Morgan County, Ohio - Chapter 2: The Aborigines of Ohio, 1886 (part 2 of 2)

" Art. 2. The inhabitants of the said territory shall always lie entitled to the benefits of the writ of habeas corjnts and of the trial by jury; of a proportionate representation of the people in the legislature, and of judicial proceedings according to the course of the common la w. All persons shall be bailable unless for capital offenses where the proof shall be evident or the presumption great. All lines shall be moderate, and no cruel or unusual punishments shall be inflicted. No man shall be deprived of his liberty or property but by the judgement of his peers, or the law of the land ; and should the public exigencies make it necessary for the common preservation to take any person's property or to demand his particular services, full compensation shall be made for the same. And in the just preservation of rights and property it is understood and declared that no laws ought ever to be made or have force in the said territory that shall, in any manner whatever, interfere with or affect private contracts or engagements, bona fide and wit hout fraud, previously formed.

"Art. 3. Religion, morality and knowledge being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall forever lie encouraged. The utmost good faith shall always be observed toward the Indians ; their lands and property shall never be taken from them without their consent; and in their property, rights and liberty they shall never be invaded or disturbed, unless in just and lawful wars authorized by Congress; but laws founded in justice and humanity shall, from time to time, be made for preventing wrongs beingdone to them and for preserving peace and friendship with them.

"Art. 4. The said territory and the States which mav be formed therein shall forever remain a part of this confederacy of the United States of America, su 1 ijeet t< ) the articles of c< >n federate >n and to such alterations therein as shall be constitutionally made, and to all the acts and ordinances of the United States in Congress assembled, conformable thereto. The inhabitants and settlers in the said territory shall be subject to pay a part of the federal debts, contracted or to be contracted, and a proportional part of the expenses of government, to be apportioned on them by Congress, according to the same common rule and measure by which apportionments thereof shall be made on the inhabitants of other States; and the taxes for paying their proportion shall be laid and levied by the authority and direction of the legislatures of the district or districts, or new States, as in the original States within the time agreed upon by the United States in Congress assembled. The legislatures of those districts or new States shall never interfere with the primary disposal of the soil by the United States in Congress assembled, nor with any regulations Congress may find necessary for securing the title in such soil to the bona fide purchasers. No tax shall be imposed on lands the property of the United States ; and in no case shall non-resident proprietors be taxed higher than residents. The navigable waters leading into the Mississippi and St. Lawrence, and the carrying places between the same, shall be common highways and forever free, as well to the inhabisants of the said territory as to citizens of the United States and those of any other States that may be admitted into the confederacy, without any tax, impost or duty therefor.

" Art. 5. There shall be formed in the said territory not less than three nor more than five States ; and the boundaries of the States, as soon as Virginia shall alter her act of cession and consent to the same, shall become fixed and established, as follows, to wit; The western State in the said territory shall be bounded by the Mississippi, the Ohio and Wabash Rivers; a direct line drawn from the Wabash and Post Vincents due north to the territorial line between the United States and Canada; and by the said territorial line to the Lake of the Woods and Mississippi. The middle State shall be bounded by the said direct line, the Wabash, from Post Vincents to the Ohio, by the Ohio, by a direct line drawn due north from the mouth of the ( Treat Miami, to the said territorial line, and by the said territorial line. The eastern State shall be bounded by the last mentioned direct line, the Ohio, Pennsylvania, and the said territorial line : Provided , however , and it is further understood and declared that the boundaries of these three States shall be subject so far to be altered, that, if Congress shall hereafter find it expedient, they shall have authority to form one or two States in that part of the said territory which lies north of an east and west line drawn through the southerly bend or extreme of Lake Michigan. And whenever any of the said States shall have sixty thousand free inhabitants therein such State shall be admitted by its delegates into the Congress of the United States on an ecpial footing with the original States in all respects whatever, and shall be at liberty to form a permanent constitution and State government. Provided ', The constitution and government so to be formed shall be republican and in conformity to the principles contained in these articles ; and so far as it can be consistent with the general interest of the confederacy, such admission shall be allowed at an earlier period and when there may be a less number

The Ohio Company

"Art. 6. There shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in the said territory, otherwise than in the punishment of crimes, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted: Provided , always, That any person escaping into the same, from whom labor or service is lawfully claimed in any of the original States, such fugitive may be lawfully reclaimed and conveyed to the person claiming his or her labor or service as aforesaid."