IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 I.I 1.25 1^ [If 1)4 ■2^8 |2.5 12.2 2.0 ^ IIIIJ4 ^1

outl) tcaflct^. No. i.^. The Ordinance of 1787. An (Ordinance kor the Governmeni" of the Tkrritorv ok the United Sjatks Northwest ok the River Ohio. Be it ordained by the United States in Congress assembled. That the said territory, for the purposes of temporary govern- ment, be one district, suliject, however, to be divided into two districts, as future circumstances may, in the opinion of Con- gress, make it expedient. Be it ordained by the authority aforesaid, That the estates, both of resident and non-resident proprietors in the said terri- tory, dying intestate, shall descend to, and be distributed among, their children, and the descendants of a deceased child, in equal parts ; the descendants of a deceased child or grand- child to take the share of their deceased parent in equal parts among them : And where there shall be no children or descend- ants, 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 inte.'.tate shall have, in equal parts among them, their deceased p;uents' 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 men- tioned, 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 maybe conveyed by lease and re- lease, or bargain and sale, signed, sealed, and delivered by the person, being of full age, in whom the estate may be, and at- tested by two witnesses, pro\ided such wills be duly proved. Mil? li I i and such conveyances be acknowledged, or the execution there- of duly proved, and be recorded witiiin one year after proper magistrates, courts, and registers sliall be' appointed for that purpose ; and personal property may be transferred by delixerv ; saving, however to the I'lench and Canadian inhabitants, and other settlers of the Kaskaskias, St. Vincents, and the neigh- boring villages who ha\e heretofore jirofessed themselves citizens of Virginia, their laws and customs now in force among tiiem, relative to the descent and conveyance of propertv. Br 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 sooii.r revoked by Congress; he shall reside in the dis- trict, and have a freehold estate therein in looo acres of land, while in the exercise of his office. There shall be appointed, from time to time, by Congress, a secretarv, whose commission shall continue in force for four years unless sooner revoked ; he shall reside in tiie 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 pre- serve the acts and laws passed by the legislature, and the pulslic 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 ('ongress; but, afterwards, the legislature shall have authority to alter them as they shall think tit. 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 Ceneral Assembly, the governor shall appoint such magistrates and otlier civil ot^cers, 1 \n each county or township, as he shall find necessary for the preservation of the peace and good order in ihe 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 sliall 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 5000 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 repre- sentatives from their counties or townships to represent them in the General Assembly : Provided^ That, for every 500 free male inhabitants, there shall be one representative, and so on pro- gressively with the number of free male inhabitants, shall the right of representation increase, until the number of represent- atives shall amount to 25 ; after which, the number and pro- portion 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, 200 acres of land within the same : Provided, also, That a free- hold in 50 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 neces- sary 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, 'rhe legislative council shall consist of five members, to con.tinue 11 P'H I ■ I fill , ■■ !'J ^'iJ '1{ 11' in office five years, unless sooner removed by ('onjjjress ; 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 jilace for them to meet together; and, when met, they shall nominate ten jiersons, residents in the dis- trict, and each possessed of a freehold in 500 acres of land, and return their names to Congress; five of whom Congress shall appoint and commission to serve as aforesaid ; and, whene\er 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 commis- sion 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; i]\c of whom Congress shnll appoint and connnission to serve as members of the cotmcil 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 tiiis ordinance established and declared. And all bills, having jiassed by a majority in the house, and by a major- ity in the council, shall be referred to the governor for his as- sent ; 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 legishture 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 Con- gress, who shall have a seat in Congress, with a right of debat- ing 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 ail laws, constitutions, and gov- ernments, which forever hereafter shall l^e formed in the said territory : to provide also for the establishment of States, and 5 permnnent governni'^nt therein, and for their admission to a share in the federal councils on :v.i equal footin^'j with the origi- nal States, at as early pcrjoda as may be consistent with the general interest : // is hereby ordained and declared by the authority ajoresaid. 