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 governments 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:

14. 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.

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 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 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 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.

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 therein 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 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 he 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.

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 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 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 twenty-third 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.

II. AN ACT TO PROVIDE FOR THE GOVERNMENT OF THE TERRITORY NORTHWEST OF THE RIVER

OHIO.-Approved Aug. 7, 1789.1

WHEREAS, in order that the ordinance of the United States in Congress assembled, for the government of the territory northwest of the river Ohio, may continue to have full effect, it is requisite that certain provisions should be made, so as to adapt the same to the present constitution of the United States:

Sec. 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled, That in all cases in which, by the said ordinance, any information is to be given, or communication made, by the governor of the said territory, to the United States in Congress assembled, or to any of their officers, it shall be the duty of the said governor to give such information, and to make such communication, to the President of the United States; and the president shall nominate, and, by and with the advice and consent of the senate, shall appoint all officers, which, by the said ordinance, were to have been appointed by the United States in Congress assembled; and all officers, so appointed, shall be commissioned by him; and in all cases where the United States in Congress assembled, might, by the said ordinance, revoke any commission or remove from any office, the president is hereby declared to have the same power of revocation and removal.

Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That in case of the death, removal, resignation, or necessary absence, of the governor of the said territory, the secretary thereof shall be, and he is hereby authorised and required to execute all the powers, and perform all the duties of the governor, during the vacancy occasioned by the removal, resignation, or necessary absence of the said governor.

III. AN ACT TO ADMIT THE STATE OF MICHIGAN INTO THE UNION, UPON AN EQUAL FOOTING

WITH THE ORIGINAL STATES1

Whereas, in pursuance of the act of congress of June the fifteenth, eighteen hundred and thirty-six, entitled "An act to 1 Taken from the Territorial Laws of Michigan of 1833. Taken from the Revised Statutes of Michigan of 1838.

establish the northern boundary of the state of Ohio, and to provide for the admission of the state of Michigan into the union upon the conditions therein expressed," a convention of delegates, elected by the people of the said state of Michigan, for the sole purpose of giving their assent to the boundaries of the said state of Michigan, as described, declared and established in and by the said act, did on the fifteenth of December, eighteen hundred and thirty-six, assent to the provisions of said act, therefore:

SECTION I

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled, That the state of Michigan shall be one, and is hereby declared to be one, of the United States of America, and admitted into the union on an equal footing with the original states, in all respects whatever.

SECTION II

And be it further enacted, That the secretary of the treasury, in carrying into effect the thirteenth and fourteenth sections of the act of the twenty-third of June, eighteen hundred and thirty-six, entitled "An act to regulate the deposites of the public money," shall consider the state of Michigan as being one of the United States.

Approved, January 26, 1837.

IV. CONSTITUTION OF MICHIGAN1

1835

We, the people of the territory of Michigan, as established by the act of congress of the eleventh of January, eighteen hundred and five, in conformity to the fifth article of the ordinance providing for the government of the territory of the United States, north-west of the river Ohio, believing that the time has arrived when our present political condition ought to cease, and the right of self-government be asserted; and availing ourselves of the aforesaid ordinance of the congress of the United States of the thirteenth day of July, seventeen hundred and eighty seven, and the acts of congress passed in accordance therewith, which entitled us to admission into the union, upon a condition which has been fulfilled, do, by our

Taken from the Revised Statutes of Michigan of 1837-8.