So it was resolved in the affirmative, to amend the report by inserting, That the lands of non-resident proprietors shall, in no case, be taxed higher than those of residents within any new state, before the admission thereof to a vote by its delegates in Congress. A motion was then made by Mr. Read, seconded by Mr. M'Henry, to amend the report further, by adding thereto, That till such time as the settlers aforesaid, shall have adopted the constitution and laws of some one of the original states as aforesaid, for a temporary government, the said settlers shall be ruled by magistrates to be appointed by the United States in Congress assembled, and under such laws and regulations as the United States in Congress assembled, shall direct. On the question to agree to this amendment, the yeas and nays being required by Mr. Read, N-Hampshire, Mr. Foster, Blanchard, no div. Pennsylvania, Mr. Mifflin, ay ay Montgomery, ayay ay Patridge, ay ay Rhode-Island, Mr. Ellery, Howell, ay Chase, ay Congress assembled: Present, New-Hampshire, Massachusetts, RhodeIsland, Connecticut, New-York, New-Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia, NorthCarolina and South-Carolina; and from the state of Maryland, Mr. Stone. The committee, consisting of Mr. Sherman, Mr. Ellery and Mr. Patridge, to whom was referred a letter of 17th, from baron Steuben, relative to lieutenant-colonel Ternant, report, that upon a perusal of the said letter, the report of the secretary at war of May last, and other papers relative to the rank and services of lieutenant-colonel Ternant, they are of opinion that the va rious and important offices intrusted to him, have been executed in a manner honorable to himself, and highly beneficial to the United States, and that he was justly entitled to the commission of a lieutenant-colonel commandant upon the promotion of general Armand; Whereupon, Resolved, That the commission of colonel in the legionary corps, to which he was attached, be granted to lieutenant-colonel Ternant, to bear date from the promotion of general Armand. Congress resumed the consideration of the report of the grand committee, appointed to prepare and report to Congress, the arrears of interest, &c. when a motion was made by Mr. Hand, seconded by Mr. Jefferson, to amend by inserting " commutation to the army agreeable to the act of 22d March, 1783, 5,000,000, interest thereon, 300,000," immediately before "total" And on the question to agree to this amendment, the yeas and nays being required by Mr. Hand, N-Hampshire, Mr. Foster, Blanchard, no no Rhode-Island, no Howell, no } no no > Connecticut, Massachusetts, Mr. Patridge, Vol So the question was lost. A motion was then made by Mr. Sherman, seconded by Mr. Wadsworth, to strike out the four last items in the statement from "1784. Dec. 31. Loanoffice debt" to "army debt," &c. both inclusive: And on the question, shall that part of the report stand? the yeas and nays being required by Mr. Hand, N-Hampshire, Mr. Foster, | Pennsylvania, Mr. Mifflin, Blanchard, no no } no > no ay Montgomery, no ay Massachusetts, Mr. Patridge, * Rhode-Island, Mr. Ellery, no ay no Mr. Jefferson, no Hardy, no no no New-York, Mr. De Witt, Paine, ay Spaight, ay ay Mr. Read, ay no So the question was lost, and that part of the report was struck out. morrow. On the report of Mr. Osgood, Mr. Lee and Mr. Ellery, Resolved, That the pay-master-general be, and he hereby is directed to govern himself in settling the accounts of the army since the year 1779, by the payments made by the respective states to their lines, so that where the pay has been secured by any state, the same shall not be again secured by the United States. FRIDAY, April 23, 1784. Congress assembled: Present, New-Hampshire, Massachusetts, RhodeIsland, Connecticut, New-York, New-Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina and South-Carolina. On motion of Mr. Gerry, seconded by Mr. Howell, Resolved, That to-morrow be assigned for electing a commissioner to negotiate with the Indians, in the room of Mr. Stephen Higginson, who has declined that office. On motion of Mr. Read, seconded by Mr. Hand, Resolved, That to-morrow be assigned for electing a commissioner to negotiate with the Indians, in the room of Mr. Nathaniel Greene, who has declined that office. Congress resumed the consideration of the report of a committee, on a plan for a temporary government of the western territory. A motion was made by Mr. Gerry, seconded by Mr. Williamson, to amend the report by inserting after the words "but not of voting," the following clause: That measures not inconsistent with the principles of the confederation, and necessary for the preservation of peace and good order among the settlers in any of the said new states, until they shall assume a temporary government as aforesaid, may, from time to time, be taken by the United States in Congress assembled. A motion was made by Mr. Read, seconded by Mr. Spaight, to postpone that amendment, in order to take up the following: That until such time as the settlers aforesaid, shall have adopted the constitution and laws of some one of the original states as aforesaid, for a temporary government, the said settlers shall be ruled by magistrates to be appointed by the United States in Congress assembled, and under such laws and regulations as the United States in Congress assembled, shall direct. On the question to postpone for the purpose aforesaid, the yeas and nays being required by Mr. Read, N.