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Show ) 164 'I'IIE ORDINANCE OF 1787. adopt, and publish in the district, snch laws of the original SLates, criminal and civil, as may be necessary and best suited to the circumstances of the district, and report them to ConoTess from time to time, ·which shall prevail in said b district until the organization of the General Assembly, un-less disapproved of by Congress ; but afterwards the General Assembly shall have authority to alter them as they shall think fit, provided, however, that said Assembly shall have no power to create perpetuities. rrhe Governor for the time being shall he commander-inchief of the militia, and appoint and commission all officers in the same below the rank of general officer. All officers of that rank shall be appointed and commissioned by Con-gress. Previons to the organization of the General Assembly, the Governor shall appoint such magistrates and other civil officers in each county or township, as he shall find necessary for the presrrvation of peace and good order in the same. After the General A. ernbly shall be organized, the powers and dutie of magi trates and other civil officers shall be regulated and dcfiuecl by tbe said Assembly; but all magistrates and other civil officers not herein otherwise directed, shall, during the continuance of this temporarr government, be appointed by the Governor. The Governot· sha11, as soon as may be, proceed to lay out the district into couuties and townships, subject, however, to such alterations as ma.y thereafter be made by the legislature, as soon as there shall be five thousnnd free male inhabitants of full age within the said district. Upon giving due proof thereof to the Governor, they shall receive authority, with time and plnce to elect representatives from th eir connties or towm;hips ns nfore~aid, to represent them in Gen· eral Assembly, provided that for every five hundred free male iuhauitallis tbere shall be one representative, nnd so on progres ·ively with the number of free male inhabitants shall tho THE OHDI~ ANCE OF 1787. 1G5 . right of representation increase, until the numb-er of repre~ scntatives amount to twenty-fivo; al'tor which the number a11d proportion of repre en tati ves shall be regulated Ly the legislature, provideu that uo person shall Le eligiule or qu:difi t"tl to act aS a representative, unleSS he Shall be a Citizen Of' OIIC of the United SLates, or have rcsiued within the disLricL three years, and shall likewise hold, in his own right in fee sirnple, two huudred acres of land within the same; provided abo, that a freehold or life estate in fifty acres of land, in the said district, of a citizen of any of the United States, and two years' residence, if a foreign er, in addition shall be necessary to qualify a man as elector for said representatives. The representatives thus elected shall serve for the term of two years; and in the case of the death of a representative or removal from office, the Governor shall issue a writ to the county or township for which he was a member, to elect another in his stead, to serve during the residue of tlle time. 1'he General .Assembly shall consist of the Governor, a Lcgislati ve Council-to consist of five members, to be appointed by the United States, in Congress assembled, to continue in office during pleasure, any three of whom to ue a quorum--and a House of Representatives, who shall have a legislative authority, complete in all cases for the good government of said district; provided that no act of the said General .Assembly shall be construed to affect any lan<ls the property of the United States; and pro~ided further, that the lands of the non-resident proprietors shall in no instance be taxed higher than the lands of residents. All bills shall originate indifferently either in the Council or House of Representatives, and having been passcrl by a majority in both Houses, shall be referred to the Governor for his assent, after obtaining which, they shall be complete and valid; but no bill or legislative act, .'.,' . ' ~ .. " t ' !' t, • ;. = .. t f. " I' f4 r: t |