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 the 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 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 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 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 of free inhabitants in the State than sixty thousand.

ARTICLE VI.

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 one of the original States, such fugitive may be lawfully reclaimed, and conveyed to the person claiming his or her labor or service as aforesaid.

Be it ordained by the authority aforesaid, That the resolutions of the 23d of April, 1784, relative to the subject of this ordinance, be, and the same are hereby, repealed, and declared null and void.

Done by the United States, in Congress assembled, the 13th

day of July, in the year of our Lord, 1787, and of their sovereignty and independence the twelfth.

89. THE ENABLING ACT OF OHIO, 18021

(U. S. Statutes at Large, II, 173.)

An act to enable the people of the eastern division of the territory northwest of the river Ohio to form a constitution and state government and for the admission of such state into the Union on an equal footing with the original States, and for other purposes.

Section 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the inhabitants of the eastern division of the territory northwest of the river Ohio, be, and they are hereby, authorized to form for themselves a constitution and State government, and to assume such name as they shall deem proper, and the said State, when formed, shall be admitted into the Union upon the same footing with the original States in all respects whatever.

Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That the said State shall consist of all the territory included within the following boundaries, to wit: Bounded on the east by the Pennsylvania line, on the south by the Ohio River to the mouth of the Great Miami River, on the west by the line drawn due north from the mouth of the Great Miami aforesaid, and on the north by an east and west line drawn through the southerly extreme of Lake Michigan, running east after intersecting the due north line aforesaid, from the mouth of the Great Miami until it shall intersect Lake Erie or the territorial line, and thence from the same through Lake Erie to the Pennsylvania line aforesaid: Provided, That Congress shall be at liberty at any time hereafter either to attach all the territory lying east of the line to be drawn due north from the mouth of the Miami aforesaid to the territorial line, and north of an east and west line drawn

1 One of the first steps in the admission of a new State to the Union is the enactment by Congress of an act authorizing the people of the Territory to form a State government. Such an act is technically known as an enabling act, and it is usually followed by a second act approving of the new constitution which has been formed and declaring the new State admitted to the Union. In the case of Ohio, the provisions of the enabling act were such as to make it unnecessary to pass a second act admitting the State to the Union.

through the southerly extreme of Lake Michigan, running east as aforesaid to Lake Erie, to the aforesaid State, or dispose of it otherwise, in conformity to the fifth article of compact between the original States and the people and States to be formed in the territory northwest of the river Ohio.

Sec. 3. And be it further enacted, That all that part of the territory of the United States northwest of the river Ohio, heretofore included in the eastern division of said territory, and not included within the boundary herein prescribed for the said State, is hereby attached to, and made a part of, the Indiana Territory, from and after the formation of the said State, subject, nevertheless, to be hereafter disposed of by Congress, according to the right reserved in the fifth article of the ordinance aforesaid, and the inhabitants therein entitled to the same privileges and immunities, and subject to the same rules and regulations in all respects whatever, with all other citizens residing within the Indiana Territory.

Sec. 4. And be it further enacted, That all male citizens of the United States, who shall have arrived at full age and reside within the said territory at least one year previous to the day of election, and shall have paid a territorial or county tax, and all persons having in other respects the legal qualifications to vote for Representatives in the General Assembly of the territory, be, and they are hereby, authorized to choose Representatives to form a convention, who shall be appointed amongst the several counties within the eastern division aforesaid, in a ratio of one Representative to every twelve hundred inhabitants of each county, according to the enumeration taken under the authority of the United States, as near as may be, that is to say, from the county of Trumbull, two Representatives; from the county of Jefferson, seven Representatives, two of the seven to be elected within what is now known by the county of Belmont, taken from Jefferson and Washington counties; from the county of Washington, four Representatives; from the county of Ross, seven Representatives, two of the seven to be elected in what is now known by Fairfield County, taken from Ross and Washington counties; from the county of Adams, three Representatives; from the county of Hamilton, twelve Representatives, two of the twelve to be elected in what is now known by Clermont County, taken entirely from Hamilton County; and the elections for the Representatives aforesaid shall take place on the second Tuesday of October next, the time fixed by a law of the territory entitled "An act to ascertain the number

of free male inhabitants of the age of twenty-one in the territory of the United States northwest of the river Ohio, and to regulate the elections of Representatives for the same," for electing Representatives to the General Assembly, and shall be held and conducted in the same manner as is provided by the aforesaid act, except that the qualifications of electors shall be as herein specified.

