CHAPTER XXV.

NEW STATES: THE TERRITORIAL SYSTEM.

ARTICLE IV.

Section 3, Clause 1.-New States may be admitted by the Congress into this Union; but no new State shall be formed or erected within the jurisdiction of any other State; nor any State be formed by the junction of two or more States, or parts of States, without the consent of the legislatures of the States concerned as well as of the Congress.

Section 3, Clause 2.-The Congress shall have power to dispose of and make all needful rules and regulations respecting the territory or other property belonging to the United States; and nothing in this Constitution shall be so construed as to prejudice any claims of the United States, or of any particular State.

562. THE WESTERN CESSIONS.-At first the thirteen States and the United States were co-extensive. There was no National territory or public domain. Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia together claimed the whole country west of the Alleghany Mountains, extending to the Mississippi River. These States surrendered to the Union their claims, Congress having resolved in 1780 that all lands so ceded should" disposed of for the common benefit of the United States, and be settled and formed into distinct republican States, to be admitted into the Union on an equal footing with the old States."

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New York ceded in 1782, Virginia in 1784, Massachusetts in 1785, and Connecticut in 1786. Virginia and Connecticut made some reservations of lands in Ohio. The Southern cessions were delayed; South Carolina made hers in 1787, North Carolina hers in

1790, and Georgia hers in 1802. Under the Articles of Confederation, no new State could be admitted to the Union without the concurrence of nine States, save alone Canada, in the interest of which a reservation was made.

563. OLD STATES TO BE DIVIDED.-The District of Kentucky already had a considerable population, in 1787, and there was strong and constantly growing feeling in favor of separation from Virginia. Vermont had been pressing for

admission to the Union as a State since 1777. And the District of Maine, owned by Massachusetts, had all the natural requisites for an independent State.

564. THE TERRITORIAL GROWTH OF THE UNITED STATES. -The Constitution is silent on the subject of annexations. But causes that are here immaterial have led to seven annexations of territory.

(1) Louisana, purchased of France in 1803, for $15,000,000, embraced the western half of the Mississippi Valley and extended across the lower Mississippi.

(2) Florida, purchased of Spain in 1819, for $5,000,000. This purchase included the peninsula of that name, and a narrow strip running westward along the Gulf of Mexico to Louisana.

(3) The State of Texas, and so much of the Territory of New Mexico as lies east of the Rio Grande. Texas was admitted to the Union in 1845 by a joint resolution of Congress.

(4) Oregon, the territory lying between parallels 42° and 49° north latitude west of the Rocky Mountains. The title to this acquisition is discovery and occupation, and treaties with Spain and England, bearing the dates 1819 and 1846.

(5) The first Mexican annexation embraced the country now owned by the United States south of parallel 42°, and west of the Rio Grande and the sources of the Arkansas, except the second Mexican annexation. This was partly a conquest and partly a purchase from Mexico, in 1848, the consideration being $15,000,000.

(6) The second Mexican annexation, lying in Arizona, sometimes called the Gadsden Purchase, was made in 1853 for $10,000,000.

(7) The last annexation was Alaska, purchased of Russia in 1867 for $7,200,000.

565. NEED OF THE TWO CLAUSES.-There was abundant territory in 1787 out of which to carve new States, and much more either in immediate or distant prospects. Hence the necessity of the clause in relation to new States. But as controversies would arise, and in fact then existed, relative to the division of States, the provision was wisely inserted in regard to the consent of all the legislatures concerned as well as of Congress. Still further, the pending controversy as to the Southern cessions caused the insertion of the provision that nothing in the Constitution should be so construed as to prejudice any claim of the United States or of any particular Siate. Once more, settlements within the National domain were then beginning, and rules and regulations concerning lands and other matters were plainly needed, the making of which would naturally fall to Congress.

