south of said line, the status of persons owing
service or labor as it now exists shall not be changed by
law while such territory shall be under a territorial
government; and neither Congress nor the territorial
government shall have power to hinder or prevent the taking
to said territory of persons held to labor or involuntary
service, within the United States, according to the laws or
usages of the State from which such persons may be taken,
nor to impair the rights arising out of said relations,
which shall be subject to judicial cognizance in the Federal
Courts, according to the common law; and when any territory
north or south of said line, within such boundary as
Congress may prescribe, shall contain a population required
for a member of Congress, according to the then Federal
ratio of representation, it shall, if its form of Government
be republican, be admitted into the Union on an equal
footing with the original States, with or without
involuntary service or labor, as the constitution of such
new State may provide.

SECTION 2. Territory shall not be acquired by the United
States, unless by treaty; nor, except for naval and
commercial stations and depots, unless such treaty shall be
ratified by four-fifths of all the members of the Senate.

SECTION 3. Neither the Constitution nor any amendment
thereof shall be construed to give Congress power to
regulate, abolish, or control, within any State or Territory
of the United States, the relation established or recognized
by the laws thereof touching persons bound to labor or
involuntary service therein; nor to interfere with or
abolish involuntary service in the District of Columbia,
without the consent of Maryland, and without the consent of
the owners, or making the owners who do not consent just
compensation; nor the power to interfere with or prohibit
representatives and others from bringing with them to the
city of Washington, retaining and taking away, persons so
bound to labor; nor the power to interfere with or abolish
involuntary service in places under the exclusive
jurisdiction of the United States within those States and
Territories where the same is established or recognized; nor
the power to prohibit the removal or transportation, by
land, sea, or rive