ORDINANCE OF 1787 act as a representative unless he shall of the council five years, unless sooner have been a citizen of one of the United removed. And the governor, legislative States three years, and be a resident in council, and House of Representatives shall the district, or unless he shall have re- have authority to make laws in all cases sided in the district three years; and, in for the good government of the district, either case, shall likewise hold in his own not repugnant to the principles and arright, in fee - simple, 200 acres of land ticles in this ordinance established and within the same: Provided, also, that a declared. And all bills, having passed freehold in 50 acres of land in the dis- by a majority in the House, and by a trict, having been a citizen of one of majority in the council, shall be referred the States, and being resident in the dis- to the governor for his assent; but no trict, or the like freehold and two years' bill, or legislative act whatever, shall be residence in the district, shall be neces- of any force without his assent. The govsary to qualify a man as an elector of a ernor shall have power to convene, prorepresentative. rogue, and dissolve the General Assembly, when, in his opinion, it shall be expedient. trict, the council and House, assembled in one room, shall have authority, by joint ballot, to elect a delegate to Congress, who shall have a seat in Congress, with a right of debating but not of voting during this temporary government. The representatives thus elected shall serve for the term of two years; and, in case of the death of a representative, or The governor, judges, legislative counremoval from office, the governor shall cil, secretary, and such other officers as issue a writ to the county or township Congress shall appoint in the district, for which he was a member, to elect an- shall take an oath or affirmation of fidelother in his stead, to serve for the residue ity and of office; the governor before the of the term. president of Congress, and all other offiThe General Assembly, or legislature, cers before the governor. As soon as a shall consist of the governor, legislative legislature shall be formed in the discouncil, and a House of Representatives. The legislative council shall consist of five members, to continue in office five years, unless sooner removed by Congress; any three of whom to be a quorum; and the members of the council shall be nominated and appointed in the following manner, to wit: As soon as representatives shall be elected, the governor shall appoint a time and place for them to meet together; and, when met, they shall nominate ten persons, residents in the district, and each possessed of a freehold in 500 acres of land, and return their names to Congress; five of whom Congress shall appoint and commission to serve as aforesaid; and, whenever a vacancy shall happen in the council, by death or removal from office, the House of Representatives shall nominate two persons, qualified as aforesaid, for each vacancy, and return their names to Congress; one of whom Con- It is hereby ordained and declared by gress shall appoint and commission for the authority aforesaid, that the followthe residue of the term. And every five ing articles shall be considered as articles years, four months at least before the of compact between the original States expiration of the time of service of the members of council, the said House shall nominate ten persons, qualified as aforesaid, and return their names to Congress; five of whom Congress shall appoint and commission to serve as members VII.-C And, for extending the fundamental principles of civil and religious liberty, which form the basis whereon these republics, their laws and constitutions, are erected; to fix and establish those principles as the basis of all laws, constitutions, and governments, which forever hereafter shall be formed in the said territory: to provide also for the estab lishment of States, and permanent government therein, and for their admission to a share in the federal councils on an equal footing with the original States, at as early periods as may be consistent with the general interest: and the people and States in the said territory, and forever remain unalterable, unless by common consent, to wit: ART. 1. No person, demeaning himself in a peaceable and orderly manner, shall ever be molested on account of his mode 33 of worship or religious sentiments, in the the federal debts contracted or to be con said territory. ART. 2. The inhabitants of the said territory shall always be entitled to the benefits of the writ of habeas corpus, and of the trial by jury; of a proportionate representation of the people in the legislature; and of judicial proceedings according to the course of the common law. All persons shall be bailable, unless for capital offences, where the proof shall be evident or the presumption great. All fines shall be moderate; and no cruel or unusual punishments shall be inflicted. No man shall be deprived of his liberty or property but by the judgment of his peers or the law of the land; and, should the public exigencies make it necessary, for the common preservation, to take any person's property, or to demand his particular services, full compensation shall be made for the same. And, in the just preservation of rights and property, it is understood and declared that no law ought ever to be made, or have force in the said territory, that shall, in any manner whatever, interfere with or affect private contracts or engagements, bona fide, and without fraud, previously formed. ART. 3. Religion, morality, and knowledge, being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged. The utmost good faith shall always be observed towards the Indians; their lands and property shall never be taken from them without their consent; and, in their property, rights, and liberty, they shall never be invaded or disturbed, unless in just and lawful wars authorized by Congress; but laws founded in justice and humanity shall, from time to time, be made for preventing wrongs being done to them, and for preserving peace and friendship with them. ART. 4. The said territory, and the States which may be formed therein, shall forever remain a part of this confederacy of the United States of America, subject to the Articles of Confederation, and to such alterations therein as shall be constitutionally made; and to all the acts and ordinances of the United States in Congress assembled, comformable thereto. The inhabitants and settlers in the said territory shall be subject to pay a part of tracted, and a proportional part of the expenses of government, 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; and the taxes, for paying their proportion, shall be laid and levied by the authority and direction of the legislatures of the district or districts, or new States, as in the original States, within the time agreed upon by the United States in Congress assembled. The legislatures of those districts or new States shall never interfere with the primary disposal of the soil by the United States in Congress