right cannot therefore now be questioned. The north-western states were created by the ordinance and by the people, and not by the acts of admission.

The course pursued by the citizens of Tennessee is entitled to great weight, as it was taken soon after the ordinance and the constitution of the United States were adopted; when the language and the intention of the provisions for the formation of new states could not have been misunderstood either by the citizens of Tennessee or the public men of the United States. Washington was then at the head of the government, and it may be useful for us to advert to some facts in the history of that state.

The territory of Tennessee was ceded by North Carolina to the United States in February, 1790. The act of cession provided "that the territory should be laid out into a state or states, containing a suitable extent, the inhabitants of which should enjoy all the privileges, benefits and advantages set forth in the ordinance for the government of the north-western territory." Under this authority congress established a government for the territory of Tennessee for temporary purposes, and extended to her the provisions of the ordinance.

In 1794 her legislature ordered a census of the inhabitants of the entire territory to be taken, a majority of the people having voted in favor of a state government. It appearing by the census that her population amounted to sixty-six thousand two hundred and sixty-two souls [excluding slaves] a convention was called, and in February, 1796, a constitution was formed for the state. All this was done without the interference of congress, or any application to divide the territory or to permit a state government to be formed for the whole.

In April, of the same year, Tennessee, by her senators and representative, (Andrew Jackson having been elected her represen tative,) presented themselves with a new constitution in their hands, and demanded her admission by themselves, as her delegates, into the congress of the United States, as a sovereign and independent state. Gen. Washington,. in his message to congress on the subject, observed, that among the advantages secured to the inhabitants of Tennessee by the ordinance of 1787, was "the right of forming a permanent constitution and state government, and of admission as a state, by its delegates, into the congress the United States on an equal footing with the original states, in

of

all respects whatever, when it shall have sixty thousand free inhabitants therein; provided, the constitution and government so formed shall be republican, and in conformity to the principles contained in the ordinance."

In pursuance of this recommendation, Tennessee, with her constitution thus formed, was admitted into the union on the first of June, 1796, within four months after the change of government was commenced.

Michigan adopted the same course as Tennessee, and asserted it as her "right and privilege," under the ordinance and the act of congress of 1805. It was granted to her-although the authority had been reserved to congress (as in the case of Tennessee) to form one or two states out of the territory then subject to her territorial government.

I submit a copy of the act passed by the territorial legislature of Michigan on the 26th of December, 1834, to enable the people of that territory to form a constitution and state government. The preamble fully asserts the right; and the act apportions delegates for that part of the territory lying north of a line drawn due east from the southerly extreme of Lake Michigan which had been embraced within the limits of the state of Indiana on her admission in the year 1916.

She was admitted into the union with the constitution she had adopted, by an act of congress passed on the 15th of June, 1836, the second section of which provides "that the constitution and state government which the people of Michigan have formed for themselves be, and the same is hereby, accepted, ratified and confirmed; and that the said state of Michigan shall be, and is hereby, declared to be one of the United States of America, and is hereby admitted into the union upon an equal footing with the original states in all respects whatever."

This section also declares, that "this admission is upon the express condition that the said state shall consist of, and have jurisdiction over, all the territory included within the following bounda ries, and none other," &c. By these new boundaries thus proposed by congress, the country claimed by Ohio and Indiana is given to those states; and in lieu thereof a district lying between Lake Superior and Lake Michigan, and west of a line drawn north from the northern extremity of Lake Michigan to the line dividing the United States and Canada-which was the line established by the

act of congress of 1805, and by the people of Michigan, in their constitution, as the western boundary of the state was declared to be within the boundaries and jurisdiction of the state of Michigan.

The people inhabiting the portion thus annexed neither partici pated in the formation of the constitution, nor voted for the change; and it may well be doubted whether congress did not exceed its powers by this act enlarging the boundaries of Michigan, and establishing a state government for these people.

But the act of admission establishes the right of the free inhabitants to form a government for themselves, and to designate the boundaries of the state. In relation to the right of a state to enter the union with a contested boundary, there were several instances of unsettled boundaries between the thirteen original states when they joined the union, some of which are yet undetermined, and it is not perceived why a new state has not the privilege to adjust her boundaries or have them settled in the same manner as an old state.

