History of the Origin, Formation, and Adoption of the Constitution of the United States, Vol. 1: With Notices of Its Principle FramersCurtis, George Ticknor
History
History of the Origin, Formation, and Adoption of the Constitution of the United States, Vol. 1: With Notices of Its Principle Framers
Curtis, George Ticknor
Constitutional history -- United States
For the prevention of crimes and injuries, the laws to be adopted or
made were to have force in all parts of the district, and for the
execution of process, criminal and civil, the Governor was to make
proper divisions of the territory, and to lay out the portions where the
Indian titles had been extinguished, from time to time, into counties
and townships, subject to future alteration by the legislature.
As soon as there should be five thousand free male inhabitants, of full
age, in the district, upon giving proof thereof to the Governor, they
were to receive authority to elect representatives from their counties
or townships, to represent them in the General Assembly. For every five
hundred male inhabitants, there was to be one representative; and so on
progressively the right of representation was to increase, until the
number of representatives should amount to twenty-five, after which
their numbers and proportions were to be regulated by the legislature.
The qualifications of a representative were to be previous citizenship
in one of the United States for three years, and residence in the
district, or a residence of three years in the district, with a
fee-simple estate, in either case, of two hundred acres of land within
the district. The qualifications of electors were to be a freehold in
fifty acres of land in the district, previous citizenship in one of the
United States, and residence in the district, or the like freehold and
two years' residence in the district.
The Ordinance then proceeded to state certain fundamental articles of
compact between the original States and the people and States in the
territory, which were to remain unalterable, except by common consent.
The first provided for freedom of religious opinion and worship. The
second provided for the right to the writ of _habeas corpus_; for trial
by jury; for a proportionate representation in the legislature; for
judicial proceedings according to the course of the common law; for
offences not capital being bailable; for fines being moderate, and
punishments not cruel nor unusual; for no man's being deprived of his
liberty or property, but by the judgment of his peers or the law of the
land; for full compensation for property taken or services demanded for
the public; and that no law should ever be made, or have force in the
territory, that should in any manner whatever interfere with or affect
private contracts or engagements, previously formed, _bona fide_ and
without fraud. The third provided for the encouragement of religion and
education, for schools, and for good faith towards the rights and
property of the Indian tribes. The fourth provided that the territory
and the States to be formed therein should for ever remain a part of the
Confederacy, subject to the constitutional authority of Congress; that
the inhabitants should be liable to be taxed proportionately for the
public expenses; that the legislature in the territory should never
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