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:
Art. 1. 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. 2. 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.
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
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.
Art. 4. 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 nproportional 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.
Art. 5. 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.
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 23rd of April,
1784, relative to the subject of this ordinance, be, and the same are hereby repealed and
declared null and void.