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 connnon consent, to wit : Art. I St. 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. 2d. 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 peo- ple in the legislature ; and of judicial proceedings according to the course of the common law. All persons shall be bailable, indess for capital offences, where the proof shall be evident or the i)resumption 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 exigen- cies make it necessary, for the common preservation, to take any person's property, or to demand his particular ser\ices, full compensation shall be made for the .;ame. And, in the just preservation of rights and property, it is understood and de- clared, that no law ought ever to be made, or have force in the said territory, that shall, in any mrnner whatever, interfere with or affect private contracts or engagements, bona fide, and with- out fraud, previously formed. Art. 2,<\. Religion, morality, and knowledge, being neces- sary to good go\ernment and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged. The utmost siood faith shall alwavs be observed towards the Indians; their lands and property shall never be taken from them with- out 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 wit'^ them. Art. 4th. 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 Con- 'I '?■;; i: H -lli l' federation, and to such alterations therein as shall be constitu- tionally made ; and to all tiie acts and ordinances of the United States in Congress assembled, conformable thereto. 'I'he in- habitants 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 com- mon rule and measure by which apportionments thereof sliall be made on the other States ; and the taxes, for paying their proportion, shall be laid and levied by the authority and direc- tion 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 pri- mary disposal of the soil by the United States in Congress as- sembled, nor with any regulations Congress may rtnd 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 Stales that may be ad- mitted into the Confederacy, without any tax, impost, or duty, therefor. Art. 5th. 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 W^abash and Post St. Vincent's, clue 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 Vincent's, to the Ohio; by the Ohio, by a direct line, drawn due North from the mouth of the Cireat 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 : J^rovidcd, however, and it is further understood and declared, that the boundaries of these three States shall be sul^iect so far to be altered, that, if ('ongress ni 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 Kast and West line drawn throuj^h tiie Sonth- erly bend or extreme of lake Michigan. And, whenever any of the said States shall have 60,000 free inhabitants therein, such State shall be admitted, by its dele<;ates, into the ('onn(l oi\iy in inipor- tance to the iTowninj; att of thi Convention at Philadelphia. < >n '.!. ii, 17S7, a committee, of whiih Nathan Dane of Massachusetts was c!iai;m.ni. rejiorted " An Ordinance for the (iovernment of the Territory of the I iiited States Northwest of the Ohio"; and this ordinance, with tlie adililion of an article forever forbidding .slavery to cross the Oliio river, was adopted <>n July >3' "One of the most momentous acts of the Continental Congress," says lligginson, "had been to receive from the State of Virginia the gift of a vast unsettled territory northwest of the Ohio, and to apply to this wide realm the guarantee of freedom from slavery. This safeguard was luit the fultilment of a coiulition suggested hv 'I'imothy IMckering, when, in 17S3, (leneral Rufus I'utnam and nearlv three hundred army officers had projuised to form a new state in that very region of the Ohio. 