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Show 156 rrllE OH.IJLNANCE Oll~ 1787. alterations marked on it, while under consideration, just as iL "as amended at the Pre. idcn t's tnl>le, among which the clan e re peeling . Jayery remains attached to it as an amendment in Mr. Dane's hand-writiug, in the exact words in which it now stands in the On1innncc. From the o materials, together with the official jonrnals of the body, 1\[r. Force has compiled the narrative which we now insert; and, his materials beiug thus authentic, we must receive it as settling the question. lie has taken this trouble for the sake of historic truth, and the same moti\·e, together with the intrin ic inlere. t of the subject, and the further reason th:tt we have given currency to versions of the transaction whil'h do inju~tice to the dead, haYe indu ced us cheerfully to yield to it the large share of our space wbich it occupies." NOTES ON THE ORDINANCE OF 1787. T n the history of the Ordinance of 1787, published in the National Intelligcnccr on the 6th of the present month, there are several errors, which, before they become "fixed facts" shonld be correctecl. These notes fnmish material for the correction of some of th em. On the 1st of March 1784, a committee, consisting of 1\ifr. Jefferson, of Virginia, J\fr. Chase, of 1\{uryland, and J\[r. Howell, of Rhode I sland, submitted to Congress the following plan for the temporary government of the Western 'rerritory : 'The committee appointed to prepare a plan for the temporary government of the Western Territory have agreed to the following resolution~,- Re. olvecl, 'l'hat the Territory ceded or to be ceded by individual States to the United States, whensoever the same shall have been purchased of the Indian inhabitants nnd offered for sale by the United States, shall be formed into additional States, bounded in the following manner, as nearly as su<.:lt ccsl)ions will ndmit; that is to say North· 'J1HE OH.DfXAN"CE O.E' 1787. 157 wurdly and Southwarclly by pnrall <'ls of lati t11de, so that cnch State shall compr(' !Jcnd, fro111 South toN or th, two Clegrecs of latitude, begin ning to co un t from the completion of thirty-one dcoTces north of the equ ator: bnt any territory northwardly of the 4 7 tlt degree sh all make part of the State next below. And eastwardly and 'vYCstward ly they hall be bounded, th o·. c on the Missi sippi, by that ri ver on one side and the meridian of the lo west point of the rapids o( the Ohio on the other; and those adjoining on the en t, by the same meridian 011 th eir wes tern side, and on th eir eastern by the meridian of the western cape of the mouth of the Great Kanawha. And the tcnitory eastward of this last meridian, between the Ohi o, Lake Eric and Penn ylvania shall be one Stu te. That the settlers within the terri tory so to be pnrchased and offered for sale, shall, ei ther on their own petition, or the order of Congress, re ·eive authori ty from th em, wHh appointments of time an <l place, for th ir free males, of full age, to meet t ogether, for the purpose of es tablishing a temporary government, to adopt the co r1 tituti on and laws of any one of th se States, so that such laws neverlhclc s shall be subject to al te ration hy th eir ordinary 1 gi, luture, and to erect, suLjcct to a like al te rati on, counti es or townships for the elcctio11 of ru emhcr. for tl!cir lcgishture. That such temporary government shall only continue in force in any State until it shall have aeqnire<l 20,000 free inhn.lJitants, when, giving dtre p1·oof thereof to Congre s, they shall receive from th em authority, wi th appointment or time and place, to call a co nv ention of representati ves to c tablish a permanent consti tution and government for th emselves. Provided, rrha.t both the lr.mporary and permanent government be e:taulished on these principles as their basis: 1. rrhat they shall forever remain a part of the United States of America. |