Members of congrefs.

office, the governor before the prefident
of congrefs, and all other officers before
the governor,
as foon as a legiflature shall
be formed in the diftrict, the council and
house, affembled in one room, fhall have
authority by joint ballot to select a delegate
to congrefs, who fhall have a feat in con-
grefs, with a right of debating, but not of
voting during this temporary government.

And for the extending the fundamental principles of civil and religious liberty which form the bafis whereon these republics, their laws and conftitutions are erected; to fix and establish those principles as the bafis of all laws, conftitutions, and governments, which for ever hereafter fhall be formed in the faid territory. To provide alfo for the establishment of ftates and permanent government therein, and for their admiffion to fhare in the federal counfels on an equal footing with the original ftates, at as early periods as may be confiftent with the general intereft.

It is hereby ordained and declared, by the authority aforefaid, that the following articles fhall be confidered as articles of compact between the original ftates, and the people and states in the faid territory, and

for

for ever remain unalterable unless by common confent, to wit:

ARTICLE I.

No perfon demeaning himself in a peace- Articles of able and orderly manner, fhall ever be compact, &e. molefted on account of his mode of wor

ship or religious fentiments in the faid ter

The inhabitants of the faid territory shall be always entitled to the benefits of the writ of Habeas Corpus, and of the trial by jury; of a proportionate representation of the people in the legislature, and of judicial proceedings according to the course of the common law. All perfons shall be bailable unless for capital offences, where the proof fhall be evident, or the prefumption great. All fines fhall be moderate, and no cruel or unusual punishments shall be inflicted. No man fhall be deprived of his liberty or his property but by the judgment of his peers, or of the law of the land: And should the public exigencies make it neceffary for the common prefervation to take any persons property, or demand his particular

particular fervices full compensation shall be made for the fame; and in the just prefervation of rights and property, it is underftood and declared, that no law ought ever to be made, or have force in the faid territory, that shall in any manner whatever interfere with, or affect private contracts or engagements bona fide, and without fraud, previoufly formed.

Religion, morality, and knowledge, being neceffary to good government and the happiness of mankind, fchools, and the means of education fhall for ever be encouraged. The utmoft good faith fhall always be observed towards the Indians. Their lands and property fhall never be taken from them without their confent; and in their property, rights, and liberty they never fhall be invaded or disturbed, unless in just and lawful wars authorized by congrefs: But laws founded in justice and humanity, from time to time, be made for preventing wrongs being done to them, and for preferving peace and friendship with them.

ARTI

The faid territory and the ftates which may be found therein, fhall for ever remain a part of this confederacy of the United-States of America, fubject to the articles of confederation, and to fuch alterations therein as fhall be conftitutionally made; and to all the acts and ordinances of the United-States in congrefs affembled, conformable thereto. The inhabitants and fettlers in the faid territory fhall be fubject to pay a part of the federal debts contracted or to be contracted, and a proportionable part of the expences of government to be apportioned on them by congrefs, according to the fame common rule and measure by which apportionments thereof fhall be made on the other ftates; and the taxes for paying their proportion, shall be laid and levied by the authority and direction of the legislature of the district, or districts, or new ftates, as in the original ftates, within the time agreed upon by the United-States in congrefs affembled. The legiflatures of thofe diftricts, or new ftates, fhall never interfere with the primary dif pofal of the foil by the United-States in congrefs affembled, nor with any regula

tions congress may find necessary for fe. curing the title in fuch foil to the bona fide purchasers. No tax fhall be imposed on lands the property of the United-States; and in no cafe fhall non-refident proprietors be taxed higher than refidents. The navigable waters leading into the Miffiffippi and St. Lawrence, and the carrying places between the fame fhall be common highways, and for ever free, as well to the inhabitants of the faid territory as to the citizens of the United-States, and those of any other ftates that may be admitted into confederacy, without any tax, impost, or duty therefore.

There fhall be formed in the faid terri→ tory, not less than three, nor more than five ftates; and the boundaries of the ftates as foon as Virginia fhall alter her act of ceffion and confent to the fame, fhall become fixed and established, as follow, to wit: The western ftate in the faid territory, fhall be bounded by the Miffiffippi, the Ohio, and Wabash rivers; a direct line drawn from the Wabash and Poft Vincents, due north to the territorial line between the United-States and Canada, and by the