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CHAPTER VI.

THE ADMISSION OF NEW STATES-THE TERRITORIAL GOVERNMENTS.

At the birth of the Nation-July 4th, 1776-there were thirteen States; there are now-1878-thirty-eight. The Constitution went into operation when only eleven had ratified it; but the other two gave their ratifications shortly after-North Carolina, November 21st of the same year, and Rhode Island on the twenty-ninth of May, 1790. The relation of these two to the others, if they had refused to ratify, has been discussed in a former chapter (page 261).

Congress has admitted twenty-five new States into the Union. Of these, twelve were formed from territory belonging to the United States, or to individual States when the Constitution was adopted; and eight of the others came from the Louisiana purchase.

Classifying them as to their modes of admission, four were formed from other States, nineteen existed as organized Territories, one was admitted without having had a territorial government, and one was annexed.

The first State admitted into the Union after the adoption of the Constitution was VERMONT. The people of Vermont, in January, 1777, proclaimed themselves a free and independent State, under the name of the New Hampshire Grants. In December of that year the same convention which had proclaimed the independence of the State, adopted and put into operation a constitution. But as the territory was claimed by New York, opposition was made by that State to her admission into the Union. It was not till October

17th, 1790, after the adoption of the Constitution of the United States, that New York, by her commissioner, consented to relinquish her claim to soil and jurisdiction, Vermont paying the sum of thirty thousand dollars. The formal consent of New York was given March 6th, 1790, by her legislature. Application was made by Vermont for admission, February 9th, 1791, and an act, to take effect on the fourth of March, was approved February 18th. Vermont, the first of the new States, thus became an integral part of the Union March 4th, 1791. She came in with the constitution which her convention had adopted fourteen years before, and which has remained substantially the same to the present time.

KENTUCKY was the next new State; it was admitted June 1st, 1792. As Vermont was formed from a part of New York, so Kentucky was formed from a part of Virginia. The question of forming a new State from that portion of Virginia known as the district of Kentucky, began to be agitated as early as 1784. A number of conventions were held, but no results followed till December 18th, 1789, when Virginia passed an act giving her consent to a separation, to take place June 1st, 1792. On the fourth of February, 1791, Congress, in answer to a petition from a convention in Kentucky, consented to her admission, which was to take place June 1st, 1792, according to the agreement with Virginia.

The third State admitted into the Union was TENNESSEE, June 1st, 1796. This was originally a part of North Carolina. Like Vermont, Tennessee had early in the war with Great Britain proclaimed herself independent; and she had set up a government in defiance of North Carolina. She called herself the State of Frankland, elected officers, and attempted to defend herself by force of arms. The rebellion was, however, suppressed.

In February, 1790, North Carolina made a cession of her western territory to the United States, with this, among other conditions, "That the territory so ceded shall be laid out and formed into a State or States, containing a suitable extent of territory, the inhabitants of which shall enjoy all the privileges, benefits, and advantages, set forth in the ordinance of the late Congress for the government of the western territory of the United States."

On the second of April of the same year, Congress accepted the cession, and, on the twenty-sixth of May, passed an act organizing the Territory. In July, 1795, the territorial legislature ordered a census to be taken to ascertain whether the population amounted to 60,000; this number entitling the Territory to admission into the Union as a State, by the terms of the ordinance of 1787 and the deed of cession. The census showing a sufficient population, a convention was called to form a State constitution. This body met in January, 1796, and on the sixth of February adopted a constitution. A copy was forwarded to the President of the United States in the same month, with a notification that on the twenty-eighth of March the territorial government would cease. The peculiar action of Tennessee in demanding rather than asking admission into the Union is to be explained by her understanding of the ordinance of 1787. A very earnest debate followed, but finally an act for admission was passed; it was approved June 1st. Tennessee was the first State admitted which had been previously governed as a Territory.

There had been thus three new States admitted into the Union before the close of the century: Vermont, Kentucky, and Tennessee. The first in this century was OHIO, admitted February 19th, 1803; which, though the seventeenth at the time of her admission, has long held the third rank in population. The old States had ceded to the United States all their claims of jurisdic

tion, and, with a few exceptions, of soil, to territory lying north-west of the Ohio River. In the summer of 1787, while the Convention was framing the Constitution, at Philadelphia, Congress at New York passed an "Ordinance for the government of the territory of the United States north-west of the River Ohio." This was the most important act performed by Congress under the Articles of Confederation. "Never, probably, in the history of the world, did a measure of legislation so accurately fulfill, and yet so mightily exceed, the anticipations of the legislators." (Chase, Statutes of Ohio.) Its object was declared to be to "extend 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." (The ordinance in full may be found in the Appendix.)

The Territory embraced all the land which belonged to the United States north-west of the Ohio River, and all to which Great Britain had any claim at the time of the treaty of 1783. It extended from Pennsylvania to the Mississippi, and from the Ohio to the great lakes. The ordinance provided for its division into three States; or five, if the people should prefer. Five States have been organized: Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin. The territorial government was organized soon after the passage of the ordinance. The government was vested in a Governor and Judges; but when there should be 5,000 free males of full age, a territorial legislature might be elected. The first Governor was General Arthur St. Clair, who was President of Congress when elected. He entered upon his duties in 1788 at Marietta. The first territorial legislature met at Cincinnati September 16th, 1799.

In May, 1800, the Territory was divided; the western

portion being called the Territory of Indiana, of which W. H. Harrison, afterward President, was made Governor. April 30th, 1802, Congress passed an act to enable the people of the eastern division to form a constitution and State government. The convention met at Chillicothe, November 1st, framed a constitution, and adjourned on the 29th. The constitution was not submitted to the people. There was no formal act admitting Ohio, but February 19, 1803, when Congress recognized the new State, is taken as the date of admission.

LOUISIANA came next into the Union, April 30th, 1812. About the time Ohio was admitted, a treaty was made with France, in which that power ceded to the United States the vast territory known then as Louisiana, lying mainly on the west of the Mississippi River. By this purchase the area of the United States was more than doubled. From it the following States have already been formed: Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota, Oregon, and a large part of Colorado.

The treaty with France was made April 30th, 1803. A temporary government was provided the same year, and, on March 26th, 1804, Congress divided the region into two territories-the Territory of Orleans and the District of Louisiana. March 2d, 1805, an act was passed authorizing a constitution and State government in the Territory of Orleans, when its free inhabitants. should number 60,000. On the 20th of February, 1811, an act was passed to enable the people to form a constitution and State government. This was done January 22d, 1812, and the State was admitted into the Union by act of Congress, April 8th, 1812, to take effect April 20th of that year.

INDIANA, formed from a part of the North-west Territory, was admitted December 11th, 1816. The Territory of Indiana, forined May 7th, 1800, was divided January 11th, 1805, and the Territory of Michigan established.

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