-Hampshire, Mr. Foster, |Pennsylvania, Mr. Mifflin, ay no Massachusetts, Mr. Gerry, no Montgomery, no Patridge, no Rhode Island, Mr. Ellery, no > + Chase, no no no New-York, New-Jersey, Mr. Beatty, } Spaight, ay Mr. Read, ay Beresford, div. no So the question was lost. The amendment of Mr. Gerry being adopted, the report as amended, was agreed to as follows: Resolved, That so much of the territory ceded or to be ceded by individual states to the United States, as is already purchased or shall be purchased of the Indian inhabitants, and offered for sale by Congress, shall be divided into distinct states, in the following manner, as nearly as such cessions will admit ; that is to say, by parallels of latitude, so that each state shall comprehend from north to south two degrees of latitude, beginning to count from the completion of 45 degrees north of the equator; and by meridians of longitude, one of which shall pass through the lowest point of the rapids of Ohio, and the other through the western cape of the mouth of the great Kenhaway: but the territory eastward of this last meridian, between the Ohio, lake Erie and Pennsylvania, shall be one state whatsoever may be its comprehension of latitude. That which may lie beyond the completion of the 45th degree between the said meridians, shall make part of the state adjoining it on the south and that part of the Ohio, which is between the same meridians coinciding nearly with the parallel of 39° shall be substituted so far in lieu of that parallel as a boundary line. That the settlers on any territory so purchased, and offered for sale, shall, either on their own petition or on the order of Congress, receive authority from them, with appointments of time and place, for their free males of full age within the limits of their state to meet together, for the purpose of establishing a temporary government, to adopt the constitution and laws of any one of the original states; so that such laws nevertheless shall be subject to alteration by their ordinary legislature; and to erect, subject to a like alteration, counties, townships, or other divisions, for the election of members for their legislature. That when any such state shall have acquired 20,000 free inhabitants, on giving due proof thereof to Congress, they shall receive from them authority. with appointments of time and place, to call a convention of representatives to establish a permanent constitution and government for themselves. Provided that both the temporary and permanent governments be established on these principles as their basis: 1st. That they shall for ever remain a part of this confederacy of the United States of America. 2d. That they shall be subject to the articles of confederation in all those cases in which the original states shall be so subject, and to all the acts and ordinances of the United States in Congress assembled, conformable thereto. 3d. That they in no case shall interfere with the primary disposal of the soil by the United States in Congress assembled, nor with the ordinances and regulatious which Congress may find necessary, for securing the title in such soil to the bona fide purchasers. 4th. That they shall be subject to pay a part of the federal debts contractéd or to be contracted, to be apportioned on them by Congress, according to the same common rule and measure by which apportionments thereof shall be made on the other states. 5th. That no tax shall be imposed on lands, the property of the United States. 6th. That their respective governments shall be republican. 7th. That the lands of non-resident proprietors shall, in no case, be taxed higher than those of residents within any new state, before the admission thereof to a vote by its delegates in Congress. That whensoever any of the said states shall have, of free inhabitants, as many as shall then be in any one the least numerous of the thirteen original states, such state shall be admitted by its delegates into the Congress of the United States, on an equal footing with the said original states; provided the consent of so many states in Congress is first obtained as may at the time be competent to such admission. And in order to adapt the said articles of confederation to the state of Congress when its numbers shall be thus increased, it shall be proposed to the legislatures of the states, originally parties thereto, to require the assent of two-thirds of the United States in Congress assembled, in all those cases wherein, by the said articles, the assent of nine states is now required, which being agreed to by them, shall be binding on the new states. Until such admission by their delegates into Congress, any of the said states, after the establishment of their temporary government, shall have authority to keep a member in Congress, with a right of debating but not of voting. That measures not inconsistent with the principles of the confederation, and necessary for the preservation of peace and good order among the settlers in any of the said new states, until they shall assume a temporary government as aforesaid, may, from time to time, be taken by the United States in Congress assembled. That the preceding articles shall be formed into a charter of compact; shall be duly executed by the president of the United States in Congress assembled, under his hand, and the seal of the United States; shall be promulgated; and shall stand as fundamental constitutions between the thirteen original states, and each of the several states now newly described, unalterable from and after the sale of any part of the territory of such state, pursuant to this resolve, but by the joint consent of the United States in Congress assembled, and of the particular state within which such alteration is proposed to be made. On the question to agree to the foregoing, the yeas and nays being required by Mr. Beresford, N-.Hampshire, Mr. Foster, Blanchard, ay ay Massachusetts, Mr. Gerry, ay Patridge, ay ay Maryland, Mr. Stone, ay Rhode-Island, Mr. Ellery, ay ay say Chase, ay ay Virginia, Mr. Jefferson, ay ay ay 22 }ay N-Carolina, Mr. Williamson, ay Spaight, ay ay New-Jersey, ay ay ay S.