tional debt, and to create a common fund to aid in their Government. Accordingly, Congress, on the 10th October, 1780, passed the following resolution :

"Resolved, That the unappropriated lands that may be ceded or relinquished to the United States, by any particular State, pursuant to the recommendation of Congress on the 6th day of September last, shall be disposed of for the common benefit of the United States, and be settled and formed into distinct republican States, which shall become members of the Federal Union, and have the same rights of sovereignty, freedom, and independence, as the other States: that each State which shall be so formed shall contain a suitable extent of territory, not less than 100, nor more than 150 miles square, or as near thereto as circumstances will admit: That the necessary and reasonable expenses which any particular State shall have incurred since the commencement of the present war, in subduing any British posts, or in maintaining forts or garrisons within and for the defence, or in acquiring any part of the territory that may be ceded or relinquished to the United States, shall be reimbursed :

"That the said lands shall be granted or settled at such times, and under such regulations, as shall hereafter be agreed on by the United States in Congress assembled, or any nine or more of them."

2d. As to the mode, terms, &c.

To this invitation, Virginia, one of the largest States in the Union, responded by authorizing a cession of all the northwestern territory, then claimed by her under her chartered grants, and as conquered by her arms, by the following deed of cession:

"Whereas, the General Assembly of Virginia, at their session cominencing on the 20th day of October, 1783, passed an act to authorize their delegates in Congress to convey to the United States in Congress assembled, all the right of that commonwealth to the territory northwestward of the river Ohio: and whereas, the delegates of the said commonwealth have presented to Congress the form of a deed proposed to be executed pursuant to the said act, in the words following:

"To all who shall see these presents, we, Thomas Jefferson, Samuel Hardy, Arthur Lee, and James Monroe, the underwritten delegates for the commonwealth of Virginia, in the Congress of the United States of America, send greeting:

"Whereas, the General Assembly of the commonwealth of Virginia, at their sessions begun on the 20th day of October, 1783, passed an act, entitled "An act to authorize the delegates of this State in Congress to convey to the United States in Congress assembled, all the right of this commonwealth to the territory northwestward of the river Ohio," in these words following, to wit:

[Here follows the preamble of the act.]

"Be it enacted by the General Assembly, That it shall and may be lawful for the delegates of this State to the Congress of the United States, or such of them as shall be assembled in Congress, and the said delegates, or such of them so assembled, are hereby fully authorized and empowered for and on behalf of this State, by proper deeds or instruments in writing, under their hands and seals, to convey, transfer, assign, and make over unto the United States in Congress assembled, for the benefit of the said States, all right, title, and claim, as well of soil as jurisdiction, which this commonwealth hath to the territory or tract of country within the limits of the Vir

ginia charter, situate, lying, and being, to the northwest of the river Ohio, subject to the terms and conditions contained in the before-recited act of Congress of the 13th day of September last: that is to say, upon condition that the territory so ceded shall be laid out and formed into States, containing a suitable extent of territory, not less than 100, nor more than 150 miles square, or as near thereto as circumstances will admit: and that the States so formed shall be distinct republican States, and admitted members of the Federal Union; having the same rights of sovereignty, freedom, and independence, as the other States.

"That all the lands within the territory so ceded to the United States, and not reserved for, or appropriated to, any of the beforementioned purposes, or disposed of in bounties to the officers and soldiers of the American army, shall be considered a common fund for the use and benefit of such of the United States as have become, or shall become, members of the confederation or federal alliance of the said States, Virginia inclusive, according to their usual respective proportions in the general charge and expenditure, and shall be faithfully and bona fide disposed of for that purpose, and for no other use or purpose whatsoever: Provided, That the trust hereby reposed in the delegates of this State shall not be executed, unless three of them, at least, are present in Congress.

"Resolved, That the United States, in Congress assembled, are ready to receive this deed whenever the delegates of the State of Virginia are ready to execute the same.

"The delegates of Virginia then proceeded and signed, sealed, and deliv ered, the said deed; whereupon Congress came to the following resolution: "The delegates of the commonwealth of Virginia having executed the deed,

"Resolved, That the same be recorded and enrolled among the acts of the United States in Congress assembled."

