Изображения страниц
PDF
EPUB

person or persons as shall be authorized to receive it, in three months, at most, after the exchange of the ratifications of this treaty, and after Louisiana shall be taken possession of in the name of the Government of the United States.

It is further agreed that, if the French Government should be desirous of disposing of the said stock, to receive the capital in Europe at shorter terms, that its measures, for that purpose, shall be taken so as to favor, in the greatest degree possible, the credit of the United States, and to raise to the highest price the said stock. ART. 3. It is agreed that the dollar of the United States, specified in the present convention, shall be fixed at five francs 3333-1 coooths or five livres eight sous

tournoise.

The present convention shall be ratified in good and true form, and the ratifications shall be exchanged in the space of six months, to date from this day, or sooner if possible.

In faith of which, the respective Plenipotentiaries have signed the above articles, both in the French and English languages, declaring, nevertheless, that the present treaty has been originally agreed on and written in the French language, to which they have hereunto affixed their seals.

Done at Paris, the tenth day of Floreal, eleventh year of the French Republic, (30th April, 1803.)

ROBERT R. LIVINGSTON.
JAMES MONROE.
BARBE MARBOIS.

ACT FOR TAKING POSSESSION OF LOUISIANA-1803.•

[EIGHTH CONGRESS, FIRST SESSION.]

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the President of the United States be, and he is hereby, authorized to take possession of and occupy the territories ceded by France to the United States, by the treaty concluded at Paris on the thirtieth day of April last, between the two nations, and that he may for that purpose, and in order to maintain in the said territories the authority of the United States, employ any part of the Army or Navy of the United States, and of the force authorized by an act passed the third day of March last, entitled "An act directing a detachment from the militia of the United States, and for erecting certain arsenals," which he may deem necessary; and so much of the sum appropriated by the said act as may be necessary, is hereby appropriated for the purpose of carrying this act into effect; to be applied under the direction of the President of the United States.

SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That until the expiration of the present session of Congress, unless provision for the temporary government of the said territories be sooner made by Congress, all the military, civil, and judicial powers exercised by the officers of the existing government of the same, shall be vested in such person and persons, and shall be exercised in such manner as the President of the United States shall direct for maintaining and protecting the inhabitants of Louisiana in the free enjoyment of their liberty, property, and religion.

APPROVED, October 31, 1803..

*The treaty providing for the purchase of Louisiana by the United States was ratified at Washington October 21, 1803, and the commission appointed under it took formal possession December 20, 1803, when Governor Claiborne issued a proclamation declaring that the government previously exercised over the province by Spain and by France had ceased, and that of the United States was established over the same. An act of Congress creating six per cent. stock to the amount of eleven million two hundred and fifiy thousand dollars, for the purpose of carrying out the agreement with France for the purchase of Louisiana, was approved November 30, 1803.

THE TERRITORIES OF LOUISIANA AND ORLEANS-1804.

[EIGHTH CONGRESS, FIRST SESSION.]

An Act erecting Louisiana into two Territories, and providing for the temporary government thereof.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That all that portion of country ceded by France to the United States, under the name of Louisiana, which lies south of the Mississippi Territory, and of an east and west line, to commence on the Mississippi River, at the thirty-third degree of north latitude, and to extend west to the western boundary of the said cession, shall constitute a Territory of the United States, under the name of the Territory of Orleans; the government whereof shall be organized and administered as follows:

SEC. 2. The executive power shall be vested in a governor, who shall reside in the said Territory, and hold his office during the term of three years, unless sooner removed by the President of the United States. He shall be commander-in-chief of the militia of the said Territory, shall have power to grant pardons for offences against the said Territory, and reprieves for those against the United States, until the decision. of the President of the United States thereon shall be made known; and to appoint and commission all officers, civil and of the militia, whose appointments are not herein otherwise provided for, and which shall be established by law. He shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed.

