south, two degrees of latitude, beginning to count from the completion of forty-five degrees north of the equator, and by meridians of longitude, one of which shall pass through the lowest point of the rapids of Ohio, and the other through the western cape of the mouth of the Great Kanhaway; but the territory eastward of this last meridian, between the Ohio, Lake Erie, and Pennsylvania, shall be one State, whatsoever may be its comprehension of latitude. That which may lie beyond the completion of the forty-fifth degree, between the said meridians, shall make part of the State adjoining it on the south; and that part of the Ohio which is between the same meridians, coinciding nearly with the parallel of thirty-nine degrees, shall be substituted so far in lieu of that parallel as a boundary line. purchased, to form ernment. That the settlers on any territory so purchased and offered Settlers on lands for sale shall, either on their own petition, or on the order a temporary gov of Congress, receive authority from them, with appointments of time and place, for their free males of full age, within the limits of their State, to meet together for the purpose of establishing a temporary government, to adopt the constitution and laws of any one of the original States; so that such laws, nevertheless, shall be subject to alteration by their ordinary Legislature; and to erect, subject to a like alteration, counties, townships, or other divisions, for the election of members for their Legislature. That when any such State shall have acquired twenty thousand free inhabitants, on giving due proof thereof to Congress, they shall receive from them authority, with appointments of time and place, to call a convention of representatives to establish a permanent constitution and government for themselves: Provided, That both the temporary and permanent governments be established on these principles as their basis: 1. That they shall forever remain a part of this confede- Restrictions. racy of the United States of America. 2. That they shall be subject to the articles of confederation in all those cases in which the original States shall be so subject, and to all the acts and ordinances of the United States in Congress assembled, conformable thereto. 3. That they in no case shall interfere with the primary disposal of the soil by the United States in Congress assembled, nor with the ordinances and regulations which Congress may find necessary for securing the title in such soil to the bonafide purchasers. 4. That they shall be subject to pay a part of the federal debts contracted, or to be contracted, 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. 5. That no tax shall be imposed on lands the property of the United States. 6. That their respective governments shall be republican. Conditions precedent in the forma and their admis 7. That the lands of nonresident proprietors shall in no case be taxed higher than those of residents within any new State, before the admission thereof to a vote by its delegates in Congress. That whensoever any of the said States shall have, of tion of new States, free inhabitants, as many as shall then be in any one the sion into the Union. least numerous of the thirteen original States, such State shall be admitted by its delegates into the Congress of the United States, on an equal footing with the said original States; provided the consent of so many States in Congress is first obtained as may, at the time, be competent to such admission. And in order to adapt the said articles of confederation to the state of Congress when its numbers shall be thus increased, it shall be proposed to the Legislatures of the States originally parties thereto, to require the assent of two thirds of the United States in Congress assembled, in all those cases wherein, by the said articles, the assent of nine States is now required, which, being agreed to by them, shall be binding on the new States. Until such admission by their delegates into Congress, any of the said States, after the establishment of their temporary government, shall have authority to keep a member in Congress, with a right of debating, but not of voting. Powers reserved by That measures not inconsistent with the principles of the confederation, and necessary for the preservation of peace and good order among the settlers in any of the said new States, until they shall assume a temporary government as aforesaid, may, from time to time, be taken by the United States in Congress assembled. That the preceding articles shall be formed into a charter of compact; shall be duly executed by the President of the United States in Congress assembled, under his hand and the seal of the United States; shall be promulgated; and This ordinance to shall stand as fundamental constitutions between the thirteen be fundamental. original States, and each of the several States now newly described, unalterable from and after the sale of any part of the territory of such State, pursuant to this resolve, but by the joint consent of the United States in Congress assembled, and of the particular State within which such alteration is proposed to be made. [See Part II, Nos. 13, 35, 43, 134, 136, 137.] In Congress, 1785, April 13. Promises to Canadian refugees. CHAP. 13.-Resolved, That Jonathan Eddy, and other refugees from Nova Scotia, on account of their attachment to the interest of the United States, be recommended to the humanity and particular attention of the several States in which they respectively reside; and that they be informed that, whenever Congress can consistently make grants of land, they will reward, in this way, as far as may be consist ent, such refugees from Nova Scotia as may be disposed to live in the Western country. CHAP. 14.-An ordinance for ascertaining the mode of disposing of lands in the Western Territory.* In Congress, 1785, May 20. *See chaps. 28, 72, 98, 121, 136, 240, Be it ordained by the United States in Congress assem- 386, 424, 458. bled, That the territory ceded by individual States to the United States, which has been purchased of the Indian inhabitants, shall be disposed of in the following manner: pointed, &c. A surveyor from each State shall be appointed by Con- Surveyors to be apgress, or a Committee of the States, who shall take an oath for the faithful discharge of his duty, before the geographer of the United States, who is hereby empowered and directed to administer the same; and the like oath shall be administered to each chain-carrier, by the surveyor under whom he acts. regulations, &c. The geographer, under whose direction the surveyors Geographer to form shall act, shall occasionally form such regulations for their conduct as he shall deem necessary; and shall have authority to suspend them for misconduct in office, and shall make report of the same to Congress, or to the Committee of the States; and he shall make report in case of sickness, death, or resignation, of any surveyor. the territory into The surveyors, as they are respectively qualified, shall Surveyors to divide proceed to divide the said territory into townships of six townships, &c. miles square, by lines running due north and south, and others crossing these at right angles, as near as may be, unless where the boundaries of the late Indian purchases may render the same impracticable, and then they shall depart from this rule no farther than such particular circumstances surveyors. may require. And each surveyor shall be allowed and paid Compensation