enough of the Northwest Territory still left, unenclosed, to form two good states; or if it was not quite enough for that purpose, it would be easy to add a little territory on the west bank of the Mississippi. But the bill as it stood would enable the convention so to cut up the territory that enough of it should not be left together to form any other state. No doubt the people of Wisconsin would be even content that the doctrine contended for by the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Dromgoole) should prevail; because, according to that doctrine, as four states had already been formed northwest of the Ohio River, but one more could be, and this must therefore swallow up the whole of the residue of the territory. Mr. T. entirely coincided in the views expressed on the general subject of the size of the new states, which had been so ably expressed by his colleague (Mr. Vinton). Nothing could be more just-nothing more statesmanlike or wise.

Mr. Martin, of Wisconsin, contended that in the Ordinance of '87 there were some points which were irrepealable, unless by common consent. One of these was, that Congress should not form the Northwestern Territory into less than three nor more than five states. It had already erected four states; it could not erect more than a fifth, unless by general consent. It was admitted on all hands that this provision of the ordinance could not be changed. The proviso which it was now proposed to strike out had been inserted in the bill on his motion; and all it did was to declare that the consent of Wisconsin should be given before her boundaries should be changed. That was the question, and the whole question.

Mr. Vinton said that when this bill had been under consideration yesterday his impression was that the western boundary of Wisconsin, as there laid down, coincided with the western boundary of the United States in that quarter; but he had this morning looked into the law, and he found that in that impression he had been mistaken. By the Treaty of 1783, which recognized the independence of the United States, the western boundary of the Union was to

commence at the Lake of the Woods, and run thence by a straight line to the source of the Mississippi, and then down that river. The map of Mr. Nicollet, which had been before the committee on the territories when the bill was drawn up, fell two degrees short of extending to the Lake of the Woods. By comparing the act which created the territory of Wisconsin with Tanner's and Melish's maps, he found that a line drawn from the source of the Mississippi due north to the latitude of 49° (which was there the boundary of the United States) would pass eighty miles west of the Lake of the Woods, and would include a considerable portion of what we had purchased in the territory of Louisiana; so that, in any way in which the language of the act could be carried out, Wisconsin would have for her western boundary a line at least one thousand miles in length. The bill passed the House, as Mr. V. believed, under a general idea that the boundary of the new state was to coincide with the old western boundary of the United States; and he presumed that the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Douglas) who had drawn the bill, was himself under that impression; but the fact was that, according to the phraseology of the proviso, Wisconsin would embrace not only all the residue of the old Northwest Territory, but a great deal more.

Mr. Douglas explained, stating that he had not reported the bill with its present territorial boundary. Its western boundary, as he marked it out, was to be the Mississippi River as high up as a point opposite the head of Lake Superior, which would leave as much of the Northwest Territory out of the state of Wisconsin (as in it, so as to form a new state) equal to it in size.

Mr. Vinton said that as the proviso now stood, a convention of the people of Wisconsin would be enabled to embrace within their proposed state not only all the remnant of the Northwest Territory, but also a portion of the United States' land which we had obtained as a part of Louisiana. Mr. V. was very sure that no gentleman was prepared to consent to this. He trusted that the House would reconsider, and that the proviso would be stricken out or greatly modified.

Mr. Dillingham considered the proviso as very objectionable; but it had been repeatedly read, and it was adopted by the House. Mr. D. had voted for it, but he had no conception at the time of what its effect would be. He now found that it would give to the new state of Wisconsin an amount of frontier equal to a thousand miles, and that there might be points within it which would be at the distance of two thousand miles from the seat of government. Its shape would be most inconvenient and most unnatural. According to the power given in the proviso, the convention might take their amount of territory, if they so pleased, in three distinct and separate bodies of land, and place them in such a manner as to ruin all fitness of the territory between to form a compact or connected state. He was utterly opposed to this gerrymandering system, and he hoped that the motion to reconsider would prevail.