'I'luy sent in a memo- rial to Congress asking for a grant of l.md. Washington heartily endorsed the project, hut nothing came f)f it. .North Carolina soon after made a ces- sion of land to the I'niled States, and then revoked it ; hut the people on the ceded territory declared them.selves for a time to he a separate state under the name of Franklin. Virgii\ia, through Thomas Jefferson, tinally delivered a deed on Manh 1, 17S,}, hv which slu- ceded to the Cnited States all her territory northwest of tin- ( )hio. The great gift was accepted, and a ])lan of gf)vernment was adopted, into which Jefferson tried to introdm <• an anti-slavery ordinance, hut he was defeated by a single vote. Again, in 17.S5, Rufus King of Massachusetts, seconded ny William ICllery of Rhode I.dand, i)ropostjd to revive Jelferson's rejected clause, but again it failed, being smothered by a committee. It was not till July 1 ;, 17S7, that the statute passed by which slaverv was forever prohibited in the territory of the Northwest, this being moved by Nathan hane as an amendment to an ordi- nance already adojited, which he himself had framed, and being passed by a vote of every state then present in the Congress, eight in all. I'nder this statute the Ohio Company, organized in lioston the \car before as the final outcome of Rufus Putnam's proposed colonv of officers, bought from the government five or si.\ millions of acres, and entered on the first great move- ment of emigration west of the Ohio. The report creatuig the colony ])ro- vided for public s( hools, for religious institutions and for a university. The land vvas to be i)aid for in I'liited States certificates of debt, and its i)rice in specie was between eight and nine cents an acre. The settlers were almost wholly men who had served in the army, and were used to organization and discipline. The Indian title to the lands of the prf)posed stttlemeiit had been released by treaty. It was hailed by all as a great step in the national existence, although it was a far greater step than any one yet dreamed." The Northwest Territory so established included the present states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin. In 17^4, Jefferson pro- posed a i)lan dividing the Northwest into ten states, each about a hundred and twenty miles wide, north and south; and for these states he pro|)()secl the following names: .Sylvania, Michigania, Assenisipia, Illinoia, I'oly|)ota- mia, Cherronesus, Metropotamia, Saratoga, I'elisipia and Washington. There was a great deal of pretentious classicism in .America at this time. ( >ur new towns everywhere were being freighted with high-sounding Oreek and Roman names. The founders of Marietta named one of their scjuares C",j/th of the ^reat West, whicii has formed so momentous a chapter in the history of the ( ountrv, l>e^;an. Within a ye.ir following the organization of tlie territory, twenty thousand people Ik( ame settlers upon the hanks of ihe()jiiu. The first settlement was made at Marietta (so named in honor of Marie Antoin- ette) A|)ril 7, I7.S,S, by (ieneral Rufus I'utnam and a Ldmi)any from .Massa- chusetts — the Ohio Companv was formed at a convention luld at the Munch of (Jr.ipes, in lioston, M.irih 1, 17X11 — who c.ime down ihe river from the neighborhood of i'ittslturgh on a boat n.nned the M( tliis imperial grouj) — Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinoi-, Wisconsin — may lift her (lueenly head with the yet prouder answer, ' Uut I Avas free-born.'" The importance of this anti-slavery article of the Ordi- 'iance, in view of the course of our national history during the centurv that has followed, cannot be overestimated. " It fi.xecf forever," said Webster, *' the character of tlie population in the vast regions northwest of the Ohio by excluding from them involuntury servitude. It impressed on the soil it- -self, while it was yet a wilderness, an incapacity to sustain any other than freemen. It laid the interdict against personal servitude in original compact, not only deeper than all local law, but deeper, also, than all local constitu- tions." Jefferson had worI;ed with the greatest earnestnesb to secure the insertion of a clause in the Ordinance of 17S4, prohibii'ng slavery in the Northwest, and the clause was lost by only a single vote. " The voice of a j^ingle individual," said Jefferson, "would have prevented this abominable crime. Heaven will not always be silent; the friends of the rights of human nature will in the end prevail." The Ordinance of 17S7 secured what Jeffer- son had labored for. "Thomas Jeffer.s^oii," says Bancroft, "first summoned Congress to prohibit slavery in all the territory of the United Stales; Rufus King lifted up the measure when it lay ahnost lifeless on the ground, and suggested the immediate instead of the prosi)ective prohibition ; a Congress comjjosed of five southern states, to one from New England, and two from the middle states, headed by William (Jrayson, supported by Richard Henry I-ee, and using Xathan Dane as scribe, carried the measure to the goal in the amended foi m in v.hicii King had caused it to be