Soon after this cession had been completed, Congress passed a resolve for the regulation of the territory that had been or might be ceded to the United States, for the establishment of temporary and permanent governments by the settlers, and for the admission of the new States thus formed into the Union.[311] This resolve provided, that the territory which had been or might be ceded to the United States, after the extinguishment of the Indian title, and when offered for sale by Congress, should be divided into separate States, in a manner specified; that the settlers on such territory, either on their own petition or on the order of Congress, should receive authority to form a temporary government; and that when there should be twenty thousand free inhabitants within the limits of any of the States thus designated, they should receive authority to call a convention of representatives to establish a permanent constitution and government for themselves, provided that both the temporary and permanent governments should be established on these principles, as their basis:--1. That they should for ever remain a part of the Confederacy of the United States of America. 2. That they should be subject to the Articles of Confederation and the acts and ordinances of Congress, like the original parties to that instrument. 3. That they should in no case interfere with the disposal of the soil by Congress. 4. That they should be subject to pay a part of the federal debts, present and prospective, in the same measure of apportionment with the other States. 5. That they should impose no tax upon lands, the property of the United States. 6. That their respective governments should be republican. 7. That the lands of non-resident proprietors should not be taxed higher than those of residents, in any new State, before its delegates had been admitted to vote in Congress. The resolve also contained a provision, which appears to have been designed to meet the want of constitutional power, under the Articles of Confederation, relative to the admission of new States. It was declared, that whenever any of the States thus formed should have as many free inhabitants as the least numerous of the thirteen original States, it should be admitted by its delegates into Congress on an equal footing with the original States, provided the assent of so many States in Congress should be first obtained, as might at the time be competent to such admission. It was further declared, that, in order to adapt the Articles of Confederation to the condition of Congress when it should be thus increased, it should be proposed to the original States, parties to that instrument, to change the rule, which required a vote of nine States, to a vote of two thirds of all the States in Congress; and that when this change had been agreed upon, it should be binding upon the new States.