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 St. 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 Wabash rivers; a direct line drawn from the Wabash and Post Vincents due north to the terri

torial 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

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 twenty-third of April, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-four, 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 thirteenth day of July, in the year of our Lord, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-seven, and of their sovereignty and independence the twelfth.

WILLIAM GRAYSON, Chairman.

CHARLES THOMPSON, Secretary.

ACT OF CONGRESS.

An act to enable the people of the eastern division of the territory northwest of the river Ohio to form a constitution and state government, and for the admission of such state into the union, on an equal footing with the original states, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the senate and house of representatives of the United States of America in congress assembled, That the inhabitants of the eastern division of the territory northwest of the river Ohio, be, and they are hereby authorized to form for themselves a constitution and state government, and to assume such name as they shall deem proper, and the said state, when formed, shall be admitted into the unicn, upon the same footing with the original states, in all respects whatever.

Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That the said state shall consist of all the territory included within the following boundaries, to-wit: bounded on the east by the Pennsylvania line, on the south by the Ohio river, to the mouth of the Great Miami river, on the west by the line drawn due north from the mouth of the Great Miami, aforesaid, and on the north by an east and west line, drawn through the southerly extreme of Lake Michigan, running east after intersecting the due north line aforesaid from the mouth of the Great Miami, until it shall intersect Lake Erie, or the territorial line, and thence with the same through Lake Erie to the Pennsylvania line, aforesaid: Provided, That congress shall be at liberty at any time hereafter, either to attach all the territory lying east of the line to be drawn due north from

the mouth of the Miami, aforesaid, to the territorial line, and north of an east and west line drawn through the southerly extreme of Lake Michigan, running east as aforesaid to Lake Erie, to the aforesaid state, or dispose of it otherwise, in conformity to the fifth article of compact between the original states, and the people and states to be formed in the territory northwest of the river Ohio.

Sec. 3. And be it further enacted, That all that part of the territory of the United States, northwest of the river Ohio, heretofore included in the eastern division of said territory, and not included within the boundary herein prescribed for the said state, is hereby attached to, and made a part of the Indiana territory, from and after the formation of the said state, subject nevertheless to be hereafter disposed of by congress, according to the right reserved in the fifth article of the ordinance aforesaid, and the inhabitants therein shall be entitled to the same privileges and immunities, and subject to the same rules and regulations, in all respects whatever, with all other citizens residing within the Indiana territory.

Sec. 4. And be it further enacted, That all male citizens of the United States, who shall have arrived at full age, and resided within the said territory at least one year previous to the day of election and shall have paid a territorial or county tax, and all persons having in other respects, the legal qualifications to vote for representatives in the general assembly of the territory, be, and they are hereby authorized to choose representatives to form a convention, who shall be apportioned amongst the several counties within the eastern division aforesaid, in a ratio of one representative to every twelve hundred inhabitants of each