On the 7th July, 1786, Congress proposed to Virginia to alter her act of cession, by the following resolution:

"Resolved, That it be, and it hereby is, recommended to the Legislature of Virginia to take into consideration their act of cession, and revise the same so far as to empower the United States in Congress assembled, to make such a division of the territory of the United States lying northerly and westerly of the river Ohio, into distinct republican States, not more than five, nor less than three, as the situation of that country and future circumstances may require; which States shall hereafter become members of the Federal Union, and have the same rights of sovereignty, freedom, and independence, as the original States, in conformity with the resolution of Congress of the 10th of October, 1780."

Afterward and before Virginia assented to the proposed change, on the 13th July, 1787, Congress passed the memorable ordinance for the "gov ernment of the territory northwest of the river Ohio," which, as a bill of rights, is only surpassed by the Declaration of Independence, and, as a fundamental law for the guarantee of civil and religious liberty, and the protection of life, property, and person, is beyond all praise, and entitles the framers of it to the eternal gratitude of posterity. By this compact (the 5th article) is is ordained as follows:

"ART. 5. Of the ordinance of Congress for the government of the territory northwest of the river Ohio.

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 Great Miami to the said territorial line, and by the said territorial line. The eastern State shall be bound by the lastinentioned 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 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 equal 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 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 of free inhabitants in the State than sixty thousand."

On the 30th December, 1788, Virginia acceded to said article, as follows: "Whereas, the United States, in Congress assembled, did, on the 7th day of July, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and eightysix, state certain reasons, showing that a division of the territory which hath been ceded to the said United States, by this commonwealth, into States, in conformity to the terms of cession, should the same be adhered to, would be attended with many inconveniences, and did recommend a revision of the act of cession, so far as to empower Congress to make such a division of the said territory into distinct republican States, not more than five, nor less than three in number, as the situation of that country and future circumstances might require. And the said United States, in Congress assembled, have, in an ordinance for the government of the territory northwest of the river Ohio, passed on the 13th of July, 1787, declared the following as one of the articles of compact between the original States and the people and States in the said territory, viz:

[Here the fifth article of compact, of the ordinance of Congress, of 13th July, 1787, as above inserted, is recited verbatim.]

"And it is expedient that this commonwealth do assent to the proposed alteration, so as to ratify and confirm the said article of compact between the original States and the people and States in the said territory.

"Be it enacted, therefore, by the General Assembly, That the aforecited article of compact, between the original States and the people and States, in the territory northwest of the Ohio river, be, and the same is hereby, ratified and confirmed, any thing to the contrary in the deed of cession of the said territory by this commonwealth to the United States notwithstanding."

Here it may not be amiss to observe, that in September, 1787, the Constitution of the United States was framed, by which the ordinance of 1787, so far as it was a compact between the people of the United States, the State of Virginia, and the people of the northwestern territory, was confirmed and became inviolable.

3d. As to the manner in which the United States have carried the cession into effect.

The first action of Congress was in the application of Ohio to be admitted as a State, in 1802, when the line "on the north, by an east and west line drawn through the southerly extreme of Lake Michigan," was prescribed as the line.

The next act of Congress was in 1805, when the territory of Michigan was formed, when the same line was established as her southern boundary. Again-In 1816, the State of Indiana (the middle State mentioned in the 5th article of the ordinance of 1787) was admitted into the Union, with her northern boundary "teu miles north of the southern extreme of Lake Michigan."

In 1818, Illinois was admitted as a State, with her northern boundary established at north latitude, 42 degrees, 30 minutes.

Lastly-In 1836, Michigan was admitted as a State, and forced by Congress to permit Ohio to have her northern boundary north of the river Maumee," north of the east line from the most southerly extreme of Lake Michigan."

