ented to alter the terms of contract.

On July 13, 1787, Congress adopted the ordinance which it had long had
under consideration. The authorship of this "charter of the west," after
long controversy, is still in dispute. Like all legislative measures it
bears the mark of many hands. Certain features of Jefferson's ordinance
reappear: the provision for temporary government and eventual statehood,
and the fundamental articles of compact. Other provisions are stated in
a detailed fashion and suggest the probability that Congress had
definite conditions to meet. The ordinance took final form while the
Reverend Manasseh Cutler was representing the Ohio Company in New York.
Perhaps the most striking departure from the Ordinance of 1784 is the
provision for not less than three nor more than five States north of the
Ohio, where Jefferson planned for ten. Admission to the Union was to be
gained only after the population had reached sixty thousand. Temporary
government was to consist of a governor, a secretary, and three judges
appointed by Congress, who were to adopt such laws from other States as
they believed suited to local conditions. In each and every case
Congress reserved the right to disallow these laws. Whenever a territory
attained a population of five thousand, it was to pass to the second
grade of government, with a representative assembly, an appointive
council, and a delegate in Congress.

Six articles of compact were also written into the ordinance, which were
to remain forever unalterable except by the common consent of the
parties thereto--"the original States and the people and States in the
said territory." Freedom of worship, the usual rights of person and
property, and the obligation of private contracts were guaranteed.
Religion, morality, and education were to be forever encouraged. Neither
slavery nor involuntary servitude was to be permitted. In imposing these
conditions Congress undoubtedly exceeded its powers under the Articles
of Confederation, for that document nowhere confers upon Congress the
power to make binding contracts, nor for that matter to legislate in any
wise for the government of the common domain.

The Ohio Company hastened to colonize its broad acres on the Muskingum.
Before the end of the year 1787, the vanguard of the first colony was on
the march through Pennsylvania to the upper waters of the Ohio. There
they spent the winter constructing the craft which was to carry them to
the