SEC. 3. A secretary of the Territory shall also be appointed, who shall hold his office during the term of four years, unless sooner removed by the President of the United States, whose duty it shall be, under the direction of the governor, to record and preserve all the papers and proceedings of the executive, and all the acts of the governor and legislative council, and transmit authentic copies of the proceedings of the governor in his executive department, every six months, to the President of the United States. In case of the vacancy of the office of governor, the government of the said Territory shall devolve on the secretary.

SEC. 4. The legislative powers shall be vested in the governor, and in thirteen of the most fit and discreet persons of the Territory, to be called the legislative council, who shall be appointed annually by the President of the United States from among those holding real estate therein, and who shall have resided one year at least in the said Territory, and hold no office of profit under the Territory or the United States. The governor, by and with advice and consent of the said legislative council, or of a majority of them, shall have power to alter, modify, or repeal the laws which may be in force at the commencement of this act. Their legislative powers shall also extend to all the rightful subjects of legislation; but no law shall be valid which is inconsistent with the Constitution and laws of the United States, or which shall lay any person under restraint, burden, or disability, on account of his religious opinions, professions, or worship; in all which he shall be free to maintain his own, and not burdened for those of another. The governor shall publish throughout the said Territory all the laws which shall be made, and shall from time to time report the same to the President of the United States to be laid before Congress; which, if disapproved of by Congress, shall thenceforth be of no force. The governor or legislative council shall have no power over the primary disposal of the soil, nor to tax the lands of the United States, nor to interfere with the claims to land within the said Territory. The governor shall convene and prorogue the legislative council whenever he may deem it expedient. It shall be his duty to obtain all the information in his power in relation to the customs, habits, and dispositions of the inhabitants of the said Territory, and communicate the same from time to time to the President of the United States.

SEC. 5. The judicial power shall be vested in a superior court, and in such inferior courts, and justices of the peace, as the legislature of the Territory may from time to time establish. The judges of the superior court and the justices of the peace

shall hold their offices for the term of four years. The superior court shall consist of three judges, any one of whom shall constitute a court; they shall have jurisdiction in all criminal cases, and exclusive jurisdiction in all those which are capital; and original and appellate jurisdiction in all civil cases of the value of one hundred dollars. Its sessions shall commence on the first Monday of every month, and continue till all the business depending before them shall be disposed of. They shall appoint their own clerk. In all criminal prosecutions which are capital, the trial shall be by a jury of twelve good and lawful men of the vicinage; and in all cases, criminal and civil, in the superior court, the trial shall be by a jury, if either of the parties require it. The inhabitants of, the said Territory shall be entitled to the benefits of the writ of habeas corpus; they shall be bailable, unless for capital offences, where the proof shall be evident or the presumption great; and no cruel and unusual punishments shall be inflicted.

SEC. 6. The governor, secretary, judges, district attorney, marshal, and all general officers of the militia, shall be appointed by the President of the United States in the recess of the Senate; but shall be nominated at their next meeting for their advice and consent. The governor, secretary, judges, members of the legislative council, justices of the peace, and all other officers, civil and of the militia, before they enter upon the duties of their respective offices, shall take an oath or affirmation to support the Constitution of the United States, and for the faithful discharge of the duties of their office; the governor, before the President of the United States, or before a judge of the supreme or district court of the United States, or before such other person as the President of the United States shall authorize to administer the same; the . secretary, judges, and members of the legislative council, before the governor; and all other officers before such persons as the governor shall direct. The governor shall receive an annual salary of five thousand dollars; the secretary, of two thousand dollars, and the judges, of two thousand dollars each; to be paid quarter-yearly out of the revenues of impost and tonnage, accruing within the said Territory. The members of the legislative council shall receive four dollars each per day during their attendance in council.

