be appropriated, annually, the sum of three hundred and fifty dollars, to be expended by the Governor to defray the contingent expenses of the Territory, and there shall also be appropriated annually, a sufficient sum, to be expended by the Secretary of the Territory, and upon an estimate to be made by the Secretary of the Treasury of the United States, to defray the expenses of the Legislative Assembly, the printing of the laws and other incidental expenses; and the Secretary of the Territory shall annually account to the Secretary of the Treasury of the United States for the manner in which the aforesaid sum shall have been expended.

SEC. 12. And be it further enacted, That the inhabitants of the said Territory shall be entitled to, and enjoy, all and singular the rights, privileges, and advantages, granted and secured to the people of the Territory of the United States northwest of the river Ohio, by the articles of the compact contained in the ordinance for the Government of the said Territory, passed on the thirteenth day of July, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-seven; and shall be subject to all the conditions and restrictions and prohibitions in said articles of compact imposed upon the people of the said Territory.1

1 See No. III. of this series for Ordinance of 1787.

"The ordinance of 1787, which was the fundamental law of Wisconsin at the time the present suit was commenced, declares that 'no man shall be deprived of his liberty or property but by the judgment of his peers or the law of the land.' But for these wise restraints upon legislative power, the right of government, as a sovereign authority, to take the property of individuals for public use, would be absolute; and that, too, without even allowing any direct compensation."-Newcomb v. Smith, 2 Pinney, 133. They [the people] were given, it is true, certain rights, before the present organization of the general government, and a solemn compact was made with them that those rights should not be taken away without their consent; * * The rights guaranteed to the people of the territory of Wisconsin were not those secured to the citizens of the states by the federal constitution, but those contained in the 'articles of compact,' in the ordinance of 1787, which articles were to remain forever unalterable, unless by common consent. That was their only fundamental law; and the constitution of the United States had no operation further than was necessary to enforce such 'laws of congress' as were applicable to the Territory and its inhabitants. * This latter

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The said inhabitants shall also be entitled to all the rights, privileges, and immunities, heretofore granted and secured to the Territory of Michigan, and to its inhabitants, and the existing laws of the Territory of Michigan shall be extended over said Territory, so far as the same shall not be incompatible with the provisions of this act, subject, nevertheless, to be altered, modified, or repealed, by the Governor and Legislative Assembly of the said Territory of Wisconsin; and further, the laws of the United States are hereby extended over, and shall be in force in, said Territory, so far as the same, or any provisions thereof, may be applicable.

SEC. 13. And be it further enacted, That the Legislative Assembly of the Territory of Wisconsin shall hold its first session at such time and place in said Territory as the Governor thereof shall appoint and direct; and at said session, or as soon thereafter as may by them be deemed expedient, the said Governor and Legislative Assembly shall proceed to locate and establish the seat of government for said Territory, at such place as they may deem eligible, which place, how

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has ever

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instrument [the ordinance of 1787] been regarded by the people of the North West territory as the palladium of their legal and political rights. * To the ordinance, then, and not to the federal constitution, did the people of the Territory look; for it was never enacted that, in addition, they should have the rights under the constitution which are guaranteed to the citizens of the several States, or, in fact, any other rights or immunities than those contained in the ordinance and the subsequent laws of congress. * * * Here we have, in comprehensive language, the strongest and most sacred guaranty of the enjoyment of rights and property."From the dissenting opinion in the case of Newcomb v. Smith, 2 Pinney, 142-146.

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"All the legislation of the territory of Wisconsin should have been consistent with the principles engrafted into this charter of human rights and civil liberty [i. e. the Ordinance of 1787]. The legislature could not curtail any rights conferred upon the people by the ordinance, nor confer any rights withheld."-Reed v. Wright, 2 Green (Ia.), 22.

"The power of the Wisconsin legislature was derived from Congress which extended to all rightful subjects of legislation, and subject also to all the restrictions and provisions of the ordinance of 1787."-Reed v. Wright 2 Green (Ia.), 27.

ever, shall thereafter be subject to be changed by the said Governor and Legislative Assembly. And twenty thousand dollars, to be paid out of any money in the Treasury, not otherwise appropriated, is hereby given to the said Territory, which shall be applied by the Governor and Legislative Assembly to defray the expenses of erecting public buildings at the seat of government.

