not cease to irritate them during the next year also.

When Clark took his unauthorized possession of Vincennes, in October, 1786, he had asked the savages of the north-west to meet him in council in November; they replied that it was to late in the year, and the proposed meeting was postponed till April. Of this meeting Messrs. Marshall, Muter and others, when writing to Virginia, gave information, and suggested that the government should take Clark's place in it. The council of Virginia coincided with the suggestion, and recommended to Congress James Wilkinson, Richard C. Anderson and Isaac Shelby,* as commissioners on behalf of the United States. Congress, however, received notice of Clark's movements too late † for the proposed treaty, and nothing seems to have been done until July 21st, when the superintendant of Indian affairs in the north, or if he could not go, Colonel Harmar was instructed to proceed to Vincennes, or some other convenient place, and there hold a council with the Wabash Indians and Shawanese, for the purpose of putting an end to warfare.† Favorable notice was also taken of a council which had been held at the mouth of Detroit river, in December, 1786, by the Iroquois, Wyandots and others, the purpose of which was pacific, and from which an address relative to the Indian troubles had been sent to Congress. This was considered, and upon the 5th of October it was resolved that a treaty should be held early in the year 1788, with these tribes, by the governor of the new territory, who was instructed on the subject on the 26th of the month last mentioned.]] At the same time, however, that measures were thus taken to pre

* Secret Journals, iv. 313. 314. 309. 306.

April 12th. Secret Journals, iv. 301.

Old Journals, iv. 761.

Lanman's History of Michigan, 149. Old Journals, iv. 762. 763. 786. Secret Journals, i. 276.

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