may continue to have full effect, it is requisite that certain provisions should be made, so as to adapt the same to the present constitution of the United States: Sec. 1. Be it enacted by the senate and house of representatives of the United States of America in congress assembled, That in all cases in which by the said ordinance, any information is to be given, or communication made by the governor of the said territory to the United States in congress assembled, or to any of their officers, it shall be the duty of the said governor to give such information and to make such communication to the president of the United States; and the president shall nominate, and by and with the advice and consent of the senate, shall appoint all officers which by the said ordinance were to have been appointed by the United States in congress assembled, and all officers so appointed, shall be commissioned by him: and in all cases where the United States in congress assembled, might by the said ordinance, revoke any commission or remove from any office, the president is hereby declared to have the same powers of revocation and removal. 2. And be it further enacted, That in case of the death, removal, resignation, or necessary absence of the governor of the said territory, the secretary thereof shall be, and he is hereby authorized and required to execute all the powers, and perform all the duties of the governor, during the vacancy occasioned by the removal, resignation, or necessary absence of the said governor. FREDERICK AUGUSTUS MUHLENBERG, Speaker of the House of Representatives. JOHN ADAMS, Vice President of the United States and President of the Senate. GEORGE WASHINGTON, President of the United States. SEC. 21. CESSIONS OF LANDS AND TERRITORIAL JURISDICTION BY NORTH CAROLINA AND GEORGIA. The people of North Carolina, by their representatives in convention, finally ratified the constitution of the United States on the 13th of November, 1789, and again came into the Federal Union. [See ante. p. 61.] In December, of the same year, the legislature of the state passed an act "authorizing, empowering, and requiring the senators of the state in the congress of the United States to execute a deed or grant on the part and behalf of the state, conveying to the United States of America all right, title, and claim which that state held to the sovereignty and territory of the lands situated within the chartered limits of the state," lying west of the present limits of North Carolina, and comprising the present state of Tennessee, on certain conditions; and the deed of cession was executed accordingly, on the 25th day of February, 1790, by Samuel Johnston and Benjamin Hawkins, senators as aforesaid, and was accepted by an act of congress, approved April 2d, 1790. The important parts of the deed of cession, exclusive of the boundaries, and the second condition, reserving the lands previously granted by the state, are as follows, viz: To all who shall see these presents: We, the underwritten Samuel Johnston and Benjamin Hawkins, senators in the congress of the United States of America, duly and constitutionally chosen by the legislature of the state of North Carolina, send greeting: Whereas the general assembly of the state of North Carolina, on the day of December, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and eighty-nine, passed an act, entitled "An act for the purpose of ceding to the United States of America certain western lands therein described," in the words following, to wit: Whereas the United States, in congress assembled, have repeatedly and earnestly recommended to the respective states in the Union, claiming or owning vacant western territory, to make cessions of part of the same, as a further means, as well of hastening the extinguishment of the debts, as of establishing the harmony of the United States; and the inhabitants of the said western territory being also desirous that such cession should be made, in order to obtain a more ample protection than they have heretofore received: Now this state, being ever desirous of doing ample justice to the public creditors, as well as the establishing the harmony of the United States, and complying with the reasonable desires of her citizens; * * * * Be it enacted by the general assembly of the state of North Carolina, and it is hereby enacted by the authority of the same, That the senators of this state, in the congress of the United States, or one of the senators and any two of the representatives of this state, in the congress of the United States, are hereby authorized, empowered, and required to execute a deed or deeds, on the part and behalf of this state, conveying to the United States of America, all right, title and claim, which this state has to the sovereignty and territory of the lands situated within the chartered limits of this state, west of a line, beginning on the extreme height of the Stone mountain, at the place where the Virginia line intersects it. [The boundaries are here given ] Upon the following express conditions, and subject thereto, that is to say: First, That neither the lands nor the inhabitants, westward of the said