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The
Northwest Ordinance
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:
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 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.
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, 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.
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 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.
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 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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