referred to a com- mittee; and, as Jefferson had proposed, placed it under the sanction of an irrevocable comjjact." The Ordinance of 17S4, the original of the Ordinance of 17S7, was drawn up by Jefferson himself, as chairman of the connnittec of three, of ■which (Miase of Maryland apd Howell of Rhode Island were the other members, which had been ai)pointed by Congress to prepare a plan for the temporary government of the territory. The draught of the committee's re- port, in Jefferson's owr. handwriting, is still i)reservcd in the archives of the State Department at Washington. " It is as completely Jefferson's own ^vork," remarks Bancroft, "as the Declaration of Independence." The te.xt of this important i)ai)er mav be found in Randall's /.i/l' of y<:j^ son, vol. I, p. 3q6, and clsewheie, and should be compared with the Ordinance of 17S7. Jetierson's anti-slavery article was as follows : "That after the year (Soo of tiie Christian era there shall be neither slavery nor involuntary ser- Ait'ide in any 01 he said Slates, otherwise than in punishment of crimes, V hereof the pariv shall have b;'en duly convicted to have been personal j;uilty.'' The ordinance, sliorn of this proscription of slavery, was ado])ted April 23, i,S4, and remained in force three years, beuig superseded l>y the < )itlinance of 17S7. See Hon. Ceorge F. Hoar's oration at the Marietta Centennial, April 7, 188S; Bancroft'.; History of (he United States, vol. vi, chaj). vi, on "The Colonial .System of the United ."stales " ; the I.if:, yoiirnals and Correspond- ence of Mana.\seh Cutler, es])ecially the hundred pages giving the diary of his journey to New N'ork and I'hihi'lelpliia in 1787, on his mission to secure the passage of the ( )hio bill ; and, for its account of the early settlers and their life, Hildreth's /Vtwcv;- //nA'.-j'. The course of lectures at Madison, Wis- consin, for the s'pring of iSSS, in t!ic iine of the Old South icctures in l(}ustoi-. ,■■, a-- ilcvoted i' the hisiovv of the Northwest Tcrritorv from the II earliest times down to its final division into states, llic special subjects being as folliiws: 1'he Discovery of the Northwest; French ()ccu]jation of the Northwest; The Ordinance of 1787; The Division of the Northwest into States; Commonwealth Guilders of the Northwest; The Position of the Northwest in General History. " We are accustomed to praise the lawgivers of antiquity ; we help to perpetuate the fame of Solon and Lycurgus ; but I doubt whether one single law of any lawgiver, ancient or modern, has produced effects of more dis- tinct, marked and lasting character than the Ordinance of 1787." — Daniel Webster. "The Ordinance of 17S7 belongs with the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. It is one of the three title deeds of American consti- tutional liberty. As the American youth for uncounted centuries shall visit the capital of his country — strongest, richest, freest, happiest of the nations of the earth — from the stormy coast of N.,'\v Kngland, from the luxuriant regions of the Ciulf, from the lakes, from the piairie and the ])hun, from the (lolden (iate, from far Alaska — he will admire the evidences of its grandeur and the monuments of its historic glory. He will find there rich libraries and vast museums and great cabinets, which show the product of that matchless inventive; genius of .\nierica, which has multiplied a thousand fold the wealth and comfort of human life. He will see the simple and modest portal through which the great line of the Republic's chief magis- trates have passed at the call of their country to assume an honor surpassing that of emperors and kings, and through which thcv have returned, in obedi- ence to her laws, to take their ])lace again as eepials in the ranks of their fellow-citizens. He will stand by the matchless obelisk which, loftiest of human structn.res. is itself but the imperfect type of the loftiest of human characters. He will gaze upon the marble splendors of the capitol, in whose chandjers are enacted the statutes under which the i)eople of a continent dwell together in peace, and the judgments are rendered which keep the forces of state and nation alike within their appointed bounds. He will look upon the record of great wars and the statues of great commanders. l)Ut if he knew his country's history, and considered wisely the sources of her glory, there is nothing in all these which will so stir his heart as two faded and time-soiled papers, whose characters were traced by the hand of the fathers a hundred years ago. They are the original records of the acts which devoted this nation forever to ecjuality, to education, to religion and to libertv. One is the Declaration of Independence, the other the Ordinance of 17S7.'' — Geoi-i^e I'\ I/oar. ¥: t ^ m