Sec. 5. And be it further enacted, That the members of the convention, thus duly elected, be, and they are hereby, authorized to meet at Chillicothe on the first Monday in November next; which convention, when met, shall first determine, by a majority of the whole number elected, whether it be or be not expedient at that time to form a constitution and State government for the people within the said territory, and if it be determined to be expedient, the convention shall be, and hereby are, authorized to form a constitution and State government, or, if it be deemed more expedient, the said convention shall provide by ordinance for electing Representatives to form a constitution or frame a government; which said Representatives shall be chosen in such manner and in such proportion, and shall meet at such time and place, as shall be prescribed by the said ordinance; and shall form for the people of the said State a constitution and State government, provided the same shall be republican, and not repugnant to the ordinance of the thirteenth of July, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-seven, between the original States and the people and States of the territory northwest of the river Ohio.

Sec. 6. And be it further enacted, That until the next general census shall be taken, the said State shall be entitled to one Representative in the House of Representatives of the United States.

Sec. 7. And be it further enacted, That the following propositions be, and the same are hereby, offered to the convention of the eastern State of the said territory, when formed, for their free acceptance or rejection, which, if accepted by the convention, shall be obligatory upon the United States:

First. That the section, number sixteen, in every township, and, where such section has been sold, granted, or disposed of, other lands equivalent thereto and most contiguous to the same, shall be granted to the inhabitants of such township, for the use of schools.

Second. That the six miles reservation, including the saltsprings, commonly called the Scioto salt-springs, the salt

Preamble.

Right to freedom and

protection

of property.

springs near the Muskingum River, and in the military tract, with the sections of land which include the same, shall be granted to the said State for the use of the people thereof, the same to be used under such terms and conditions and regulations as the Legislature of the said State shall direct: Provided, The said Legislature shall never sell nor lease the same for a longer period than ten years.

Third. That one-twentieth part of the net proceeds of the lands lying within the said State sold by Congress, from and after the thirtieth day of June next, after deducting all expenses incident to the same, shall be applied to the laying out and making of public roads, leading from the navigable waters emptying into the Atlantic, to the Ohio, to the said State, and through the same, such roads to be laid out under the authority of Congress, with the consent of the several States through which the road shall pass: Provided always, That the three foregoing propositions herein offered are on the conditions that the convention of the said State shall provide, by an ordinance irrevocable without the consent of the United States, that every and each tract of land sold by Congress from and after the thirtieth day of June next, shall be and remain exempt from any tax laid by order or under authority of the State, whether for State, county, township, or any other purpose whatever, for the term of five years from and after the day of sale. Approved April 30, 1802.

90. THE CONSTITUTION OF THE STATE OF OHIO OF

1851

[N. B.-The Constitution is printed entire in Bates' Annotated Ohio Statutes, vol. III, and in Poore, Charters and Constitutions, II, 1465. The amendments adopted November 3, 1903, are printed herewith.]

WE, THE PEOPLE of the State of Ohio, grateful to Almighty God for our freedom, to secure its blessings and promote our common welfare, DO ESTABLISH THIS CONSTITUTION.

ARTICLE I.-BILL OF RIGHTS

Section 1. All men are, by nature, free and independent, and have certain inalienable rights, among which are those of enjoying and defending life and liberty, acquiring, possessing, and protecting property, and seeking and obtaining happiness and safety.