SEC. 14. And be it further enacted, That a Delegate to the House of Representatives of the United States, to serve for the term of two years, may be elected by the voters qualified to elect members of the Legislative Assembly, who shall be entitled to the same rights and privileges as have been granted to the Delegates from the several Territories of the United States to the said House of Representatives. The first election shall be held at such time and place or places, and be conducted in such manner, as the Governor shall appoint and direct. The person having the greatest number of votes shall be declared by the Governor to be duly elected, and a certificate thereof shall be given to the person so elected.

SEC. 15. And be it further enacted, That all suits, process and proceedings, and all indictments and informations which shall be undetermined on the third day of July next, in the courts held by the additional judge for the Michigan Territory, in the counties of Brown and Iowa;1 and all suits, process and proceedings, and all indictments and informations which shall be undetermined on the said third day of July, in the county courts of the several counties of Crawford, Brown, Iowa, Dubuque, Milwalke [Milwaukie], and Des Moines, shall be transferred to be heard, tried, prosecuted and determined, in the district courts hereby established, which may include the said counties.

SEC. 16. And be it further enacted, That all causes which shall have been or may be removed from the courts held by the additional judge for the Michigan Territory, in the counties of Brown and Iowa, by appeal or otherwise, into the supreme 1 See No. III. of this series, p. 63.

court for the Territory of Michigan, and which shall be undetermined therein on the third day of July next, shall be certified by the clerk of the said supreme court, and transferred to the supreme court of said Territory of Wisconsin, there to be proceeded in to final determination, in the same manner that they might have been in the said supreme court of the Territory of Michigan.

SEC. 17. And be it further enacted, That the sum of five thousand dollars be, and the same is hereby, appropriated, out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, to be expended by and under the direction of the Legislative Assembly of said Territory, in the purchase of a library for the accommodation of said Assembly, and of the supreme court hereby established.

Approved, April 20, 1836.

-Reprinted from U. S. Statutes at Large, Vol. V., p. 10.

AN ACT MAKING

APPROPRIATIONS FOR THE CIVIL AND DIPLOMATIC EXPENSES OF GOVERNMENT FOR THE YEAR

ONE THOUSAND EIGHT HUNDRED AND THIRTY-SIX.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the following sums be, and the same are hereby, appropriated, to be paid out of any unappropriated money in the Treasury, viz:

For the Governor, judges, secretary, district attorney, and marshal, and contingent expenses, of the Wisconsin Territory, nine thousand, nine hundred dollars.

Compensation and mileage of the members of the Legislative Council, and to defray the expenses of the Legislative Assembly, the printing of the laws, and other incidental expenses of said Territory, nine thousand four hundred dollars.

For the public buildings and library of said Territory, twenty-five thousand dollars.

Approved, May 9, 1836.

-Reprinted from U. S. Statutes at Large, Vol. V., p. 25.

AN ACT FOR LAYING OFF THE TOWNS OF FORT MADISON AND BURLINGTON, IN THE COUNTY DES MOINES, AND THE TOWNS OF BELLEVIEW, DU BUQUE, AND PERU, IN THE COUNTY OF DU BUQUE, TERRITORY OF WISCONSIN, AND

FOR OTHER PURPOSES.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the tracts of land in the Territory of Wisconsin including the towns of Fort Madison and Burlington, in the county of Des Moines; Belleview, Du Buque, and Peru, in the county of Du Buque; and Peru, in the county of Du Buque; and Mineral Point, in the county of Iowa, shall, under the direction of the Surveyor General of the public lands, be laid off into town lots, streets, avenues, and the lots for public use called the public squares, and into out-lots having regard to the lots and streets already surveyed, in such manner and of such dimensions as he may think proper for the public good and the equitable rights of the settlers and occupants of the said towns: Provided, The tracts of land so to be laid off into town-lots, &c. shall not exceed the quantity of one entire section, nor the town-lots one-half of an acre; nor shall the out-lots exceed the quantity of four acres each. When the survey of the lots shall be completed, a plat thereof shall be returned to the Secretary of the Treasury, and within six months thereafter the lots shall be offered to the highest bidder, at public sale, under the direction of the President of the United States, and