SEC. 7. And be it further enacted, That the following acts, that is to say:
An act for the punishment of certain crimes against the United States;

An act in addition to an act for the punishment of certain crimes against the United States;

An act to prevent citizens of the United States from privateering against nations in amity with or against citizens of the United States;

An act for the punishment of certain crimes therein specified;

An act respecting fugitives from justice and persons escaping from the service of their masters;

An act to prohibit the carrying on the slave-trade from the United States to any foreign place or country;

An act to prevent the importation of certain persons into certain States, where, by the laws thereof, their admission is prohibited;

An act to establish the post-office of the United States;

An act further to alter and establish certain post-roads, and for the more secure carriage of the mail of the United States;

An act for the more general promulgation of the laws of the United States;

An act in addition to an act entitled "An act for the more general promulgation of the laws of the United States ;"

An act to promote the progress of useful arts, and to repeal the act heretofore made for that purpose;

An act to extend the privilege of obtaining patents for useful discoveries and inven tions to certain persons therein mentioned, and to enlarge and define the penalties for violating the rights of patentees;

An act for the encouragement of learning, by securing the copies of maps, charts, and books to the authors and proprietors of such copies, during the time therein mentioned;

An act supplementary to an act entitled "An act for the encouragement of learning,

by securing the copies of maps, charts, and books to the authors and proprietors of such copies, during the times therein mentioned, and extending the benefits thereof to the arts of designing, engraving, and etching historical and other prints;" An act providing for salvage in cases of recapture;

An act respecting alien enemies;

An act to prescribe the mcde in which the public acts, records, and judicial proceedings in each State shall be authenticated, so as to take effect in every other State;

An act for establishing trading-houses with the Indian tribes;

An act for continuing in force a law entitled "An act for establishing trading-houses with the Indian tribes ;" and

An act making provision relative to rations for Indians, and to their visits to the seat of Government,

Shall extend to and have full force and effect in the above-mentioned Territories. SEC. 8. There shall be established in the said Territory a district court, to consist of one judge, who shall reside therein, and be called the district judge, and who shall hold, in the city of Orleans, four sessions annually; the first to commence on the third Monday in October next, and the three other sessions, progressively, on the third Monday of every third calendar month thereafter. He shall in all things have and exercise the same jurisdiction and powers which are by law given to, or may be exercised by, the judge of Kentucky district; and shall be allowed an annual compensation of two thousand dollars, to be paid quarter-yearly out of the revenues of impost and tonnage accruing within the said Territory. He shall appoint a clerk for the said district, who shall reside and keep the records of the court, in the city of Orleans, and shall receive for the services performed by him the same fees to which the clerk of Kentucky district is entitled for similar services.

There shall be appointed in the said district a person learned in the law, to act as attorney for the United States, who shall, in addition to his stated fees, be paid six hundred dollars annually, as a full compensation for all extra services. There shall also be appointed a marshal for the said district, who shall perform the same duties, be subject to the same regulations and penalties, and be entitled to the same fees to which marshals in other districts are entitled for similar services; and shall moreover be paid two hundred dollars annually as a compensation for all extra services.

SEC. 9. All free male white persons who are house-keepers, and who shall have resided one year, at least, in the said Territory, shall be qualified to serve as grand or petit jurors in the courts of the said Territory, and they shall, until the legislature thereof shall otherwise direct, be selected in such manner as the judges of the said courts, respectively, shall prescribe, so as to be most conducive to an im artial trial, and to be least burdensome to the inhabitants of the said Territory.

SEC. 10. It shall not be lawful for any person or persons to import or bring into the said Territory, from any port or place without the limits of the United States, or cause or procure to be so imported or brought, or knowingly to aid or assist in importing or bringing any slave or slaves. And every person so offending, and being thereof convicted before any court within said Territory, having competent jurisdiction, shall forfeit and pay, for each and every slave so imported or brought, the sum of three hundred dollars; one moiety for the use of the United States, and the other moiety for the use of the person or persons who shall sue for the same; and every slave so imported or brought shall thereupon become entitled to and receive his or her freedom. It shall not be lawful for any person or persons to import or bring into the said Teritory, from any port or place within the limits of the United States, or to cause or procure to be so imported or brought, or knowingly to aid or assist in so importing or bringing, any slave or slaves, which shall have been imported since the first day of May, one thousand seven hundred and ninety-eight, into any port or place within the limits of the United States, or which may hereafter be so imported from any port or place without the limits of the United States; and every person so offending and being thereof convicted before any court within said Territory, having competent jurisdiction, shall forfeit and pay for each and every slave, so imported or brought from without the United States, the sum of three hundred dollars, one moiety