assembled, nor with any regulations Congress may find necessary for securing the title in such soil to the bona fide purchasers. No tax shall be imposed on lands the property of the United States; and, in no case, shall non-resident proprietors be taxed higher than residents. The navigable waters leading into the Mississippi and St. Lawrence, and the carryingplaces between the same, shall be common highways, and forever free, as well to the inhabitants of the said territory as to the citizens of the United States, and those of any other States that may be admitted into the confederacy, without any tax, impost, or duty therefor. ART. 5. There shall be formed in the said territory not less than three nor more than five States; and the boundaries of the States, as soon as Virginia shall alter her act of cession, and consent to the 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 Wabash rivers; a direct line drawn from the Wabash and Post St. Vincent's, 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 Vincent's, 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 ORDNANCE-OREGON further understood and declared, that the province of Massachusetts. In 1788 the boundaries of these three States shall be Secretary of War called the attention of subject so far to be altered, that, if Con- Congress to the fact that there were in gress shall hereafter find it expedient, the arsenals of the United States "two they shall have authority to form one or brass cannon, which constituted one two States in that part of the said terri- moiety of the field artillery with which tory which lies north of an east and the late war was commenced on the part west line drawn through the southerly of the Americans." Congress by resolubend or extreme of Lake Michigan. And, tion directed the Secretary to have suitable whenever any of the said States shall inscriptions placed on them; and, as they have 60.000 free inhabitants therein, such belonged to Massachusetts, he was inState shall be admitted, by its delegates, structed to deliver them to the order of into the Congress of the United States, on the governor of that State. The two an equal footing with the original States cannon belonging to citizens of Boston in all respects whatever, and shall be at were inscribed, respectively, "The Hanliberty to form a permanent constitution cock, Sacred to Liberty," and "The and State government: Provided, the Adams, Sacred to Liberty"; with the constitution and government so to be additional words on each, "These were formed, shall be republican, and in con- used in many engagements during the formity to the principles contained in war." these articles; and, so far as it can Ordnance Department, a bureau of be consistent with the general inter- the War Department, under the direction est of the confederacy, such admission of a chief of ordnance. The duties of the shall be allowed at an earlier period, department consist in providing, preserv and when there may be a less number of free inhabitants in the State than 60,000. ART. 6. 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. ing, distributing, and accounting for every description of artillery, small- arms, and all the munitions of war which may be required for the fortifications of the country, the armies in the field, and for the whole body of the militia of the Union. In these duties are comprised that of determining the general principles of construction, and of prescribing in detail the models and forms of all military weapons employed in war. They comprise also the duty of prescribing the regulations for the proof and inspection of all these weapons, for maintaining uniformity and economy in their fabrication, for insuring their good quality, and for their preservation and distribution. Oregon, STATE OF. The history of this State properly begins with the discovery of the mouth of the Columbia River by Captain Gray, of Boston, in the ship Columbia, May 7, 1792, who gave the name of his vessel to that river. His report caused President Jefferson to send the explorers LEWIS and CLARKE (qq. v.) across the continent to the Pacific (1804Ordnance. The whole train of artil- 6). In 1811 John J. Astor and others lery possessed by the English-American established a fur-trading post at the colonies when the war for independence mouth of the Columbia River, and called broke out (April 19, 1775) was com- it Astoria. The British doctrine, always posed of four field-pieces, two belonging practised and enforced by them, that the to citizens of Boston, and two to the entrance of a vessel of a civilized nation, that each nation should equally enjoy the privileges of all the bays and harbors on that coast for ten years. This agreement was renewed, in 1827, for an indefinite time, with the stipulation that either party might rescind it by giving the other party twelve months' notice. This notice was given by the United States in 1846, and also a proposition to adjust the question by making the boundary on the parallel of 49°. This was rejected by the British, who claimed the whole of Oregon. The President then directed the proposition of compromise to be withdrawn, and the title of the United States to the whole territory of 54° 40′ N. lat. to be asserted. The question at one time threatened war between the two nations, but it was finally settled by a treaty negotiated at Washington, June 15, 1846, by James Buchanan on the part of the United States and Mr. Pakenham for Great Britain, by which the boundary-line was fixed at 49° N. lat. In 1833 immigration to this region, overland, began, and in 1850 many thousands had reached Oregon; but very soon many of the settlers were drawn to California by the gold excitement there. To encourage immigration the Congress, in 1850, passed the "donation law," giving to every man who should settle on land there before Dec. 1 of that year 320 acres of land, and to his wife a like number of acres; also, to every man and his wife who should settle on such land between Dec. 1, 1850, and Dec. 1, 1853, 160 acres of land each. Under this law 8,000 claims were registered in Oregon. Settlers in Oregon and in Washington Territory, in 1855, suffered much from Indians, who went in bands to murder and plunder the white people. The savages were so well organized at one time that it was thought the white settlers would be compelled to aban don the country. Major-General Wool, stationed at San Francisco, went to Portland, Ore., and there organized a campaign against the Indians. The latter had formed a powerful combination, but Wool brought hostilities to a close during the summer of 1856. The bad conduct of Indian agents, and possibly encouragement given the Indians by employés of the Hudson Bay Company, were the chief causes of the trouble. In 1841 the first attempt to organize a government was made. In 1843 an executive and legislative committee was established; and in 1845 the legislative committee framed an organic law which the settlers approved, and this formed the basis of a provisional government until 1848, when Congress created the Territory of Oregon, which comprised all the United |