§ 398. The full faith and credit mentioned in the Constitution, was inserted to place the judgments of the different states upon a different footing from those of foreign nations. The latter were already prima facie evidence; the former then must be conclusive. They have absolute verity, so that they cannot be denied any more than in the state where they originated.' If a judgment is conclusive in the state where it is pronounced, it is conclusive everywhere; if re-examinable there, it is so elsewhere. It is placed upon the same ground as a domestic judgment.

§ 399. SECTION 2D. 1st clause. The citizens of each state shall be entitled to all privileges and immunities of citizens in the states.

2d clause. A person charged in any state with treason, felony, or other crime, who shall flee from justice, and be found in another state, shall, on demand of the executive authority of the state from which he fled, be delivered up to be removed to the state having jurisdiction of the crime.

3d clause. No person held to service or labor in one state, under the laws thereof, escaping into another, shall, in consequence of any law or regulation therein, be discharged from such service or labor, but shall be delivered on claim of the party to whom such service or labor may be due.

§ 400. The object of the first part of the clause is plain enough. If each citizen was not a citizen of the United States in other states, then the states would be completely foreign to each other, and their citizens aliens in each other. This clause makes each citizen of a state a citizen of the United States, and as such confers on him rights and privileges throughout the whole Union.

§ 401. The subject of delivering up fugitives from justice is one which among different nations has involved some doubts. In the United States, however, it 13 Story's Comm. 180; 1 Peters' C. R. 74, 80.

is firmly fixed by the above provision, which requires them always to be given up to those who have a right to require it.

§ 402. The next clause, relative to persons held to service or labor, plainly refers to the slaves of the southern states who may take refuge in the non-slaveholding states. The delivery in the case of fugitives and slaves is to be made, not after a full trial, which would manifestly defeat the end in view; but after a summary investigation before a magistrate, in which it shall appear probable that the circumstances charged are true. By an act of Congress, 1793, it is provided that such proof may be made before any magistrate, by the principal or his attorney, and may be either by affidavit or oral testimony to his satisfaction. The magistrate is then authorized to give a certificate of the facts to the party or his agent, which certificate is sufficient warrant of removal. Heavy penalties are laid on those who hinder or resist such proceedings, or harbor any of the fugitives or slaves.

§ 403. SECTION 3D. 1st clause. 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.

2nd clause. The Congress shall have power to dispose of and make all needful rules and regulations respecting the territory, and 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.

§ 404. These two clauses are the foundations upon which Congress erect and administer the territorial governments, and subsequently admit them into the 13 Story's Comm. 677.

Union. Under the old confederation, no such provision existed; and so little anticipation was had of the growth and prosperity of those wild regions whose population and territory have since nearly doubled the states, and more than quadrupled their strength, that no provision existed on the subject of forming or admitting new states. Since the adoption of the Constitution, however, eleven new states have been added to the Union, and three territories will soon still farther increase that number. The power given by the Constitution to do this is one of the new principles introduced into our system, and is perhaps the most anomalous and most influential upon its future destiny of any. The principle is simply this, that a colony settled upon an adjacent territory, and within the jurisdiction of the United States, whether it be composed of citizens of the Union or emigrants from foreign nations, Europeans, or Asiatics, shall, on enumerating a specific population, be admitted to equal rights, privileges, and powers with the original states. This principle is likewise unlimited in respect to the number, distance, or settlement of the colonies. The consequence is, that the original states may ultimately, as they soon must, be left in a minority as to power in that government which they formed, and of which they were the sole possessors. They make the whole world partners with themselves, in an inheritance of liberty and power and wealth. The grant thus made to the world of an asylum for all mankind, is noble and benevolent, and the more so, as it seems to have had no former example among nations. It may be said, that the states thus added are not foreign: it is true they were not conquered, but they are just as subversive of the powers

1 NOTE.-All the nations of antiquity held immense provinces, which constituted a part of the state, for purposes of revenue and armies,-but were never admitted upon terms of equality, and whose inhabitants were never citizens. The idea of constituting a government, to be increased as to the source of law-by its own colonisation, or by recruits from abroad, is wholly new.

of the old states as if they had been taken from foreign countries. In the case of Louisiana, which was purchased, it was the accession of foreign territory; and at the time the territory of Orleans was erected into a state, its inhabitants were almost wholly Spanish and French. In the same manner the territory of Florida is an accession from a foreign country; and so also, should the government hereafter acquire any district or territory whatever, according to the existing laws, it would first become an organized territory of the United States, and then a state. No such policy as this was ever adopted by any other country, and it succeeds and could succeed only by that nice system of balances and toleration, by which one sect, or party, or state, is constantly checked by others, and the elements of discord and opposition kept from any general union against the laws and the government. It must be observed, however, as what may hereafter be of importance, that the term used in the Constitution, as to the admission of states, is may, and not shall. Hence, it is not imperative in the government of the United States to admit new states whenever they may demand it. The Constitution has, in the next clause, provided for the government of Territories, and the Congress may undoubtedly keep all; not provided for by the ordinance of 1787, as territories forever.

§ 405. In respect to the formation of states and the territorial governments, the power was exercised by Congress before the Constitution was formed, and without any article in the confederation to authorize it. The whole of what was called the North-western Territory, ceded by Virginia to the United States, and out of which has been carved the states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and the territory of Michigan,-was placed under a territorial government, and governed by the ordinance of 1787. That ordinance was, in many re1 Act of Congress, 1787.

spects, wisely drawn, and has had great, and not less certain, because unseen, influence, upon the prosperity and happiness of that immense and now populous district.1

§ 406. The articles of compact solemnly tendered to the people of the states about to be formed, and thus far accepted by them,-contained some remarkable provisions. Among these articles are,

1st, An agreement that said territory, and the states which may be formed therein, shall forever remain a part of this confederacy, subject to the articles of confederation, and to such alterations as may be made therein. This part of the compact, as will be seen hereafter, has an important bearing upon the recently agitated question of secession.

2d, And it is further provided, that there shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in the said territory.

3d, And farther, that whenever any of the said territories shall contain sixty thousand free inhabitants, it shall be admitted into the Union upon an equal footing with the original states.

§ 407. The power of Congress over the public territory is exclusive and universal, except so far as they are restrained by stipulations in the cessions, or by the ordinance of 1787.3 This is not the case, however, with merely national property, such as forts and arsenals, where the states have not ceded the jurisdiction: in such cases, the jurisdiction of the state continues; subject, however, to the just exercise of the proper powers of the national government.

1 NOTE.-The North-west Territory, ceded by Virginia to the United States, and included within the ordinances of 1787, contained the states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and the Territory of Michigan. They now contain more than 1,500,000 inhabitants, and have derived the whole vigor and spirit of their institutions, and the direction of their policy and views, from the ordinance above cited. How important and lasting are the acts of early legislators!

2 The entire ordinance will be found, page 188, following Washington's Address. & 3 Story's Comm. 198.