I have before stated it as my opinion, said he, that the articles of the ordinance are a compact between the people of the States and of the territories, unalterable but with the consent of both parties. With the permission of the House, I will read the opinion of Judge Tucker on this subject: "Congress, under the former confederation, passed an ordinance July 13, 1787, for the government of the territory of the United States northwest of the Ohio, which contained, among other things, six articles, which were to be considered as articles of compact between the original States and the people and States of said territory, and to remain unalterable, except by common consent. These articles appear to have been confirmed by the sixth article of the constitution, which declares, that all debts contracted and engagements entered into, before the adoption of the constitution, shall be as valid against the United States under the constitution as under the Confederation." In this case there are not only two but three parties to the articles--the United States, the State of Georgia, and the people of the Territories. You will recollect, as my colleague properly stated to you, that the right of soil and jurisdiction of this territory was originally in the people of Georgia. Of course Georgia had power to prescribe for the territory what form of government she pleased, provided it was republican. By the articles of cession, the right of soil and jurisdiction was ceded to the people of the United States, _on the express condition that the articles of the ordinance should form the government of the Mississippi Territory, and that they should not be governed otherwise_. The inference inevitably is, that the State of Georgia would not have ceded but upon the express condition; and this inference is the more inevitable, inasmuch as, in this clause, Georgia has made an express exception to a particular article in the ordinance;[3] from which, I say that Georgia intended that no other alteration should be made. What was the policy of the ordinance, and what the object of its framers? Why, assuredly, to render the governments of the Territories dependent on the Government of the United States. And how was it to be effected? By making the Territorial Legislature in a great degree dependent on the Governor, and him absolutely dependent on the Federal Executive. The moment we make the Legislature of a Territory independent of its Executive, we make it independent of the Federal Government.