566. THE TERRITORY OF THE UNITED STATES.-In the broadest sense, the whole country or dominion is the territory of the United States. But here the term means that part of the dominion not formed into States, and this is its common acceptation in our political history. The Territories are of two kinds. A definite part of the whole territory with a separate Territorial government, is called an organized Territory. Territory without such a government, and subject only to the laws of Congress, is unorganized. Arizona belongs to the first class, Alaska and Indian Territory to the second.

567. THE ORDINANCE OF 1787.-Preparations for settling the West and forming new States were already in progress in 1787. In 1784 Congress had adopted A Plan for the Temporary Government of the Western Territory. But this proved inoperative, and was repealed three years later. In 1785 Congress adopted An Ordinance for Ascertaining the Mode of Disposing of Lands in the Western Territory, as far as they had been ceded by the States and by the Indian tribes. And July 13, 1787, it adopted the Ordinance for the Government of the Territory of the United States Northwest

of the River Ohio. This celebrated Ordinance, which was a sort of constitution for the Old Northwest, provided a Territorial Government, and established six articles of compact between the United States and the States to be carved out of the Territory, that should be of perpetual obligation. The fifth article of compact said there should be formed in the Territory not less than three nor more than five States, and defined their boundaries; which, however, were in some particulars subsequently departed from.

568. THE FIRST TYPE OF TERRITORIAL GOVERNMENT.-The Ordinance of 1787 gave the Northwest Territory a government that embraced these features: (1) There were a governor and three judges, appointed first by Congress and later by the President and. Senate; (2) these officers, in addition to their executive and judicial duties, should frame a Territorial Code, by selecting appropriate laws from the statute books of the States; (3) a Territorial legislature should be elected as soon as the free male inhabitants reached 5,000, consisting of a House of Representatives chosen by the people, and a Council appointed by Congress or by the President from a list of candidates nominated by the House; (4) Congress should have a veto on all laws, whether selected by the Governor and judges or enacted by the legislature; (5) the Territory, on reaching the population named, should have a delegate in Congress appointed by the legislature, with the right to speak but not to vote. This Ordinance was the model of the early Territorial governments.

569. THE LATER TYPE.-The later type was less centralized and gave more power to the people. It consists of legislative, executive, and judicial branches fully developed. The legislature is chosen by the people; the governor and judges are appointed by the President and Senate, and are paid from the National treasury; the Torritorial delegate is elected by the people. The people are subject to certain special laws of Congress, but interests of a merely local character are regulated by local laws.

570. PROHIBITION OF SLAVERY IN THE NORTHWEST.The Ordinance of 1784, as originally reported by a committeeof which Mr. Jefferson was chairman, contained a prohibition

of slavery in all the Western country, ceded or to be ceded, on and after January 1, 1801, but it was struck out of the bill on its passage through Congress. The Ordinance of 1787 revived the prohibition, but limited it to the Northwest and gave it immediate effect. This is Article VI. of compacts: "There shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in the said Territory, otherwise than in the punishment of crime whereof the party shall be duly convicted." And this clause was tacitly reaffirmed by Congress when, in 1789, it adapted the Territorial government to the Federal Constitution.

571. THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY.-At the same time that the Federal Convention was framing the Constitution, and Congress the Ordinance of 1787, the Ohio Company of Associates, composed mainly of New Englanders who had served in the Revolutionary army, were making arrangements for forming a settlement in the Northwest. In fact, it was the representation made to Congress by this company, that it would buy and settle a large tract of the public lands, provided suitable terms were made and a suitable government establishment, that immediately led to the enacting of the Ordinance. In pursuance of this arrangement, the Northwest was settled in 1788, and the Territory fully organized July 15 of that year. Here our Territorial System had its beginning. At the basis of this system there lies a new and distinct idea. The Territories of the United States are quite different from the colonies of either ancient or modern times. The Territory is an inchoate State; and, as has been said, has been a "powerful factor in our peculiar national development."

572. THE STATUS OF A TERRITORY.-This is very inferior to the status of a State. The people enjoy full civil rights, but their political rights are limited. Their only representation in Congress is a delegate, who cannot vote. They have