352 The Winning of the West 



in the ordinance, the majority being Southern men, 

 also reported an article prohibiting slavery. Dane 

 was the mover, while the rough draft may have 

 been written by Cutler; and the report was vigor 

 ously pushed by the two Virginians on the com 

 mittee, William Grayson and Richard Henry Lee. 

 The article was adopted by a vote unanimous, ex 

 cept for the dissent of one delegate, a nobody from 

 New York. 



The ordinance established a territorial govern 

 ment, with a governor, secretary, and judges. A 

 General Assembly was authorized as soon as there 

 should be five thousand free male inhabitants in 

 the district. The lower house was elective, the 

 upper house, or council, was appointive. The Leg 

 islature was to elect a territorial delegate to Con 

 gress. The governor was required to own a free 

 hold of one thousand acres in the district, a judge 

 five hundred, and a representative two hundred; 

 and no man was allowed to vote unless he possessed 

 a freehold of fifty acres. 14 These provisions would 

 seem strangely undemocratic if applied to a similar 

 territory in our own day. 



The all-important features of the ordinance were 

 contained in the six articles of compact between 

 the confederated States and the people and States 

 of the territory, to be forever unalterable, save by 

 the consent of both parties. The first guaranteed 

 complete freedom of worship and religious belief 

 to all peaceable and orderly persons. The second 



14 "St. Clair Papers," II, 603. 



