Ohio History Journal

58       Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.

 

 

DECISIONS REFERRING TO THE ORDINANCE.

Wallace v. Parker, 6, Pet. 680; Pollard v. Hagan; Parmoli

v. First Municipality, 3, How., 212, 589; Jones v. Van Zandt,

5, How., 215; Strader v. Graham, 10, How., 82; Pennsylvania

v. Wheeling Bridge Company, 18, How., 421; Bates v. Brown,

5, Wall., 710; Messenger v. Mason, 10, Wall., 507; Clinton v.

Engelbrecht, 13, Wall., 434; Langdean v. Hanes, 21, Wall., 521

Packett Company v. Keokuk, 95, U. S., 80; Spooner v. Mc-

Connell, 1, McLean, 336; Palmer v. Cuyahoga Co., 3, McLean,

226; Hogg v. Zanesville, etc., Co., 5, 0., 410; Perry v. Tor-

rence, 8, 0., 522; Hutchinson v. Thompson, 9, 0., 52; Cochran

v. Loring, 17, 0., 409.

 

 

 

DEED OF CESSION FROM VIRGINIA-1784.

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 session 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 Con-

gress assembled all the right of this commonwealth to the territory

northwest of the River Ohio, in these words following, to-wit"

(here follows the act of cession:); and,

WHEREAS, The said General Assembly, by their resolution

of June 6, 1783, had constituted and appointed us, the said Thomas

Jefferson, Samuel Hardy, Arthur Lee, and James Monroe, dele-

gates to represent the said commonwealth in Congress, for one

year from the first Monday in November then next following,

which resolution remains in full force:

Now, therefore, know ye, that we, the said Thomas Jefferson,

Samuel Hardy, Arthur Lee, and James Monroe, by virtue of the

power and authority committed to us by the act of the said General

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Modified Cession of Virginia.          59

 

Assembly of Virginia before recited, and in the name, and for and

on behalf of, the said commonwealth, do, by these presents, con-

vey, transfer, assign, and make over unto the United States in

Congress assembled, for the benefit of the said States, Virginia

inclusive, all right, title, and claim, as well of soil as of jurisdiction,

which the said commonwealth hath to the territory or tract

of country within the limits of the Virginia charter, situate, lying,

and being to the northwest of the River Ohio, to and for the uses

and purposes and on the conditions of the said recited act.

In testimony whereof, We have hereunto subscribed our names

and affixed our seals, in Congress, the 1st day of March, in the

year of our Lord 1784, and of the Independence of the United

States the eighth.

 

 

MODIFIED CESSION OF VIRGINIA.

 

(ACT OF DEC. 30, 1788, 12 V., HEN. ST. VA., p. 780.)

SECTION 1. Whereas-the United States in Congress as-

sembled, did on the seventh day of July, in the year of our Lord

one thousand seven hundred and eighty-six, 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 recon-

mend a revision of the act of cession, so far as to empower Con-

gress to make such division of the said territory into distinct

and 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, hath,

in an ordinance for the government of the territory northwest

of the river Ohio, passed on the thirteenth of July, one thousand

seven hundred and eighty-seven, 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 the Ordinance of July 13, 1787, is recited.)-And it is ex-

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60        Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.

 

pedient that this commonwealth do assent to the proposed alter-

ation, so as to ratify and confirm the said article of compact be-

tween the original States and the people and States in the said

territory;

Be it therefore enacted by the General Assembly, That the afore-

recited 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; anything

to the contrary, in the deed of cession of the said territory by

this commonwealth to the United States, notwithstanding.

 

 

 

VIRGINIA ACT OF RATIFICATION-1788.

WHEREAS, The United States in Congress assembled did,

on the 7th day of July, in the year of our Lord, 1786, state certain

reasons, showing that a division of the territory which had 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 recom-

mend a revision of the act of cession, so far as to empower Con-

gress to make such a division of the said territory into distinct

and 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 north-

west 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

article 5 of the ordinance of 1787 is recited);

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 therefore enacted by the General Assembly, That the afore-

recited articles of compact between the original States and the

people and States in the territory northwest of Ohio river be

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The Northwest Territorial Government--1789.          61

 

and the same is hereby, ratified and confirmed, anything to the

contrary in the deed of cession of said territory by this common-

wealth to the United States notwithstanding.*

 

 

 

THE NORTHWEST TERRITORIAL GOVERN-

MENT-1789.

 

(FIRST CONGRESS, FIRST SESSION.)

An act to provide for the government of the Territory northwest of the

river Ohio.

WHEREAS, In order that the ordinance of the United

States in Congress assembled, for the government of the terri-

tory northwest of the river Ohio, may continue to have full effect,

it is requisite that certain provisions should be made, so as to

adapt the same to the present constitution of the United States:

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of

the United States of America in Congress assembled, That in all

cases in which, by said ordinance, any information is to be given

or communication made by the Governor of the said territory

to the United States in Congress assembled, or to any of their

officers, it shall be the duty of said Governor to give such infor-

mation and to make such communication to the President of

the United States; and the President shall nominate, and, by

and with the advice and consent of the Senate shall appoint all

officers which, by said ordinance, were to have been appointed

by the United States in Congress assembled, and all officers so

appointed shall be commissioned by him; and in all cases where

the United States in Congress assembled might, by the said

 

* The act of Virginia of December 18, 1789, concerning the erection of

Kentucky into an independent State, contained the following proviso:

"Sec. 7. The use and navigation of the river Ohio, so far as the terri-

tory of the proposed State, or the territory which shall remain within the

limits of this commonwealth, lies therein, shall be free and common to the

citizens of the United States; and the respective jurisdictions of this com-

monwealth and of the proposed State, on the river as aforesaid, shall be

concurrent only with the States which may possess the opposite shores of

the said river."

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