In connexion with the last act of Congress on this subject, we beg leave to add, that we have perused the able and elaborate reports of the judiciary committees in Congress, on the question of boundary between Ohio and Michigan, in 1836, and although both claim for Congress the power to fix the boundaries of Ohio, Michigan, and Illinois, north of the east and west line running through the southerly extreme of Lake Michigan; yet, their principal argument in favor of Ohio was, that in 1787, according to the maps then extant, an east line from the southerly extreme of Lake Michigan, would strike Lake Erie in the Detroit river, and to rectify a mistake, and carry into effect the evident intent of the parties to the ordinance of 1787, according as they understood it, they gave Ohio her claimed boundary; and as this portion of information is at least curious, if not useful, we subjoin an extract from the report of the committee of the Senate :

"We also declare in justice to the State, that, for the reasons which we will now proceed to detail, Congress cannot, consistently, with the original understanding of the compact between the State and this Government, and those obligations which, though not strictly legal, are of great equitable and moral force among nations as well as individuals, withhold its assent to the line proposed in the bill.

"It is a fact which is established by the general testimony of the maps of the country around the southern border of Lake Michigan, which were in existence at the time the constitution of Ohio was accepted by Congress, and of which we have any knowledge, that, at that period, the latitude of the southern extreme of that lake was believed to be between 42 degrees 20 minutes, and 42 degrees 30 minutes north.

"Mitchell's map, published in the year 1775, so lays down this lake and the adjacent country, that a line drawn due east from this point, strikes the territorial line of the United States in latitude 42 degrees, 20 minutes north; far north of the most northerly cape of Maumee bay, and in the Detroit

river, north of Lake Erie itself. As this is alleged to have been the very map relied on by Congress, and by the convention of Ohio, at the time of the admission of the State, and as it was then considered every where as a map which, in reference to the northwestern territory, had no superior for accuracy, we have caused a lithographic sketch, taken from the original preserved in the Department of State, exhibiting the country according to that map, and a sketch according to the maps of the present day, to be appended to this report. From this, it will be seen at a glance, that, it was then believed by both parties, that the new State of Ohio would comprehend, not only the whole territory in controversy, but a much larger tract of country lying north of it. We have also examined the following maps, which fully confirm the statement relied on by Ohio, that prior to and at the time of her admission into the Union, it was received as a settled point among geographers, that the disputed tract was all clearly within the limits assigned to her.

"1. A map of the British dominions in North America, according to the treaty of 1763, by Peter Bell, geographer, published in 1772. By this, the latitude of the southern extreme of Lake Michigan is about 42 degrees 30 minutes, an eastern line drawn from which would strike the territorial line, as laid down in this map, in the Detroit river, north of Lake Erie.

"2. A map of the British colonies in North America, engraved by William Faden, and published in 1777. It is now the property of the Massachusetts Historical Society. This exhibits the southern extreme of Lake Michigan still farther north than Bell's map, and the eastern line, drawn from this extreme, also strikes the territorial line north of Lake Erie.

"3. A map, No. 64, of Kitchin's atlas, belonging to the Boston Marine Insurance Company. The latitude of the points above referred to, is laid down very much as in Bell's map.

4. An ancient map belonging to Harvard College, entitled 'An accurate map of North America, describing and distinguishing the British and Spanish dominions on this great continent, according to the definite treaty concluded at Paris on the 10th of February, 1763; also, all the West India islands; the whole laid down according to the latest and most authentic improvements; by Eman Bowen, geographer to his Majesty, and John Gibson, engineer. By this, also, the southern extreme of Lake Michigan or Illinois' is represented in latitude 40 degrees 30 minutes north, and a line drawn due east from it would pass above Lake Erie or Okswego,' as that lake is here laid down.

"5. A map belonging to the Boston Marine Insurance Company, published by Laurie and Whittle, at London, in 1794, entitled 'A new map of North America, with the West India islands, divided according to the preliminary articles of peace signed at Versailles, 20th January, 1783, wherein are particularly distinguished the United States, and the several provinces, governments, &c., which compose the British dominions, laid down according to the latest surveys, and corrected from the original material of Governor Pownall, member of Parliament.' This lays down the southern extreme of Lake Michigan or Illinois,' as about 40 degrees 35 minutes north; and a line drawn due east from it would strike far above Lake Erie or Okswego,' as it is protracted on this map.

"6. An ancient map of the northwestern territory, with a supplement to the map of Hudson's and Baffin's bays, exhibits the same results.

"These, with Mitchell's map above referred to, have satisfied us of the