ORDINANCE OF 1787. AN ACT TO PROVIDE FOR THE GOVERNMENT OF THE TERRITORY to be one be divided, into two dis How testates shall be divided. tion between Be it ordained by the United States in Congress assembled, That the The territory said territory, for the purposes of temporary government, be one district; district; subject, however, to be divided into two districts, as future which may circumstances may, in the opinion of Congress, make it expedient, by Congress, Be it ordained by the authority aforesaid, That the estates both of triets. resident and non-resident proprietors in the said territory, dying tates of inintestate, 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 grandchild to take the share of their deceased parent in equal parts among them; and, when 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 No distinccase be a distinction between kindred of the whole and half-blood; whole and saving in all cases to the widow of the intestate her third part of half-blood. the real estate for life, and one-third part of the personal estate; Dower. and this law, relative to descents and dower, shall remain in full How long force until altered by the Legislature of the district. And, until remain the governor and judges shall adopt laws as hereinafter mentioned, force. estates in the said territory may be devised or bequeathed by wills and conveyin 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 de- To livery, saving, however, to the French and Canadian inhabitants, not apply. 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. this law shall in ances whom this act shall Governor, how ap Be it ordained by the authority aforesaid, That there shall be appointed. pointed from time to time, by Congress, a governor, whose comTerm of of mission 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. fice. Qualifica tions. Secretary, how pointed. ap Term of of fice. Qualifications. Duties. 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 Court; num- 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, diction. 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; Term of of and their commissions shall continue in force during good behavior. ber of judges. Their juris Qualifica tions. fice. Governor and judges may laws. The governor and judges, or a majority of them, shall adopt and make 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 long laws shall be in force in the district, until the organization of the shall be in General Assembly therein, unless disapproved of by Congress; but afterwards, the Legislature shall have authority to alter them as they shall think fit. How such force. Military powers governor. laws of When the governor 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 gomay appoint Vernor shall appoint such magistrates and other civil officers, in civil officers, each county or township, as he shall find necessary for the preser sembly to vation of the peace and good order in the same. After the GeneGeneral as-ral Assembly shall be organized, the powers and duties of magisdefine their trates and other civil officers shall be regulated and defined by the powers. said Assembly; but all magistrates and other civil officers, not Civil officers, herein otherwise directed, shall, during the continuance of this temed. porary government, be appointed by the governor. how appoint Laws co-extensive with Governor may divide For the prevention of crimes and injuries, the laws to be adopted district. 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, district into as circumstances may require, to lay out the parts of the district in counties, &c. 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 represen sion subject by the Legis representa tatives from their counties or townships, to represent them in the General Assembly; Provided That, for every five hundred free When divimale inhabitants, there shall be one representative, and so on, pro- to alteration gressively with the number of free male inhabitants shall the right lature. 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, Election of That no person be eligible or qualified to act as representative, un- tives. less 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 The qualifland in the district, having been a citizen of one of the states, and cations being resident in the district, or the like freehold and two years' representaresidence in the district, shall be necessary to qualify a man as an elector of a representative. re quisite for a tive. term When gover The representatives thus elected shall serve for the term of two Their years, and, in case of the death of a representative, or removal from of office. office, the governor shall issue a writ to the county or township for nor to issue a which he was a member, to elect another in his stead, to serve for writ for electhe residue of the term. tion of a representative. Assembly; shall consist; mem how chosen, &c. The General Assembly, or Legislature, shall consist of the gover- Legislative nor, Legislative Council, and a House of Representatives. The Le-of what it gislative Council shall consist of five members, to continue in office their five years unless sooner removed by Congress, any three of whom bers; 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 for five years, unless sooner removed. And the governor, Legislative Council, and House of Re- Powers presentatives, shall have authority to make laws, in all cases, for tive Assem the good government of the district, not repugnant to the princi- bly. ples 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 vene and disshall be expedient. of the Legisla Governor may con solve Assem bly. Before whom the judges, &c., The governor, judges, legislative council, secretary, and such governor, other officers as Congress shall appoint in the district, shall take an shall take an oath or affirmation of fidelity, and of office-the governor before oath of office. the president of Congress, and all other officers before the gov ernor. As soon as a legislature shall be formed in the district, the Congress, Council and House of Assembly, in one room, shall have authority, by joint ballot, to elect a delegate to Congress, who shall have a Their rights, seat in Congress, with a. right of debating, but not of voting during this temporary government. Delegates to how elected. Compact be and the peo And for extending the fundamental principles of civil and religious liberty, which forms 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 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 tween states the following articles shall be considered as articles of compact be ple in the ter tween the original states and the people, and states in the said territory, and forever remain unalterable, unless by common consent, to wit: ritory. ARTICLE I. ligious wor Right of re- No person, demeaning himself in a peaceable and orderly manship guaran- ner, shall ever be molested on account of his mode of worship or teed persons, religious sentiments, in the said territory. Rights of persons and. property. ARTICLE II. The inhabitants of 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 liable, 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 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 gov encouraged. be observed rights and ernment, and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of Schools to be education shall forever be encouraged. The utmost good faith shall Good faith to always be observed towards the Indians; their lands and property to the Inshall never be taken from them without their consent; and in dians: their their property, rights and liberty, they never shall be invaded or property to disturbed, unless in just and lawful wars authorized by Congress; but laws founded in justice and humanity shall, from time to time, their protecbe made, for preventing wrongs being done to them, and for preserving peace and friendship with them. ARTICLE IV. be respected. Laws for tion. con. The said territory, and the states which may be formed therein, Territory shall forever remain a part of this confederacy of the United States to be a part of America, subject to the articles of confederation, and to such al- of the federacy of terations therein as shall be constitutionally made; and to all the the U. S. 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 gov ernment, 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 Taxes. 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 Legislature states, shall never interfere with the primary disposal of the soil by fere with the United States, in Congress assembled, nor with any regulations the sale of Congress may find necessary for securing the title in such soil to land, nor tax the bona fide purchasers. No tax shall be imposed on lands, the ty property of the United States; and in no case shall non-resident proprietors be taxed higher than residents. The navigable waters Navigable leading into the Mississippi and St. Lawrence, and the carrying Mississippi places between the same, shall be common highways, and forever rence to be free, as well to the inhabitants of the said territory as to the citizens free to the of the United States, and those of any other states that may be territories. admitted into the confederacy, without any tax, impost or duty therefor. not to inter U. S. proper waters to the and St Law people of the ARTICLE V. states that be formed from Boundaries states. such There shall be formed in the said territory, not less than three, Number of nor more than five states; and the boundaries of the states, as soon shall as Virginia shall alter her act of cession, and consent to the same, territory. 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 |