for the use of the United States, and the other moiety for the use of the person or persons who shall sue for the same; and no slave or slaves shall directly or indirectly be introduced into said Territory, except by a citizen of the United States removing into said Territory for actual settlement, and being at the time of such removal bonafide owner of such slave or slaves; and every slave imported or brought into the said Territory, contrary to the provisions of this act, shall thereupon be entitled to and receive his or her freedom.

SEC. 11. The laws in force in the said Territory at the commencement of this act, and not inconsistent with the provisions thereof, shall continue in force until altered, modified, or repealed by the legislature.

SEC. 12. The residue of the province of Louisiana, ceded to the United States, shall be called the District of Louisiana, the government whereof shall be organized and administered as follows: The executive power now vested in the governor of the Indiana Territory shall extend to and be exercised in the said District of Louisiana. The governor and judges of the Indiana Territory shall have power to establish in the said District of Louisiana inferior courts, and prescribe their jurisdiction and duties, and to make all laws which they may deem conducive to the good government of the inhabitants thereof: Provided, however, That no law shall be valid which is inconsistent with the Constitution and laws of the United States, or which shall lay any person under restraint or disability on account of his religious opinions, profession, or worship; in all of which he shall be free to maintain his own, and not burdened for those of another: And provided also, That in all criminal prosecutions, the trial shall be by a jury of twelve good and lawful men of the vicinage, and in all civil cases of the value of one hundred dollars, the trial shall be by jury, if either of the parties require it. The judges of the Indiana Territory, or any two of them, shall hold annually two courts within the said district, at such place as will be most convenient to the inhabitants thereof in general, shall possess the same jurisdiction they now possess in the Indiana Territory, and shall continue in session until all the business depending before them shall be disposed of. It shall be the duty of the secretary of the Indiana Territory to record and preserve all the papers and proceedings of the governor, of an executive nature, relative to the District of Louisiana, and transmit authentic copies thereof every six months to the President of the United States. The governor shall publish throughout the said District all the laws which may be made as aforesaid, and shall, from time to time, report the same to the President of the United States, to be laid before Congress, which, if disapproved of by Congress, shall thenceforth cease and be of no effect.

The said District of Louisiana shall be divided into districts by the governor, under the direction of the President, as the convenience of the settlements shall require, subject to such alterations hereafter as experience may prove more convenient. The inhabitants of each district, between the ages of eighteen and forty-five, shall be formed into a militia, with proper officers, according to their numbers, to be appointed by the governor, except the commanding officer, who shall be appointed by the President, and who, whether a captain, a major, or a colonel, shall be the commanding officer of the district, and as such shall, under the governor, have command of the regular officers and troops in his district, as well as of the militia, for which he shall have a brevet commission, giving him such command, and the pay and emoluments of an officer of the same grade in the Regular Army; he shall be specially charged with the employment of the military and militia of his district, in cases of sudden invasion or insurrection, and until the orders of the governor can be received, and at all times with the duty of ordering a military patrol, aided by militia, if necessary, to arrest unauthorized settlers in any part of his district, and to commit such offenders to jail, to be dealt with according to law.

SEC. 13. The laws in force in the said District of Louisiana at the commencement of this act, and not inconsistent with any of the provisions thereof, shall continue in force until altered, modified, or repealed by the governor and judges of the Indiana Territory, as aforesaid.

This was called the Territory of Louisiana in a supplementary act of Congress approved March 3, 1805. See page 625.

« ПредыдущаяПродолжить »