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 for 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.

12. 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.

13. 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 to 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 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:

14. It is hereby ordained and declared, by the authority afresaid, 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:

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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.

ARTICLE II.

The inhabitants of the said territory shall always be entitled to the benefits of the writ of habeas corpus, and trial by jury; of a proportionate representation of the people in the legislature, and 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 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.

ARTICLE 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 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 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.

ARTICLE IV.

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 as shall be constitutionally made; and to all the acts and ordinances of the United States in congress assembled, conformably 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 or levied by the authority and direction of the legislature 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 legislature of those districts or new states, shall never interfere with the primary disposal of the Boil 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.

ARTICLE V.

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 by 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 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 sixty thousand 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 can be consistent with the general interests 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.

ARTICLE VI.

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, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-four, relative to the subject of this ordinance, be and the same are hereby repealed, and declared null and void.

Done by the United States, in congress assembled, the thirteenth day of July, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and eighty-seven, and of their sovereignty and independence the twelfth.

WILLIAM GRAYSON, Chairman.

CHARLES THOMPSON, Secretary.

On the 5th of July, 1786, congress passed a resolution requesting the legislature of Virginia to revise the act of cession so far as relates to the division into states, of the country ceded, as follows, viz:

Resolved, That it be, and it hereby is, recommended to the legislature of Virginia, to take into consideration their acts of cession, and revise the same so far as to empower the United States in congress assembled, to make such a division of the territory of the United States, lying northerly and westerly of the river Ohio, into distinct republican states, not more than five nor less than three, as the situation of that country, and future circumstances, may require; which states shall hereafter become members of the federal union, and have the same rights of sovereignty, freedom, and independence, as the original states, in conformity with the resolution of congress, of the tenth of October, 1780.

In pursuance of the foregoing resolution of congress, the legislature of Virginia, on the 30th of September, 1788, passed the following act, to revise, ratify, and confirm the article of compact contained in the ordinance of 1787, as follows, viz:

Whereas the United States, in congress assembled, did, on the seventh day of July, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and eighty-six, state certain reasons, showing that a division of the territory which hath been ceded to the United States, by this commonwealth, into states, in conformity to the terms of cession, should the same be adhered to, would be attended with many inconveniences, and did recommend a revision of the act of cession, so far as to empower congress to make such a division of the said territory into distinct and republican states, not more than five nor less than three in number, as the situation of that country, and future circumstances might require. And the United States, in congress assembled, have, in an ordinance for the government of the territory north-west of the river Ohio, passed on the thirteenth of July, one thousand seven hundred and eightyseven, declared the following as one of the articles of compact between the original states and the people and states in the aid territory, viz:

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[Here the fifth article of compact, of the ordinance of congress, of 13th July, 1787, as inserted above is recited verbatim.]

And it is expedient that this commonwealtdoh, assent to the proposed alteration, so as to ratify and confirm the said article of compact between the original states and the people and states in the said territory.

2. Be it therefore enacted, by the general assembly, that the aforesaid article of compact between the original states and the people and states in the territory north-west of the Ohio river, be, and the same is hereby ratified and confirmed, any thing to the contrary in the deed of cession of the said territory by this commonwealth to the United States, notwithstanding.

To adapt the ordinance of 1787 to the constitution of the United States, and to the government under it, and to provide for carrying it into effect, congress passed the following act, which was approved by George Washington, president of the United States, on the 7th of August, 1789.

Whereas, in order that the ordinance of the United States in congress assembled, for the government of the territory north-west of the river Ohio