mountain, shall be estimated, after the cession made by virtue of this act shall be accepted, in the ascertaining the proportion of this state with the United States, in the common expense occasioned by the late war. Secondly, that the lands laid off, or directed to be laid off, by any act or acts of the general assembly of this state, for the officers and soldiers thereof, their heirs and assigns respectively, shall be, and erure to the use and benefit of the said officers, their heirs, and assigns respectively. * Thirdly, that all the lands intended to be ceded by virtue of this act to the United States of America, and rot appropriated as before mentioned, shall be considered as a common fund, for the use and benefit of the United States of America, North Carolina inclusive, according to their respective and usual proportion in the general charge and expenditure, and shall faithfully be disposed of for that purpose, and for no other use or purpose whatever. Fourthly, that the territory so ceded shall be laid out and formed into a state or states, containing a suitable extent of territory, the inhabitants of which shall enjoy all the privileges, benefits, and advantages set forth in the ordinance of the late congress, for the government of the western territory of the United States, that is to say: Whenever the congress of the United States shall cause to he officially transmitted, to the executive authority of this state, an authenticated copy of the act to be passed by the congress of the United States, accepting the cession of territory made by virtue of this act, under the express conditions hereby specified, and said congress shall, at the same time, as * * * * * sume the government of the said territory, which they shall execute în a manner similar to that which they support in the territory west of the Ohio; shall protect the inhabitants against enemies, and shall never bar or deprive them of any privileges which the people in the territory west of the Ohio enjoy. Provided, always, That no regulations made, or to be made by congress, shall tend to emancipate slaves. Fifthly, that the inhabitants of the said ceded territory shall be liable to pay such sums of money as may, from taking their census, be their just proportion of the debt of the United States, and the arrears of the requisitions of congress on this state. Sixthly, that all persons indebted to this state, residing in the territory intended to be ceded by virtue of this act, shall be held and deemed liable to pay such debt or debts in the same manner, and under the same penalty or penalties, as if this act had never been passed. Seventhly, that if the congress of the United States do not accept the cession hereby intended to be made, in due form, and give official notice thereof to the executive of this state, within eighteen months from the passing of this act, then this act shall be of no force or effect whatsoever. Eighthly, that the laws in force and use in the state of North Carolina, at the time of passing this act, shall be and continue in full force within the territory hereby ceded, until the same shall be repealed, or otherwise altered by the legislative authority of the said territory. Ninthly, that the lands of non-resident proprietors, within the said ceded territory, shall not be taxed higher than the lands of residents. Tenthly, that this act shall not prevent the people now residing south of French Broad, between the rivers Tennessee and Big Pigeon, from entering their pre emptions in that tract, should an office be opened for that purpose, under an act of the present general assembly. And be it further enacted, by the authority aforesaid, that all the soveregnty and jurisdiction of this state, in in and over the territory aforesaid, and all and every the inhabitants thereof, shall be and remain the same in all respects, until the congress of the United States shall accept the cession to be made by virtue of this act, as if this act had never passed. Read three times, and ratified in general assembly, the cember, A. D. 1789. day of De CHAS. JOHNSON, Sp. Sen. Now, therefore, know ye, that we, Samuel Johnston, and Benjamin Hawkins, senators aforesaid, by virtue of the power and authority committed to us by the said act, and in the name, and for and on behalf of the said state, do, by these presents, convey, assign, transfer, and set over, unto the United States of America, for the benefit of the said states, North Carolina inclusive, all right, title, and claim, which the said state hath to the sovereignty and territory of the lands situated within the chartered limits of the said state, as bounded and described in the above recited act of the general assembly, to and for the uses and purposes, and on the conditions, mentioned in the said act. In witness whereof, we have hereunto subscribed our names and affixed our seals, in the senate chamber at New York, this 25th day of February, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and ninety, and in the 14th year of the independence of the United States of America, SAM. JOHNSTON, [L. S.] Signed, sealed, and delivered, in the presence of SAMUEL A. OTIS. Congress