Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 18 Part 1.djvu/31

 16 THE NORTHWEST TERRITORIAL GOVERNMENT--1787. Congress may find necessary for securing the title in such soil to the bonajide purchasers. No tax shall be imposed on lands the roperty 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 Saint Lawrence, and the carrying places between the same, shall be common highways, and forever free, as well to the inha itants 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 live 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 esiablis ed as follows, to wit: The western State, in the said territory, shall be bounded by the Mississi i, the Ohio, and the Wabash Rivers; a direct line drawn from the Wabash and Post gibcents, due north, to the territorial line between the United States and Canada; and by the said territorial line to the Lake of the Woods and Mississi pi. The middle State shall be bounded by the said direct line, the Waba.sh from Post Smcents 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, the shall have authority to form one or two States in that part of the said territory which bes 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 beat liberty to form a permanent constitution and State government: 1’mm'ded, The constitution and government, so to beformed, 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 riod, and when there may be a less number of free inhabitants in the State than sixty theusand. ARTICLE VI. There shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in the said territory, otherwise than in the 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 re<·|aimed, and conveyed to the person claiming his or her labor or service as aforesaid. Be it ordained by Meant/nority oforeeiaid, That the resolutions of the 23d of April, 1784, relative to the sub]ect of this ordinance, be, and the same are hereby. repealed, and declared null and void. Done  the United States, in Congress assembled, the 13th day of July, in the year of our Lo 1787, and of their sovereignty and independence the twelfth. Wallace r. Parker, 6 Pet., 680; Jones z-. Van Zandt, 5 How., 215; Strador et al.-: Graham, 10 How., 82; Pennsylvania v. Wheeling Bridge Company, 18 How., 421; Bates v. Brown, 5 Wall., 710; Messenger v. Mason, 10 Wall., 507; Clinton et al. •·. En lcbrcvht, 13 Wall., 434; Langdean r. Hanes, 21 Wall., 521; Morton v. Nebraska, 21 Wai., 660.