Wisconsin herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1846-1849, 1848-06-03

Michigan through Lake Michigan ana
Green Bay to the mouth of Menotninee
river; thence up the channel of said river
TO the Brue river; thence up said last men~
toned river to Lake Brule; thence along the
southern shore Of Lake Brule, in a direct
line, to the centre of the channel between
Middle and South Islands, in the Lake Of
the Desert; thence in direct line, to Trout
Lake; thence, in a direct line Southwestern
ly, to the highest peak Of Mountain Island.
which, according to Nicolets map, is about
where the forty-tourth degree Of latitude
crosses the Missssippi; thence down tho
main channel of said 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 net to enable the PEG.
Pile of Illinois Territory to form a consttu-
ton and State Government, and for the adA
mission of such State into the Union on an
equal footing with the original States, appro.
we'd April 10. 1882 1a
The first question before the committed
to-day, was ON agreeing TO the amendment
of Mr. Smith, of Illinois.
Mr.. Dickinson recited the provisions Of
the amendments pendng---the northern
boundary, provided by that Of Mr.. Smith,
of Indiana, being The ST. Croix, us authors
zed by the oct Of Congress of 1876, aud nc
eepted by the convention of Wisconsin,
/ Congress having agreed 10 accept Wiscons
sin into the Union, and prescribed such boun-
daries, and Wisconsin having accepted Of
them, they were bound to them, unless IL
could be shown that there had been somo
fraud committed upon Congress, or some
mistake sufficiently serious to prevent tho
Iconsnlnnation of the compact. But it he
,tae tbo.
The great objection to the admission OF
Wisconsin rs a State was, that the terri
tory wus TOO large. The objection that those
residing in the valley of the St. Croix would
be put to serious hardship and inconveni-
ence was Of some weight; but this was an
objection which would always he largely
exaggerated in u new country. He refer
rcd to similar Inconvenience which had
been anticipated Of formidable character
at the time of the admission of Ohio, but
which had disappeared with the progress Of
improvement and settlement. f
Wiscorsin had the same power to prei
scribe her boundaries that Congress had; il
Congress did not agree to the boundaries
she was willing to accede to, she had the
right TO remain as Territory. She had
formed State constitution; she had mado
all the preparations for coming into the
Union rs n State; suppose Congress did not
confirm this line, aud proposed new one,
which she should refuse to accept, by what
laws would she he governed in the mean
timer BY the laws of the State for which
she had formed her constitution, or the laws
of the Territory Wouldsh 90 on to elect
her Governor, Legislature, and various OIL
ficers under State authority, or must she
be thrown back upon the Territorial gov
eminent, and be governed by Territorial
Judges, governors, aud other officersf Hs
concluded not; but that il Congress disa-
greed to her proposition, she would have
the right to act independently Of the Gener-
al Government, so far as her internal police
and general legislation were concerned; and
that she would be subject 10 the laws Of the
General Government, so far rs the States
were subject to them, and no further.
He further argued the superiority of the
line proposed by the committee over that
proposed by Mr.. Smith Of Ilinois-the for
nler having been proflercd by Congress in
1916, having been accepted by Wisconsin,
and being now asked by the Territory, thro'
her delegate on this floor. II they were
now, for the first time, acting upon the qlics-
ton Of the line, he should prefer a south
ern line; but us it was, he considered TINT
Congress were bound, by every sense of
reason, Justice, and consistency, to adhere
10 the line proposed by them and accepted
iy Wisconsin. sf s4sa saa4 90
He noticed the objection TO the bill, that
il violated the ordinance Of 1897, which
prescribed that five States should b. formed
ont of the Northwestern Territory-ths
being the sixth. He did not consider that
ordinance binding; il never had been so
considered by the people northwest Of the
Ohio. Ii had always been disrcgarded by
the State of Ohio. Why, one important
provision Of that ordinance was, that sla-
very should not exist there; aud others, that
all the inhabitants of the territory should
enjoy the right of habens corpus of trial by
jury, and all the rights and privileges of cit
izens of any other portion of the Union;
and the very first thing tbat Ohio did. when
she became a State was TO disregard some
of these important provisions: she disfran-
chised all Africans, disregaried the ordi-
nance with reference 10 the right of trial
10y jury, passed laws prohibiting the immi-.
grafton into thar Stnte Of free persons Of
color; went still further, and prohibited the
blacks from tesiifying in courts OF justice in
cases where white persons were parties.-
Some Of these laws had been continued on
the statute-book until this day. They had
never regarded the principles of thar ordi-
nance since the State was fornled; nor was
Congress going to regard il; they were GO
ing 10 disregard il now in receiving Wiscon-
sin into the Union.
II was possible that Illinois wssmnch
arger than she ought to have been, and In
iiana also, and he knew not hut Ohio TOO.
But we had, in relation to the Northwestern
Territory, often disregaded that ordinance.
Il was held by some gentlemen that Con-
gress bad the right 20 resort to special legIs-
alton for these territories; but be held that
hey had not. He held, thai so far as gem
sral legislation was concerned, the Terrific