In 1784 Congress provided a temporary government for the country ceded by the several States and the Indians “beyond the mountains.”
Such territory was to be divided into distinct States; the inhabitants of any such division might be authorized to hold a convention of “their free males of full age” for the purpose of establishing a temporary government, and to adopt the constitution and laws of any State already established, and, under certain restrictions, to make political divisions in the newly organized territory into counties and townships.
These were to be preliminary movements.
It was provided that when any such State had acquired 20,000 inhabitants, the latter, on giving due proof thereof to Congress, should receive authority from that body to call a convention of representatives to establish a permanent government for themselves on the following basis: First, that they should forever remain a part of the Confederation of the United States of
America; second, that they should be subject to the
Articles of Confederation equally with those of the original States; third, that they should in no case interfere with the rights of the
United States to the soil of such States, nor with the ordinances and regulations which Congress might find necessary for securing the title of such soil to
Bona fide purchasers; fourth, that they should be subject to pay a part of the national debt contracted or to be contracted; fifth, that no tax should be imposed on lands belonging to the
United States; sixth, that these respective governments should be republican in form; and, seventh, that the lands of non-resident proprietors should in no case be taxed higher than that of the residents within any new State.
It was also provided that whenever any of the new States should have as many free inhabitants as the least populous of the thirteen original States, it should be admitted into Congress by delegates on an equal footing with the original States, provided the requisite number of the States forming the
Union should consent to such admission.
