Bill for the Organization of Orleans Territory, 23 November 1803
Bill for the Organization of Orleans Territory
[23 Nov. 1803]
Be it enacted &ca. that all that portion of country ceded by France to the US. under the name of the province of Louisiana, which lies south of the Missipi territory & of an East & West line passing from the Missipi 10. miles North of the town of Natchitoches to the Western boundary of the said cession, shall constitute a territory of the US. under the name of the territory of Orleans the government whereof shall be organised & administered as follows.
The Executive power shall be vested in a Governor who shall hold his office during the term of 4. years unless sooner removed by the Pres. of the US. who shall be commander in chief of the militia of the said territory, shall have the power to grant pardons for offences against the sd territory & reprieves for those against the US. until the decision of the President of the US. thereon shall be made known, to appoint and commission all officers civil & of the militia whose appointments are not herein otherwise provided for & which shall be established by law. but the legislature of the territory may, by law, vest the appointment of such inferior offices as they think proper in other persons. he may on extraordinary occasions convene the legislature & shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed.
A Secretary of the territory shall also be appointed who shall hold his office during the term of 4. years unless sooner removed by the Pres. of the US. and whose duty it shall be under the direction of the Governr1 to record & preserve all the proceedings & papers of the Executive and all the acts of the legislature. in case of the vacancy of the office of Governor, or of his absence2 from the territory, the government thereof shall devolve on the Secretary.
The Judicial power shall be vested in a Superior court, & in such county courts and justices of the peace as the legislature of the territory may from time to time establish. the judges of the Superior court and the justices of peace shall hold their offices for the term of 4. years.
The Superior court shall consist of 3. judges who shall have jurisdiction in all criminal cases, and exclusive jurisdiction in those3 which are capital; and original and appellate jurisdiction in all civil cases of the value of 100. D. it’s sessions shall commence on the first Monday of every month, and continue till all the business depending before them in a state to be acted on, shall be gone through. they shall appoint their own clerk.4 the county courts shall consist of such quorum of5 the justices of the peace of the county as the legislature shall establish, shall have jurisdiction in all criminal cases not capital, and in all civil cases of the value of 50. D. and shall hold it’s sessions monthly:6 and the justices of the peace shall individually be conservators of the peace, and have jurisdiction in civil cases under 20. D. value.7
In all criminal prosecutions which are capital, the trial shall be by a jury of 12. good & lawful men of the vicinage; in all other cases criminal & civil, it shall be the duty of the legislature to introduce the trial by jury so soon, and under such modifications as to number & other circumstances, as the habits & state of the people of the territory will admit.
The legislative powers shall be vested in 24. of the most notable8 fit & discreet persons of the territory to be selected annually by the Governor from among those holding real estate therein who shall have resided one year at least in the said territory9 and hold no office of profit under the territory or the US.: they shall keep and publish a journal of their proceedings, shall chuse their Speaker & other officers: shall meet on their own adjournments, as well as on the summons of the Governor; shall determine the rules of their own proceedings, save only that every law shall be passed at 3 several readings on three several days, & by a majority of those present at each respective reading: and before it become a law, shall be presented to the Governor, & if approved by him, he shall sign it, but if not approved, it shall be no law.
Their power shall extend to all the rightful10 subjects of legislation; but no law shall be valid which is inconsistent with the constitution of the US. with the laws of Congress, or which shall lay any person under restraint, burthen, or disability on account of his religious opinions, declarations or worship; in all of which he shall be free to maintain his own, & not burthened for those of another.
The laws in force in the territory at the commencement of this act, and not inconsistent with the preceding restrictions, shall continue in force, unless repealed, altered or modified by the legislature.
The Governor, Secretary, Judges, Attorney for the US in the Superior court, Marshal of the same court, and all General officers of the militia shall be appointed by the President of the US.11 in the recess of the Senate, but shall be nominated at their next meeting for their advice and consent.
| The Governor shall recieve a salary | of 5000. D. |
| the Secretary | of 2000. D. |
| the Judges each | of 2500. D. |
| the Attorney for the US | of 500. D. |
to be paid out of the revenues of impost & tonnage accruing within the territory12
The members of the legislature, justices of the peace, and officers of the militia shall recieve no compensation.
§ Slaves may be admitted into the sd. territory of Orleans from any of the US. or of their territories which prohibit their importation from abroad, on condition that their grandchildren shall be free: but they shall be admitted from no other state, territory or country.13
The residue of the province of Louisiana so ceded to the US. shall remain under the same name & form of government as heretofore: save only that the paramount powers exercised by the former governors of the province shall now be transferred to a Governor to be appointed by14 the President of the US. and that the powers exercised by the Commandant of a post or district shall be hereafter vested in a civil officer to be appointed by the President in the recess of the Senate, but to be nominated at the next meeting thereof for their advice & consent: under the orders of which commandant the officers, troops, & militia of his station shall be: who, in cases where the military have been used under the laws heretofore existing, shall act by written orders, & not in person: and who shall recieve as a full compensation the pay, rations & emoluments allowed to a Colonel in the army of the US. acting at a separate station. the Governor shall recieve an annual Salary of D. to be paid from out of the impost & tonnage of N. Orleans.15
It shall moreover be lawful for the President of the US. to unite the districts of two or more commandants of posts into one, where their proximity, or ease of intercourse will permit without injury to the inhabitants thereof.