at the rate of two dollars for every mile in length he shall run, including the wages of chain-carriers, markers, and every other expense attending the same. to gin on the Ohio, The first line running north and south, as aforesaid, shall First lines to bebegin on the Ohio river, at a point that shall be found to be &c. due north from the western termination of a line which has been run as the southern boundary of the State of Pennsylvania; and the first line running east and west shall begin at the same point, and shall extend throughout the whole territory Provided, That nothing herein shall be construed as fixing the western boundary of the State of Pennsylvania. The geographer shall designate the townships or frac- Townships, &c. to tional parts of townships by numbers, progressively, from south to north, always beginning each range with No. 1; and the ranges shall be distinguished by their progressive numbers to the westward-the first range, extending from the Ohio to the Lake Erie, being marked No. 1. The geogra- Geographer to take pher shall personally attend to the running of the first east be numbered, &c. latitude, &c. Lines to be measured, marked, &c. Plats of townships to be marked into Jots, &c. and west line, and shall take the latitude of the extremes of the first north and south line, and of the mouths of the principal rivers. The lines shall be measured with a chain, shall be plainly marked by chaps on the trees, and exactly described on a plat, whereon shall be noted by the surveyor, at their proper distances, all mines, salt springs, salt licks, and mill seats, that shall come to his knowledge; and all watercourses, mountains, and other remarkable and permanent things over or near which such lines shall pass, and also the quality of the lands. The plats of the townships, respectively, shall be marked by subdivisions into lots one mile square, or 640 acres, in the same direction as the external lines, and numbered from 1 to 36; always beginning the succeeding range of the lots. with the number next to that with which the preceding one concluded. And where, from the causes before mentioned, only a fractional part of a township shall be surveyed, the lots protracted thereon shall bear the same numbers as if the Corners for adja township had been entire. And the surveyors, in running the external lines of the townships, shall, at the interval of every mile, mark corners for the lots which are adjacent, always designating the same in a different manner from those of the townships. cent lots, &c. Variation of the magnetic needle, &c. The geographer and surveyors shall pay the utmost attention to the variation of the magnetic needle, and shall run and note all lines by the true meridian, certifying with every plat what was the variation at the times of running the lines See thereon noted.* *Repealed. As soon as seven ranges of townships and fractional parts to be returned, &c. of townships, in the direction from south to north, shall have been surveyed, the geographer shall transmit plats thereof to the Board of Treasury, who shall record the same, with the report, in well-bound books, to be kept for that purpose. And the geographer shall make similar returns, from time to time, of every seven ranges, as they may be surveyed. The Secretary of War shall have recourse thereto, and shall take by lot therefrom a number of townships and fractional parts of townships, as well from those to be sold entire as from those to be sold in lots, as will be equal to one seventh part of the whole of such seven ranges, as nearly as may be, for the use of the late continental army; and he shall make a similar draught, from time to time, until a sufficient quantity is drawn to satisfy the same, to be applied in manner See supplement hereinafter directed. The Board of Treasury shall, from of 9th July, 1788, time to time, cause the remaining numbers, as well those to be sold entire as those to be sold in lots, to be drawn for, in + Repealed. See the name of the thirteen States, respectively, according to the quotas in the last preceding requisition on all the States: Provided, That in case more land than its proportion is allotted for sale in any State at any distribution, a deduction be made therefor at the next. to this ordinance, post,and act of 18th May, 1796. chapter 28. to transmit a copy the commissioners to sell townships, The Board of Treasury shall transmit a copy of the original Board of Treasury plats, previously noting thereon the townships and fractional of original plats to parts of townships which shall have fallen to the several of loans, who are States by the distribution aforesaid, to the commissioners of &c. the loan office of the several States, who, after giving notice of not less than two nor more than six months, by causing advertisements to be posted up at the court houses or other noted places in every county, and to be inserted in one newspaper published in the States of their residence, respectively, shall proceed to sell the townships or fractional parts of townships, at public vendue, in the following manner, viz: the township or fractional part of a township No. 1, in the first range, shall be sold entire; and No. 2, in the same range, by lots; and thus, in alternate order, through the whole of the first range. The township or fractional part of a township No. 1, in the second range, shall be sold by lots; and No. 2, in the same range, entire; and so, in alternate order, through the whole of the second range; and the third range shall be sold in the same manner as the first, and the fourth in the same manner as the second; and thus, alternately, throughout all the ranges: Provided, That none of the lands within the said territory be sold under the price of one dollar Price not less than the acre, to be paid in specie, or loan office certificates reduced to specie value by the scale of depreciation, or certificates of liquidated debts of the United States, including interest, besides the expense of the survey and other charges thereon, which are hereby rated at thirty-six dollars the $36 the township, township, in specie or certificates as aforesaid, and so, in the same proportion, for a fractional part of a township or of a lot, to be paid at the time of sales; on failure of which payment the said lands shall again be offered for sale. $1 per acre. &c. 23, reserved. There shall be reserved for the United States, out of every Lots Nos. 8, 11, 26, township, the four lots, being numbered 8, 11, 26, 29, and out of every fractional part of a township so many lots of the same numbers as shall be found thereon, for future sale. There shall be reserved the lot No. 16, of every township, No. 16 for schools. for the maintenance of public schools within the said township; also, one third part of all gold, silver, lead, and copper Mines, &c. mines, to be sold, or otherwise disposed of, as Congress shall hereafter direct. (1) Loan officer When any township or fractional part of a township shall or to dehave been sold as aforesaid, and the money or certificates received therefor, the loan officer shall deliver a deed in the following terms: The United States of America, to all to whom these presents Form of the deed. shall come, greeting: Know ye, that for the consideration of dollars, we have granted, and hereby do grant and confirm, unto (1) Salt springs and lead mines are reserved by subsequent laws; but the reservation has been discontinued as it respects gold, silver, and copper mines. |