Mr. Sawyer moved the previous question, which was seconded; and it was put, viz: "Shall the main question be now put?" and passed in the affirmative. And the main question was immediately put by yeas and nays, that the House do reconsider the vote passing the said bill. It passed in the affirmative: yeas 125, nays 45. So the vote to pass the bill was reconsidered.

Mr. J. A. Rockwell then moved to reconsider the vote ordering the bill to be engrossed and read a third time; and he also moved the previous question, which was seconded; and under its operation the question was put and the vote was reconsidered.

Mr. Rockwell also moved a reconsideration of the vote by which the following proviso was adopted, viz: Provided, That the convention which may assemble to form a constitution for said state shall be at liberty to adopt such northern and western boundaries, in lieu of those herein prescribed, as may be deemed expedient, not exceeding, however, the present limits of the said territory. This motion to reconsider also prevailed.

The question then again recurred on the adoption of that proviso. Mr. Rockwell moved the previous question. Mr.

Martin, of Wisconsin, asked him to withdraw it, to enable him to move as a substitute for the exceptionable proviso a new proviso. Mr. Rockwell said he should like to hear it read before he yielded to the request. It was read, when Mr. Rockwell said he could not withdraw his motion for the previous question to let that proviso in.

The previous question was then seconded, and the main question was ordered to be now put. And the main question was put, first, on the exceptionable proviso, and it was rejected by a very large vote without count or division. And the main question was put, secondly, on again ordering the bill to be engrossed and read a third time, and passed in the affirmative.

The bill was again read the third time and the question was stated, Shall it pass? when Mr. Martin of Wisconsin moved that the bill be laid on the table. Negatived. And the bill was then passed and sent to the Senate for concur

rence.

THE WISCONSIN ENABLING ACT41

Chap. LXXXIX. An Act to enable the People of Wisconsin Territory to form a Constitution and State Government, and for the Admission of such State into the Union. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the people of the territory of Wisconsin be, and they are hereby authorized to form a constitution and state government, for the purpose of being admitted into the Union on an equal footing with the original states in all respects whatsoever, by the name of the State of Wisconsin, with the following boundaries, to wit: Beginning at the northeast corner of the state of Illinois-that is to say, at a point in the center of Lake Michigan where the line of forty-two degrees and thirty minutes of north latitude crosses the same; thence running with the boundary line of the state of Michigan,

"Reprinted from the U. S. Statutes at Large, IX, 56-58.

through Lake Michigan, Green Bay, to the mouth of the Menomonie River; thence up the channel of said river to the Brulé River; thence up said last mentioned river to Lake Brulé; thence along the southern shore of Lake Brulé in a direct line to the center of the channel between Middle and South Islands, in the Lake of the Desert; thence in a direct line to the headwaters of the Montreal River, as marked upon the survey made by Captain Cramm [Cram]; thence down the main channel of the Montreal River to the middle of Lake Superior; thence through the center of Lake Superior to the mouth of the St. Louis River; thence up the main channel of said river to the first rapids in the same, above the Indian village, according to Nicollet's map; thence due south to the main branch of the River St. Croix; thence down the main channel of said river to the Mississippi; thence down the center of the main channel of that river to the northwest corner of the state of Illinois; thence due east with the northern boundary of the state of Illinois to the place of beginning, as established by "An Act to enable the people of the Illinois Territory 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," approved April eighteen, eighteen hundred and eighteen.

Section 2. And be it further enacted, That, to prevent all disputes in reference to the jurisdiction of islands in the said Brulé and Menomonie rivers, the line be so run as to include within the jurisdiction of Michigan all the islands in the Brulé and Menomonie rivers (to the extent in which said. rivers are adopted as a boundary), down to, and inclusive of, the Quinnesec Falls of the Menomonie; and from thence the line shall be so run as to include within the jurisdiction of Wisconsin all the islands in the Menomonie River, from the falls aforesaid down to the junction of said river with Green Bay: Provided, That the adjustment of boundary, as fixed in this act, between Wisconsin and Michigan shall not be binding on Congress unless the same shall be ratified by the state of Michigan on or before the first day of June, one thousand eight hundred and forty-eight.