-Carolina, Mr. Read, no Paine, So it was resolved in the affirmative. SATURDAY, April 24, 1784. Congress assembled: Present as yesterday. A motion was made by Mr. Hand, seconded by Mr. Montgomery, in the words following: "Whereas Congress have by their resolution of the 23d day of January last, on the petition of Zebulon Butler and others, directed the institution of a court to determine the private right of soil within the territory westward of the delaware, formerly in dispute between the states of Connecticut and Pennsylvania, agreeably to the ninth of the articles of confederation, and have assigned the fourth Monday in June next, for the appearance of the parties by their lawful agents, before Congress, or a committee of the states, to proceed in the premises as by the confederation is directed. And whereas the general assembly of the state of Pennsylvania have, by their resolutions of the 14th day of February last, instructed their delegates in Congress as follows: "In General Assembly, Saturday, February 14, 1784, A. M. Resolved, 1st. That the delegates of this state be instructed to apply immediately to Congress for an explanation of their act of the 23d day of last month, it appearing to be uncertain whether the fourth Monday in June next, is fixed for the purpose of appointing commissioners or judges to constitute a court for hearing and determining the matter in question, or for the purpose of deciding how far the same is, by the ninth article of confederation, submitted to the determination of such a court. 2d. That if Congress by their said act meant the appointment of commissioners or judges next June, then the said delegates move for a re-consideration of the said act, and represent to Congress, that the agents for the state of Connecticut did, upon the late trial at Trenton, suggest to the court there, that the tenants in possession of the lands in controversy, and particularly the companies of Delaware and Susquehanna, were improving and holding large tracts of land under title from the state of Connecticut; and that by the said article of confederation, a court is to be established for the trial of the private right of soil only where it is claimed, under different grants of two or more states, so that Zebulon Butler and the other claimants cannot be entitled to such a court, unless they come within the description aforesaid, which it is apprehended they do not. That if Congress should consent to establish courts at the instance of persons, not first proving themselves to be included in the description aforesaid, the citizens of this state may be harrassed by a multitude of pretended claims at the suit of adventurers or invaders of the state, and in the present instance at the suit of persons who have settled in defiance of the resolution of Congress of the 23d day of December, 1775. 3d. That if Congress shall resolve that the matter in question is, by the said article of the confederation, submitted to the determination of such a court, then the said delegates insist that Zebulon Butler, and the other claimants, be required, inmediately, to exhibit to Congress schedules particularizing their claims." Resolved, That it was the intention of Congress, by their act of the 23d day of January last, that commissioners or judges should be appointed on the fourth Monday in June next, agreeably to the ninth of the articles of confederation, to determine the private right of soil within the territory westward of the Delaware, formerly in controversy between the states of Connecticut and Pennsylvania, and lately determined to be within the jurisdiction of the state of Pennsylvania. Nevertheless, as the petitioners aforesaid have not shewn to Congress that their claims to the private right of soil, within the territory aforesaid, originate from grants obtained from the state of Connecticut, which alone can entitle them to a court agreeably to the ninth of the articles of confederation, Resolved, That the resolution of the 23d day of January last, directing the institution of a court for determining the private right of soil within the territory westward of the Delaware, formerly in controversy between the states of Connecticut and Pennsylvania, and appointing the fourth Monday in June next, for the appearance of the parties, by their lawful agents, before Congress, or a committee of the states, be, and it is hereby suspended, until Zebulon Butler, and the other petitioners, claimants as aforesaid, exhibit to Congress, or a committee of the states, schedules, particularizing their claims. Resolved, That the parties, claimants as aforesaid, be informed, that their appearance, by their agents, before Congress, or a committee of the states, as specified by the resolution of Congress of the 23d day of January last, will not be necessary, until the further determinations of Congress, or a committee of the states, in the premises, be made known to them. A motion was made by Mr. Howell, seconded by Mr. Montgomery, that the foregoing motion be committed; and on the question for commitment, the yeas and nays being required by Mr. Hand, N-Hampshire, Mr. Foster, Blanchard, Massachusetts, Mr. Gerry, Pennsylvania, Mr. Mifflin, ay ay ay ay Patridge, ay }ay Maryland, Montgomery, ay ay ay ay ay по div. ay Connecticut, Mr. Sherman, no Hardy, ay no ay • Paine, ay ay Spaight, Dick, ay S.-Carol na, Mr. Read, ay Beresford, aysay So it was resolved to commit it. |