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(ACT of March 31st, 1814.)

located by the secretary of the treasury of the United States, whenever an extinguishment of Indian title shall be made for lands, suitable, in his opinion, for that purpose, in the said state: which grant, hereby provided to be made, shall be considered as made in lieu of a township directed to be reserved by the fifth section of an act, entitled "An act to provide for the ascertaining and surveying of the boundary lines fixed by the treaty with the Creek Indians, and for other purposes," passed March three, one thousand eight hundred and fifteen; and which reserve of one township, provided to be made by the aforesaid fifth section of said act, shall be offered for sale, in the same manner as the other public lands in the same district.

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An act providing for the indemnification of certain claimants of public lands in the Mississippi territory.

1. SEC. 1. Every person or persons claiming public lands, in the Mississippi territory, south of the state of Tennessee and west of the state of Georgia, under the act, or pretended act, of the state of Georgia, entitled "An act supplementary to an act, entitled "An act for appropriating a part of the unlocated territory of this state for the payment of the late state troops and other purposes therein mentioned, declaring the right of this state to the unappropriated territory thereof, for the protection and support of the frontiers of this state and for other purposes," passed January the seventh, one thousand seven hundred and ninety-five, who have exhibited the evidence of their claims to the secretary of state, for the purpose of having the same recorded in books in his office, conformable to the act of congress, passed the third day of March, one thousand eight hundred and three, entitled "An act regulating the grants of lands, and providing for the disposal of the lands of the United States, south of the state of Tennessee," shall be allowed until the first Monday of January next, to deposit in the office of the secretary of state of the United States, a sufficient legal release of all such claim or claims to the United States, and an assignment and transfer to the United States, of their right and claim to any sum or sums of money which by them, or the persons from whom they or any of them have de

(ACT of March 31st, 1814.)

rived their claims, were deposited or paid into the treasury of the state of Georgia, as the consideration of the purchase of the land for which their release of claim is deposited as aforesaid; and also, a power to sue, in the name of such claimant, for any sum or sums of money assigned as aforesaid, and which shall have been unlawfully or fraudulently withdrawn from the treasury of the state of Georgia, such release, assignment, transfer, and power, to take effect on the indemnification of such claimants being made conformably to the provisions of this act.

2. [The time limited in this section was enlarged until the first Monday of March, one thousand eight hundred and seventeen.] SEC. 11. [The secretary of state, the secretary of the treasury and the attorney general constituted a board of commissioners to adjudge and determine upon the sufficiency of the releases, and assignments, and powers, to be executed and deposited in the office of the secretary of state, in conformity with the foregoing section; and also to adjudge and finally determine upon all controversies arising from such claims, which may be found to conflict with, and to be adverse to, each other; and also to adjudge and determine upon all such claims under the aforesaid aet, or pretended act, of the state of Georgia, as may be found to have accrued to the United States, by operation of law.]

3. SEC. III. As soon as the said commissioners shall have made report to the president of the United States of the sufficiency of such releases and assignments, to the amount of at least ninetenths of the whole lands claimed by virtue of the sales made by the legislature of the state of Georgia to the respective companies hereafter enumerated, exclusive of such claims to the said lands as shall have vested in the United States by the operation of law, and shall have certified to him the names of the claimants, whose claims they have finally adjudged and allowed, and the respective and relative proportions on which they are entitled to the indemnity under and by virtue of this act, the president shall be, and ne hereby is, authorised and required to cause to be issued, from the treasury of the United States, to such claimants, respectively, (of convenient amount for circulation) certificates of stock, not bearing interest, and expressing on their face, that the same are payable out of the first moneys in the treasury of the United States, arising from the sale of public lands in the Mississippi territory, after the money due to the state of Georgia, and the expenses of surveying such lands, have been satisfied.

To the persons claiming in the name of, or under, the Upper Mississippi Company, including such share or shares as may be found to have vested in the United States, and for which the United States are to be considered entitled to the respective proportions for the same, (and exclusive of all claims, usually denominated, in the former report of the commissioners aforesaid,

(ACT of March 3d, 1815.)

citizens' claims) a sum not exceeding in the whole three hundred and fifty thousand dollars,

To the persons claiming in the name of, or under, the Tennessee Company, under the foregoing terms and restrictions, a sum not exceeding in the whole six hundred thousand dollars.

To the persons claiming in the name of, or under, the Georgia Mississippi Company, under the like terms and restrictions, a sum not exceeding in the whole one million five hundred and fifty thousand dollars.

To the persons claiming in the name of, or under, the Georgia Company, under the like terms and restrictions, a sum not exceeding in the whole two millions two hundred and fifty thousand dollars.

To the persons claiming under citizens' rights, including such share or shares as have already accrued to the United States, by operation of law, or by the provisions of this act, and to which the United States are to be considered entitled to the respective proportions for the same, a sum not exceeding in the whole two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, &c.