accepted the cession with all the conditions annexed to it, including the fourth, that the territory ceded should be admitted into the Union as a state, when the inhabitants thereof should number 60,000, and with the further proviso, "That no regulations made or to be made by congress should tend to emancipate slaves." That proviso effectually prohibited congress from interfering with slavery while the country should remain a territory of the United States; and after its admission as a state, slavery therein was protected by the federal constitution, from congressional interference. The reader will observe from the recitals in the second paragraph of the deed that the objects of the cession were, first, to aid m extinguishing the public debt of the United States; and, secondly, to promote harmony among the states. It would have been much better for our country, if the people of all parts of the Union had continued until this time, equally solicitous to promote harmony among the states. CESSION OF GEORGIA. In pursuance of acts of congress and of the state legislature of Georgia, an article of agreement and deed of cession was entered into between the United States and the state of Georgia, bearing date, April 24th, 1802, by which the state of Georgia ceded to the United States all the right, title, and claim, which the said state had to the jurisdiction and soil of the lands situated within the United States, south of Tennessee, and west of the present limits of Georgia, on several express conditions, among which are the following, viz: Thirdly. That all the lands ceded by this agreement to the United States shall, after satisfying the above-mentioned payment of one million two hundred and fifty thousand dollars to the state of Georgia, and the grants recognized by the preceding conditions, be considered as a common fund for the use and benefit of the United States, Georgia included, and shall be faithfully disposed of for that purpose, and for no other use or purpose whatever. Fifthly. That the territory thus ceded shall form a state, and be admitted as such into the Union, as soon as it shall contain sixty thousand free inhabitants, or at an earlier period if congress shall think it expedient, on the same conditions and restrictions, with the same privileges, and in the same manner, as is provided in the ordinance of congress of the 13th day of July, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-seven, for the government of the western territory of the Uuite 1 States; which ordinance shall, in all its parts, extend to the territory contained in the present act of cession, that article only excepted which forbids slavery. The ordinance of 1787 provided that the territory north-west of the Ohio river should be divided into not less than three nor more than five states-each of which should be admitted into the Union on the same footing as the original states; that is, as an independent and sovereign state, for all municipal and domestic purposes, whenever the same should contain 60,000 inhabitants. The reader will observe, that the deeds of cession by North Carolina and Georgia, secured to the people of the territories ceded, the same rights of eventual admission into the Union, as sovereign and independent states, on an equal footing with the original states; the deed of cession of North Carolina also provided that congress should not in the mean time pass any law that might tend to emancipate slaves in Tennessee; and the proviso in the ordinance of 1787, prohibiting slavery, was not to apply to the territories ceded by Georgia, by reason of the exception in the grant. That exception, by implication, inhibited congress from interfering with slavery in the territory ceded. Kentucky remained a part of the slave state of Virginia, until it was allowed by an act of the legislature of Virginia, (approved by congress), to form a constitution and establish a state government for itself, when it was admitted by congress into the Union, as a sovereign and independent state, with the same rights and powers as the original states-including the power and constitutional right to hold slaves-which the free inhabitants of the states then enjoyed. Hence we see, that the states of Virginia, North Carolina and Georgia, agreed to the ordinance of 1787, to make all the territory north of the Ohio river, free states, while Virginia retained Kentucky, and made it a slave state; North Carolina provided that Tennessee should be made a slave state; Georgia provided tha Alabama and Mississippi also should be made slave states. Hero we witness the spirit of compromise, clearly and manifestly in tended as a means of harmony among the states and the people thereof. By the compromise, the south agreed that all north of the Ohio river should be assigned and dedicated to freedom and free men, and at the same time retained all south of that river as the heritage of slaveholders and their descendants, together with such non-slaveholding freemen as were friendly to the institution of slavery, and opposed to the general emancipation of slaves of Af rican descent. As between the white population of the north and |