[THE TEXT OF THIS DOCUMENT WAS TAKEN FROM THE 1994 U.S. CODE ON CD-ROM.]
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USC - ORDINANCE OF 1787: THE NORTHWEST TERRITORIAL GOVERNMENT
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ORDINANCE OF 1787: THE NORTHWEST TERRITORIAL GOVERNMENT
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ORDINANCE OF 1787: THE NORTHWEST TERRITORIAL GOVERNMENT
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(THE CONFEDERATE CONGRESS, JULY 13, 1787)
An Ordinance for the government of the territory of the United
States northwest of the river Ohio
Section 1. Be it ordained by the United States in Congress
assembled, That the said territory, for the purpose 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.
Sec. 2. Be it ordained by the authority aforesaid, That the
estates both of resident and non-resident 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 parent's 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, Saint 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.
Sec. 3. 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 one thousand acres
of land, while in the exercise of his office.
Sec. 4. 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 five hundred 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 five hundred acres of land, while in the
exercise of their offices; and their commissions shall continue in
force during good behavior.
Sec. 5. 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.
Sec. 6. 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.
Sec. 7. 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.
Sec. 8. 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.
Sec. 9. 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 representatives 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.
Sec. 10. 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.
Sec. 11. The general assembly or legislature, shall consist of
the governor, legislative counsel, 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, resident 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 the 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.
Sec. 12. 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
of voting, during this temporary government.
Sec. 13. 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:
Sec. 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 territories.
ARTICLE II
The inhabitants of the said territory shall always be entitled to
the benefits of the writs 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
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 paid 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 never shall 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 non-resident proprietors be
taxed higher than residents. The navigable waters leading into the
Mississippi and Saint 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 the 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 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 13th day of
July, in the year of our Lord 1787, and of their sovereignty and
independence the twelfth.
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