It may be taken for granted, therefore, from the example of those states, as well as that of Michigan, that this state has the right to be admitted, although her boundaries may be contested by other states. A state out of the union has as good a right to her established boundaries as a state in it. The form of govern ment to which she may at any period of her existence be subject neither increases nor diminishes this right. It cannot be conceded that the right to admit can control the right to form a constitution farther than to require that the "constitution is republican, and in conformity to the principles contained in the articles of com pact."

The 12th section of the act to establish the territorial govern ment of Wisconsin declares "that the inhabitants of the territory shall enjoy the rights, privileges, and advantages granted and se cured to the people of the territory north-west of the river Ohio, by the articles of compact contained in the ordinance of 1787." It provides that "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." The 5th ar ticle of compact declares that "whenever any of the said states shall have sixty thousand 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 what

ever, and shall be at liberty to form a permanent constitution and state government."

The right of the citizens of Wisconsin to form a government for themselves being clearly established by these provisions and by the precedents of Tennessee and Michigan, I respectfully beg leave to submit to your consideration the subject of the boundaries of the country whose inhabitants possess the right to vote upon the question of forming a constitution.

The 5th article of compact laid off the north-western territory into three states, and bounded them, on the south, by the Ohio river, and on the north by the territorial line between the United States and Canada. It provided, however," 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 power 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 or extreme bend of Lake Michigan.

In the execution of this power, congress has wholly disregarded the limitation placed upon its authority. These boundaries were subject to be altered only for a single object, to wit: to form one or two states north of a certain east and west line. The first part of this article declares" there shall be formed in the said territory not less than three nor more than five states, and the boundaries of the states, so soon as Virginia shall alter her act of cession and consent to the same, shall become fixed and established, as fol· lows," &c. Virginia gave her consent. The "east and west line drawn through the southerly bend or extreme of Lake Michigan," became therefore an established boundary line, equally with the other line therein described, if congress found "it expedient to form" more than three states. On the admission of Ohio, the question was determined that there should be more than three states formed; and having now actually admitted four into the Union, the remaining "territory which lies north of an east and west line drawn through the southerly bend or extreme of Lake Michigan," according to the terms of the ordinance, must compose the fifth.

In the year 1818, an act was passed by congress to enable the people of Illinois territory to form a constitution. She had not sixty thousand inhabitants, and therefore applied to congress to

grant her permission, authority having been given to congress to admit a state with a less number.

It is conceded in this act, that congress and the people of Illinois undertook to make an alteration of her boundaries not con templated by the ordinance, when they gave to that state the line of latitude of forty-two degrees and thirty minutes for her northern boundary instead of the west line from the extremity of the lake. In the 2d section of that act a description of the boundary as now claimed by Illinois is followed by this provision; "That the convention, when formed, shall ratify the boundaries aforesaid; otherwise they shall be and remain as now prescribed by the ordinance for the government of the territory north-west of the river Ohio," And in the 4th section there is also a proviso, that the constitution," whenever formed, shall be republican, and not repugnant to the ordinance of the 13th of July, 1787, &c., excepting so much of said articles as relate to the states therein to be formed," which is clearly an admission that the alteration of the boundaries was repugnant to the ordinance.

Was this the alteration which congress was authorized to make? If it was, why did she ask Illinois to ratify her act? The articles of compact may undoubtedly be changed" by common consent," and it is true that congress and Illinois have given their consent to the alteration; but the fifth state, whose rights are the same upon this question as those of Illinois, has not consented, and could not consent to any change of those articles until she has obtained her sovereignty and independence.

These views, it gives me pleasure to assure you, are sustained by the resolutions of the legislature of this territory. I avail myself of this occasion to quote the following sentences from the preamble to the "resolutions relating to the southern boundary and the admission of Wisconsin into the union as a state;" which were approved by Governor Dodge on the 13th of January, 1840.

"Whereas, the southern boundary of this territory, and of the state to be formed therein, is fixed and established by the ordinance of July 13th, 1787, on a line running due west from the southerly bend or extreme of Lake Michigan to the Mississippi river.

"And whereas, although said ordinance is declared to be forever unalterable, unless by common consent, a large and valuable tract of country is now held by the state of Illinois, contrary to