Dft (DLC: TJ Papers, 137:23695); undated, but see TJ to John Breckinridge, 24 Nov.; entirely in TJ’s hand. Enclosed in TJ to Breckinridge, 24 Nov., and in Breckinridge to TJ, 26 Nov.
be it enacted: in the Senate on 28 Nov., Robert Wright introduced a motion calling for the appointment of a committee “to prepare a form or forms of government for the territory of Louisiana.” The Senate tabled the motion, then took it up on 5 Dec. and named Breckinridge, Wright, James Jackson, Abraham Baldwin, and John Quincy Adams as the committee. When Breckinridge, as chairman, convened the committee on 9 Dec., he “had a form of Government ready prepared,” as Adams recorded in his diary. In a long meeting on the 17th, a majority approved “several principles, on which the chairman is to draw up his bill.” At their next meeting a week later, however, Jackson and Wright also brought frameworks for a bill. Opposed to the formation of the committee “on the ground that we ought to make no form of Government for them without consulting the people, and without knowing something more of them,” Adams decided early on that his “ideas are so different from those entertained by the Committee, that I have nothing to do but to make fruitless opposition.” As a result, Adams did not record details of Breckinridge’s original “form” or of any of the proposals presented on the 24th. The group made no decision on that day, but on the 26th Breckinridge was able once again to get approval of “principles” that would be “drawn into form” by him. On the 30th, the committee passed a draft bill prepared by Breckinridge and he introduced it in the Senate. The bill, for “erecting Louisiana into two Territories” and providing for its temporary government, preserved most of the contents of TJ’s draft printed above. In modified form and with significant additions, the bill became law after it passed both houses of Congress and TJ signed it on 26 Mch. 1804. It was to become effective on 1 Oct. 1804 and be in force for a year after that, and then to the end of the next session of Congress. Until this new law took effect, the 31 Oct. 1803 act to enable the president to take possession of Louisiana remained in force (, 3:316, 320-1, 331; Adams, diary 27 [1 Jan. 1803 to 4 Aug. 1809], 54-9, in MHi: Adams Family Papers; MS bill in DNA: RG 46, Original Senate Bills, 8th Cong., 1st sess., in Breckinridge’s hand; , 2:283-9; Vol. 41:583-4).
Breckinridge’s bill followed TJ’s draft by placing the line that would set off Orleans Territory ten miles north of natchitoches. As passed, the act put the new territory’s boundary farther north, at 33 degrees north latitude, which later became the northern boundary of the state of Louisiana west of the Mississippi River.
In the bill and subsequently in the act, the governor was to be a resident of the territory and have a term of three years. The bill as introduced did not give the territorial legislature the power to vest the appointment of any offices. Late in the process of forming the bill, Breckinridge deleted the power of the governor to convene the legislature in extraordinary circumstances. Breckinridge transposed the section on judicial power to follow the section on the legislature. The bill left blank the terms of service of judges and justices of the peace. In the act, those terms were four years. Breckinridge struck from the bill specifications for county courts, and the act contained no provision for county or township courts. The bill granted inhabitants of the territory the protection of the writ of habeas corpus, gave them the right to obtain bail, and barred cruel and unusual punishment.
In the section on legislative powers, the bill omitted the word “notable” from the qualifications for members of the legislature. In final form, the act reduced the legislature to a legislative council of 13 members appointed by the president. Late in the process of formulating the bill, the committee excised the specific requirements for approval of laws, including the provision for readings on three separate days. The bill, and subsequently the act, called for the governor to publish the laws and report them to the president to be laid before Congress. The statute as passed named 21 federal laws that were to be in force in the territory.
shall recieve a salary: the bill left blanks for the officers’ salaries, and added a requirement that officeholders take an oath to the Constitution.
slaves may be admitted: the draft bill as TJ sent it to Breckinridge did not include this paragraph; see TJ to Breckinridge, 25 Nov. The act as approved by Congress prohibited importation of slaves from outside the United States or of any slave imported to the U.S. after 1 May 1798. Slaves could be introduced into the territory only by owners who were U.S. citizens “removing into said territory for actual settlement” (, 2:286).
In the act of 26 Mch. 1804, the residue of the province became the district of Louisiana. The governor of Indiana Territory was to exercise executive authority there, and the territory’s judges were to hold courts. In 1805, Congress made the district of Louisiana a territory (, 7:188-9n).
without injury to the inhabitants thereof: Breckinridge’s bill added a section authorizing the president to arrange land exchanges with Indian tribes east of the Mississippi to relocate them to the west side of the river. Tribes that took advantage of that arrangement would have to acknowledge that they were under the protection of the United States, affirm that they could not make treaties, and agree that they could sell or dispose of their new land in the west only to the United States. Congress retained that section of the bill in the final act. The law also contained a section that nullified land titles from Spain, with an exception for tracts up to one mile square occupied by bona fide settlers (see Resolution on Land Titles in Louisiana, [ca. 29 Feb.-14 Mch. 1804]). That section of the act also specified a fine of up to $1,000 and imprisonment for up to 12 months for anyone who settled on, surveyed, or marked lands belonging to the United States within Louisiana (, 2:287-9).
1. Preceding six words interlined.
2. TJ first wrote “in case of the removal of the Governor from office, or of his death, resignation, or absence” before altering the passage to read as above.
3. TJ first wrote “shall have exclusive jurisdiction in all criminal cases” before altering the passage to read as above.
4. Preceding two sentences interlined and continued in margin.
5. Preceding three words interlined.
6. Preceding six words interlined.
7. TJ here canceled “with [a] right of appeal.”
8. Word interlined, as is “annually” later in the sentence.
9. Remainder of clause interlined.
10. Word interlined.
11. Remainder of sentence interlined in place of “to continue in office to the end of the next session of Congress, & no longer unless renewed with the advice & consent of the Senate.”
12. Clause interlined.
13. Paragraph interlined.
14. Preceding six words interlined.
15. Sentence interlined.