An Ordinance for the government of the Territory of the United States
northwest of the River Ohio.
Be it ordained by the United States in Congress assembled, That the said
territory, for the purposes of temporary government, be one district,
subject, however, to be divided into two districts, as future
circumstances may, in the opinion of Congress, make it expedient.
Be it ordained by the authority aforesaid, That the estates, both of
resident and nonresident proprietors in the said territory, dying
intestate, shall descent to, and be distributed among their children,
and the descendants of a deceased child, in equal parts; the descendants
of a deceased child or grandchild to take the share of their deceased
parent in equal parts among them: And where there shall be no children
or descendants, then in equal parts to the next of kin in equal degree;
and among collaterals, the children of a deceased brother or sister of
the intestate shall have, in equal parts among them, their deceased
parents' share; and there shall in no case be a distinction between
kindred of the whole and half blood; saving, in all cases, to the widow
of the intestate her third part of the real estate for life, and one
third part of the personal estate; and this law relative to descents and
dower, shall remain in full force until altered by the legislature of
the district. And until the governor and judges shall adopt laws as
hereinafter mentioned, estates in the said territory may be devised or
bequeathed by wills in writing, signed and sealed by him or her in whom
the estate may be (being of full age), and attested by three witnesses;
and real estates may be conveyed by lease and release, or bargain and
sale, signed, sealed and delivered by the person being of full age, in
whom the estate may be, and attested by two witnesses, provided such
wills be duly proved, and such conveyances be acknowledged, or the
execution thereof duly proved, and be recorded within one year after
proper magistrates, courts, and registers shall be appointed for that
purpose; and personal property may be transferred by delivery; saving,
however to the French and Canadian inhabitants, and other settlers of
the Kaskaskies, St. Vincents and the neighboring villages who have
heretofore professed themselves citizens of Virginia, their laws and
customs now in force among them, relative to the descent and conveyance,
of property.
Be it ordained by the authority aforesaid, That there shall be appointed
from time to time by Congress, a governor, whose commission shall
continue in force for the term of three years, unless sooner revoked by
Congress; he shall reside in the district, and have a freehold estate
therein in 1,000 acres of land, while in the exercise of his office.
There shall be appointed from time to time by Congress, a secretary,
whose commission shall continue in force for four years unless sooner
revoked; he shall reside in the district, and have a freehold estate
therein in 500 acres of land, while in the exercise of his office. It
shall be his duty to keep and preserve the acts and laws passed by the
legislature, and the public records of the district, and the proceedings
of the governor in his executive department, and transmit authentic
copies of such acts and proceedings, every six months, to the Secretary
of Congress: There shall also be appointed a court to consist of three
judges, any two of whom to form a court, who shall have a common law
jurisdiction, and reside in the district, and have each therein a
freehold estate in 500 acres of land while in the exercise of their
offices; and their commissions shall continue in force during good
behavior.
The governor and judges, or a majority of them, shall adopt and publish
in the district such laws of the original States, criminal and civil, as
may be necessary and best suited to the circumstances of the district,
and report them to Congress from time to time: which laws shall be in
force in the district until the organization of the General Assembly
therein, unless disapproved of by Congress; but afterwards the
Legislature shall have authority to alter them as they shall think fit.
The governor, for the time being, shall be commander in chief of the
militia, appoint and commission all officers in the same below the rank
of general officers; all general officers shall be appointed and
commissioned by Congress.
Previous to the organization of the general assembly, the governor shall
appoint such magistrates and other civil officers in each county or
township, as he shall find necessary for the preservation of the peace
and good order in the same: After the general assembly shall be
organized, the powers and duties of the magistrates and other civil
officers shall be regulated and defined by the said assembly; but all
magistrates and other civil officers not herein otherwise directed,
shall during the continuance of this temporary government, be appointed
by the governor.
For the prevention of crimes and injuries, the laws to be adopted or
made shall have force in all parts of the district, and for the
execution of process, criminal and civil, the governor shall make proper
divisions thereof; and he shall proceed from time to time as
circumstances may require, to lay out the parts of the district in which
the Indian titles shall have been extinguished, into counties and
townships, subject, however, to such alterations as may thereafter be
made by the legislature.
So soon as there shall be five thousand free male inhabitants of full
age in the district, upon giving proof thereof to the governor, they
shall receive authority, with time and place, to elect a representative
from their counties or townships to represent them in the general
assembly: Provided, That, for every five hundred free male inhabitants,
there shall be one representative, and so on progressively with the
number of free male inhabitants shall the right of representation
increase, until the number of representatives shall amount to twenty
five; after which, the number and proportion of representatives shall be
regulated by the legislature: Provided, That no person be eligible or
qualified to act as a representative unless he shall have been a citizen
of one of the United States three years, and be a resident in the
district, or unless he shall have resided in the district three years;
and, in either case, shall likewise hold in his own right, in fee
simple, two hundred acres of land within the same; Provided, also, That
a freehold in fifty acres of land in the district, having been a citizen
of one of the states, and being resident in the district, or the like
freehold and two years residence in the district, shall be necessary to
qualify a man as an elector of a representative.
The representatives thus elected, shall serve for the term of two years;
and, in case of the death of a representative, or removal from office,
the governor shall issue a writ to the county or township for which he
was a member, to elect another in his stead, to serve for the residue of
the term.
The general assembly or legislature shall consist of the governor,
legislative council, and a house of representatives. The Legislative
Council shall consist of five members, to continue in office five years,
unless sooner removed by Congress; any three of whom to be a quorum: and
the members of the Council shall be nominated and appointed in the
following manner, to wit: As soon as representatives shall be elected,
the Governor shall appoint a time and place for them to meet together;
and, when met, they shall nominate ten persons, residents in the
district, and each possessed of a freehold in five hundred acres of
land, and return their names to Congress; five of whom Congress shall
appoint and commission to serve as aforesaid; and, whenever a vacancy
shall happen in the council, by death or removal from office, the house
of representatives shall nominate two persons, qualified as aforesaid,
for each vacancy, and return their names to Congress; one of 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 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 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:
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 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 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 nonresident 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. 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 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 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
23rd of April, 1784, relative to the subject of this ordinance, be, and
the same are hereby repealed and declared null and void.
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