"--_Justice Story, 1
Commentaries_: Sec. 1312.
"It is well known that the Ordinance of 1787 was drawn by the Hon.
Nathan Dane, of Massachusetts, and adopted with scarcely a verbal
alteration by Congress. It is a noble and imperishable monument to his
fame."--_Id._ note.
The ordinance was reported by a committee, of which Wm. S. Johnson and
Charles Pinckney were members. It recites that, "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 establishment of States
and permanent government, 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--
"It is hereby ordained and declared, by the authority aforesaid, that
the following articles shall be considered as articles of compact
between the original States and the people and States in the said
Territory, and forever remain unalterable, unless by common consent, to
wit:"
"_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.
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