whom congress shall appoint and commission for the residue of the term; and every five years, four months at least before the expiration of the time of service of the members of 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 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 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 the 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 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.

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:

ARTICLE I. 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. II. The inhabitants of said territory shall always be entitled to the benefit 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 offenses, 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 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 particu

lar 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 to have force in said territory, that shall, in any manner whatever, interfere with or effect private contracts or engagements, bonafide, and without fraud previously formed.

ART. III. 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 toward the Indians; their lands and property shall never be taken from them without their consent; and in their property, rights and liberty, they never shall 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. IV. The 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 alteration therein as shall be constitutionally made; and to all 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, and a proportional part of the expenses of the Government to be apportioned on them, by Congress, according to the same 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 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 highways and forever free, as well 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. V. There shall be formed in said territory not less than three nor more than five states, and the boundaries as soon as Virginia shall alter her act of session and consent to the same, shall become fixed and established as follows, to-wit: The western state in said territory shall be bounded by the Mississippi, the Ohio and Wabash rivers; a direct line drawn from the Wabash and Post Vincents 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 Vincents 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, and by the said territorial line. The eastern 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 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 states shall have sixty thousand free inhabitants therein, such states shall be admitted by its delegates into the congress of the United States, on an equal footing with the original states, in all respects whatsoever; 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 had at an earlier period, and when there may be a less number of free inhabitants in the state than sixty thousand.

ART. VI. There shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in the said Territory, otherwise than in punishment of crimes whereof the party shall have been duly convicted: provided, always, that