Indians, until, by mutual consent of the United States and the said tribes or nations, other suitable articles shall have been agreed upon. ARTICLE VII. As it is reciprocally advantageous to the commerce of France and the United States to encourage the communication of both nations for a limited time in the country ceded by the present treaty, until general arrangements relative to the commerce of both nations may be agreed on, it has been agreed between the contracting parties that the French ships, coming directly from France or any of her colonies, loaded only with the produce or manufactures of France or her said colonies and the ships of Spain, coming directly from Spain or any of her colonies, loaded only with the produce or manufactures of Spain or her colonies, shall be admitted during the space of twelve years in the port of New Orleans, and in all other legal ports of entry within the ceded territory, in the same manner as the ships of the United States coming directly from France or Spain, or any of their colonies, without being subject to any other or greater duty on merchandise, or other or greater tonnage than those paid by the citizens of the United States. During the space of time above mentioned no other nation shall have a right to the same privileges in the ports of the ceded territory; the twelve years shall commence three months after the exchange of ratifications, if it shall take place in France, or three months after it shall have been notified at Paris to the French Government, if it shall take place in the United States; it is, however, well understood that the object of the above article is to favor the manufactures, commerce, freight and navigation of France and of Spain, so far as relates to the importations that the French and Spanish shall make into the said ports of the United States, without in any sort affecting the regulations that the United States may make concerning the exportation of the produce and merchandise of the United States, or any right they may have to make such regulations. ARTICLE VIII. In future and forever after the expiration of the twelve years the ships of France shall be treated upon the footing of the most favored nations in the ports above mentioned. ARTICLE IX. The particular convention signed this day by the respective ministers, having for its object to provide for the payment of debts due to the citizens of the United States by the French Republic, prior to the thirtieth of September, 1800, (8th Vendemaire, 9), is approved, and to have its execution in the same manner as if it had been inserted in the present treaty, and it shall be ratified in the same form and in the same time, so that the one shall not be ratified distinct from the other. Another particular convention, signed at the same date as the present treaty, relative to a definitive rule between the contracting parties, is in the like manner approved and will be ratified in the same form and in the same time and jointly. ARTICLE X. The present treaty shall be ratified in good and due form, and the ratification shall be exchanged in the space of six months after the date of the signatures by the ministers plenipotentiaries, or sooner, if possible. In faith whereof the respective plenipotentiaries have signed these articles in the French and English languages; declaring, nevertheless, that the present treaty was originally agreed to in the French language; and have thereunto put their seals. Done at Paris the tenth day of Floreal, in the eleventh year of the French Republic, and the thirtieth April, 1803. ROBERT R. LIVINGSTON, (L. s.) LAWS DEFINING THE LIMITS OF THE STATE OF LOUISIANA. AN ACT ERECTING LOUISIANA INTO TWO TERRITORIES, AND PROVIDING FOR boundaries of of Orleans by Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled, That Defining the all that portion of country ceded by France to the United the Territory States, under the name of Louisiana, which lies south of the act of ConMississippi territory, and of an east and west line to commence gress, approved March on the Mississippi river, at the thirty-third degree of north lat- 20, 1804. itude, and to extend west to the western boundary of the said cession, shall constitute a territory of the United States, under the name of the Territory of Orleans, the government whereof shall be organized and administered as follows: State of 1812. We, the representatives of the people of all that part of the territory or country ceded, under the name of Louisiana, by Preamble to the treaty made at Paris, on the thirtieth day of April, one the Constitu thousand eight hundred and three, between the United States tion of the nd France, contained in the following limits, to-wit: Begin- Louisiana of ning at the mouth of the river Sabine, thence by a line to be drawn along the middle of said river, including all its islands, to the thirty-second degree of latitude; thence due north to the northernmost part of the thirty-third degree of north latitude; thence along the said parallel of latitude to the river Mississippi; thence down the said river to the river Iberville, and from thence along the middle of the said river and lakes Maurepas and Pontchartrain to the Gulf of Mexico; thence, bounded by the said gulf, to the place of beginning, including all islands within three leagues of the coast, in convention assembled, by virtue of an act of Congress, entitled "An Act to enable the people of the Territory of Orleans to form a constitution and State government, and for the admission of said State into the Union on an equal footing with the original States, and for other purposes." In order to secure to all the citizens thereof the enjoyment of the right of life, liberty and property, do ordain and establish the following constitution or form of government, and do mutually agree with each other to form ourselves into a free and independent State, by the name of the State of Louisiana. AN ACT TO ENLARGE THE LIMITS OF LOUISIANA. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives Enlarging the of the United States of America, in Congress assembled, That limits of the in case the Legislature of the State of Louisiana shall consent State of Louisiana. thereto, all that tract of country comprehended within the following bounds, to-wit: Beginning at the junction of the Iberville with the river Mississippi, thence along the middle of the Iberville, the river Amite, and of the lakes Maurepas and Pontchartrain, to the eastern mouth of the Pearl river; thence up the eastern branch of Pearl river to the thirty-first degree of north latitude; thence along the said degree of latitude to the river Mississippi; thence down the said river to the place of beginning, shall become and form a part of the said State of Louisiana, and be subject to the constitution and laws thereof, in the same manner and for all intents and purposes as if it had been included within the original boundaries of the said State. SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That it shall be incumbent upon the Legislature of the State of Louisiana, in case they consent to the incorporation of the territory aforesaid within their limits, at their first session, to make provision by law for the representation of the said territory in the Legislature of the State, upon the principles of the constitution, and for the securing to the people of the said territory, equal rights, privileges, benefits and advantages, with those enjoyed by the people of the other parts of the State; which law shall be liable to revision, modification and amendment by Congress, and also in the manner provided for the amendment of the State constitution, but shall not be liable to change or amendment by the Legislature of the State. II. CLAY, Speaker of the House of Representatives. WM. II. CRAWFORD, President of the Senate pro tempore. Approved April 14, 1812. JAMES MADISON. A RESOLUTION GIVING THE ASSENT OF THE LEGISLATURE TO An Enlargement of of the State Resolved, by the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Louisiana, in General Assembly convened, That Approving the whereas the Senate and House of Representatives of the enlargement United States of America, in Congress assembled, by an act of Louisiana. entitled "An Act to enlarge the limits of the State of Louisiana," have provided that in case the Legislature of the State of Louisiana shall consent thereto, all that tract of country comprehended within the following bounds, to-wit: Beginning at the junction of the Iberville with the river Miceissippi; thence along the middle of the Iberville, the river Amite, and the lakes Maurepas and Pontchartrain, to the mouth of the Pearl river; thence up the eastern branch of Pearl river to the thirty-first degree of north latitude; thence along the said degree of latitude to the river Mississippi; thence down the said river to the place of beginning, shall become and form a part of the said State of Louisiana, and be subject to the constitution and laws thereof in the same manner and for all intents and purposes, as if it had been included within the original boundaries of said State. Be it therefore resolved, and it is hereby resolved, That the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Louis iana, in General Assembly convened, do approve of and consent to the enlargement of the limits of the said State of Louisiana, in manner as provided by the above in part recited act of Congress, hereby declaring that the same shall forever be and remain a part of the State of Louisiana. P. B. ST. MARTIN, August 4, 1812. APPROVED: President of the Senate. WILLIAM C. C. CLAIBORNE, Governor of the State of Louisiana. |