On the part and behalf of the State of Pennsylvania.-Robt.Morris, Daniel Roberdeau, Jona. Bayard Smith, William Clin-attested by three witnesses; and real estates gan, Joseph Reed, July 22d, 1778.

ings every six months to the secretary of to twenty-five; after which the number Congress. There shall also be appointed and proportion of representatives shall be a court, to consist of three judges, any two regulated by the Legislature: Provided. of whom to form a court, who shall have That no Person be eligible or qualified to a common law jurisdiction, and reside in act as a representative unless he shall the district, and have each therein a free- have been a citizen of one of the United hold estate, in five hundred acres of land, States three years, and be a resident in the while in the exercise of their offices, and district, or unless he shall have resided in their commissions shall continue in force the district three years; and in either case, during good behavior. 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 free hold and two years' residence in the district, shall be necessary to qualify a man as an elector of a representative.

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 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.

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 apFor the prevention of crimes and in- point and commission to serve as aforesaid; juries, the laws to be adopted or made shall and whenever a vacancy shall happen in the have force in all parts of the district, and council, by death or removal from office,the for the execution of process, criminal and house of representatives shall nominate civil, the governor shall make proper di- two persons, qualified as aforesaid, for each visions thereof; and he shall proceed from vacancy, and return their names to Contime to time, as circumstances may re-gress; one of whom Congress shall apquire, to lay out the parts of the district point and commission for the residue of in which the Indian titles shall have been the term. And every five years, four extinguished, into counties and townships, months at least before the expiration of subject, however, to such alterations as the time of service of the members of the may thereafter be made by the Legislature. council, the said house shall nominate ten So soon as there shall be five thousand persons, qualified as aforesaid, and return free male inhabitants of full age in the their names to Congress; five of whom district, upon giving proof thereof to the Congress shall appoint and commission to governor, they shall receive authority, with serve as members of the council five years, time and place, to elect representatives unless sooner removed. And the governor, from their counties or townships, to repre- legislative council, and house of represen sent them in the General Assembly; Pro- tatives, shall have authority to make laws vided, That for every five hundred free in all cases for the good government male inhabitants, there shall be one rep- of the district, not repugnant to the resentative; and so on, progressively, with principles and articles in this ordinance the number of free male inhabitants, shall established and declared, and all bills the right of representation increase, until having passed by a majority in the the number of representatives shall amount house, and by a majority in the coun

cil, 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 assemble, 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 gov

ernment.

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 toward 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 unlawful 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.

And for extending the fundamental principles of civil and religious liberty, which form the basis whereon these re- ART. 4. The said Territory, and the publics, their laws and constitutions, are States which may be formed therein, shall erected; to fix and establish those princi-evere remain a part of this confederacy of ples as the basis of all laws, constitutions, the United States of America, subject to and governments, which forever hereafter the Articles of Confederation, and to such shall be formed in the said Territory; to pro- alterations therein as shall be constitutionvide, also, for the establishment of States, ally made; and to all the acts and ordiand permanent government therein, and nances of the United States in Congress for their admission to a share in the Fed-assembled, conformable thereto. The ineral councils on an equal footing with the habitants and settlers in the Territory 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:

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.

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 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 ART. 2. The inhabitants of the said Ter-districts, or new States shall never interfere ritory shall always be entitled to the beneits 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

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.

ART. 5. There shall be formed in the said Territory not less than three, nor

CHARLES THOMPSON,
Secretary.

Constitution of the United States of America,

With amendments and dates of ratification. We the People of the United States, in order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this CONSTITUTION for the United States of America.

ARTICLE I.

Section 1. All legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives.

more than n've States; and the boundaries | hundred and eighty-seven, and of their of the States, as soon as Virginia shall alter sovereignty and independence the twelfth. 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 States 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 23d of April, 1784, 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

Section 2. The House of Representatives shall be composed of Members chosen every second Year by the People of the several States, and the Electors in each State shall have the Qualifications requisite for Electors of the most numerous Branch of the State Legislature.

No Person shall be a Representative who shall not have attained to the Age of twenty-five Years, and been seven Years a Citizen of the United States, and who shall not, when elected, be an Inhabitant of that State in which he shall be chosen.

Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union, according to their respective Numbers, [which shall be determined by adding to the whole Number of free Persons, including those bound to Service for a Term of Years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three-fifths of all other Persons.*] The actual Enumeration shall be made within three Years after the first Meeting of the Congress of the United States, and within every subsequent Term of ten Years, in such Manner as they shall by Law direct. The Number of Representatives shall not exceed one for every thirty Thousand, but each State shall have at Least one Representative; and until such enumeration shall be made, the State of New Hampshire shall be entitled to chuse three, Massachusetts eight, Rhode Island and Providence Plantations one, Connecticut five, New York six, New Jersey four, Pennsylvania eight, Delaware one, Maryland six, Virginia ten, North Carolina five, South Carolina five, and Georgia three.

When vacancies happen in the Representation from any State, the Executive

*The portion of this clause within brackets has been

amended by the 14th amendment, 2nd section.

Section VI.-The Senators and Representatives shall receive a Compensation for their Services, to be ascertained by Law, and paid out of the Treasury of the United States. They shall in all Cases, except Treason, Felony and Breach of the Peace, be privileged from Arrest during their AtThe Senate shall choose their other Offi- tendance at the Session of their respective cers, and also a President pro tempore, in Houses, and in going to and returning the Absence of the Vice President, or from the same; and for any Speech or when he shall exercise the Office of Pre-Debate in either House, they shall not be sident of the United States.

The Senate shall have the sole Power to No Senator or Representative shall, durtry all Impeachments. When sitting for ing the Time for which he was elected, that Purpose, they shall be on Oath or Af- be appointed to any civil Office under the firmation. When the President of the Authority of the United States, which United States is tried, the Chief Justice shall have been created, or the Emolushall preside: And no person shall be con-ments whereof shall have been increased victed without the Concurrence of twothirds of the Members present.