ly
different--are regulated by different and separate articles of the
Constitution, and stand upon different principles. And we are satisfied
that no one who reads attentively the page in Peters' Reports to which
we have referred, can suppose that the attention of the court was drawn
for a moment to the question now before this court, or that it meant in
that case to say that Congress had a right to prohibit a citizen of the
United States from taking any property which he lawfully held into a
Territory of the United States.

This brings us to examine by what provision of the Constitution the
present Federal Government, under its delegated and restricted powers,
is authorized to acquire territory outside of the original limits of the
United States, and what powers it may exercise therein over the person
or property of a citizen of the United States, while it remains a
Territory, and until it shall be admitted as one of the States of the
Union.

There is certainly no power given by the Constitution to the Federal
Government to establish or maintain colonies bordering on the United
States or at a distance, to be ruled and governed at its own pleasure;
nor to enlarge its territorial limits in any way, except by the
admission of new States. That power is plainly given; and if a new State
is admitted, it needs no further legislation from Congress, because the
Constitution itself defines the relative rights and powers, and duties
of the State, and the citizens of the State, and the Federal Government.
But no power is given to acquire a Territory to be held and governed
permanently in that character.

And indeed the power exercised by Congress to acquire territory and
establish a Government there, according to its own unlimited discretion,
was viewed with great jealousy by the leading statesmen of the day. And
in the Federalist, (No. 38,) written by Mr. Madison, he speaks of the
acquisition of the Northwestern Territory by the confederated States, by
the cession from Virginia, and the establishment of a Government there,
as an exercise of power not warranted by the Articles of Confederation,
and dangerous to the liberties of the people. And he urges the adoption
of the Constitution as a security and safeguard against such an exercise
of power.

We do not mean, however, to question the power of Congress in this
respect. The power to expand the territory of the United States by the
admission of new States is plainly given; a