4. SEC. IV. The said certificates of stock shall be receivable in payment of the public lands, to be sold, after the date of such certificates, in the Mississippi territory: Provided, That on every hundred dollars to be paid for such land, ninety-five dollars shall be receivable in said certificates, and five dollars in cash: Provided, That no person or persons making payment for lands in certificates authorised to be issued by this act, shall be entitled to the discount for prompt payment now allowed by law to purchasers of public lands.

5. SEC. Ix. If any person or persons, claiming lands under the aforesaid act, or pretended act, of the state of Georgia, passed January seventh, seventeen hundred and ninety-five, shall neglect or refuse to compromise and make settlement of all such claim or claims, in conformity with the provisions of this act, the United States shall be, and hereby are declared to be, exonerated and discharged from all such claim or claims, and the same shall be forever barred; and no evidence of any such claim or claims shall be admitted to be pleaded, or allowed to be given, in evidence in any court whatever against any grant derived from the United States.

ACT of January 23, 1815. 4 Bioren, 776.

6. SEC. I. [The president is authorised to appoint three persons to be commissioners instead of the secretary of state, &c.] SEC. 11. [Further time allowed, &c.]

ACT of March 3, 1815. 4 Bioren, 843.

[Gives further time to the claimants, and additional powers to the commissioners.]

ACT of April 1816. Pamphlet edit. 68.

[Time extended for filing claims until the first Monday of March, one thousand eight hundred and seventeen.]

ACT of February 4, 1819. Pamphlet edit.

SEC. It. Whenever proof shall be exhibited, to the satisfaction of the secretary of the treasury, of the loss or destruction of any certificate of Mississippi stock, it shall be lawful to issue, to the person who had lost it, or in whose possession it was destroyed, a new certificate of the same value with the one lost or destroyed; the person claiming such renewal complying with the rules and regulations at present established at the Treasury Department, for the renewal of certificates of stock lost or destroyed.

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An act to authorise the people of Missouri Territory to form a constitution and state government, and for the admission of such state into the union on an equal footing with the original states, and to prohibit slavery in certain territories.

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1. SEC. I. The inhabitants of that portion of the Missouri territory included within the boundaries hereinafter designated, are hereby authorised to form for themselves a constitution and state government, and to assume such name as they shall deem proper; and the said state, when formed, shall be admitted into the union, upon an equal footing with the original states, in all respects what

soever.

2. SEC. 11. The said state shall consist of all the territory included within the following boundaries, to wit: Beginning in the middle of the Mississippi river, on the parallel of thirty-six degrees of north latitude: thence, west, along that parallel of latitude to the St. Francois river; thence up, and following the course of that river, in the middle of the main channel thereof, to the parallel of latitude of thirty-six degrees and thirty minutes; thence, west, along the same, to a point where the said parallel is intersected by a meridian line passing through the middle of the mouth of the Kansas river, where the same empties into the Missouri river; thence, from the point aforesaid, north, along the said meridian line to the intersection of the parallel of latitude which

(ACT of March 6th, 1820.)

passes through the rapids of the river Des Moines, making the said line to correspond with the Indian boundary line; thence, east, from the point of intersection last aforesaid, along the said parallel of latitude to the middle of the channel of the main fork of the said river Des Moines; thence down and along the middle of the main channel of the said river Des Moines to the mouth of the same where it empties into the Mississippi river; thence, due east, to the main channel of the Mississippi river; thence down, and following the courses of the Mississippi river, in the middle of the main channel thereof, to the place of beginning: Provided, The said state shall ratify the boundaries aforesaid: And provided, also, That the said state shall have concurrent jurisdiction on the river Mississippi, and every other river bordering on the said state, so far as the said rivers shall form a common boundary to the said state, and any other state or states now or hereafter to be formed and bounded by the same, such rivers to be common to both, and that the river Mississippi, and the navigable rivers and waters leading into the same, shall be common highways, and forever free, as well to the inhabitants of the said state as to other citizens of the United States, without any tax, duty, impost, or toll, therefor, imposed by the said state.

SEC. III. [Apportions among the counties, the representatives to the convention.]

3. SEC. IV. The members of the convention thus duly elected, shall be, and they are hereby authorised to meet at the seat of government of said territory, on the second Monday of the month of June next; and the said convention, when so assembled, shall have power and authority to adjourn to any other place in the said territory, which to them shall seem best for the convenient transaction of their business; and which convention, when so met, shall first determine, by a majority of the whole number elected, whether it be, or be not, expedient at that time to form a constitution and state government for the people within the said territory, as included within the boundaries above designated; and, if it be deemed expedient, the convention shall be, and hereby is, authorised to form a constitution and state government; or, if it be deemed more expedient, the said convention shall provide by ordinance for electing representatives to form a constitution or frame of government; which said representatives shall be chosen in such manner, and in such proportion, as they shall designate; and shall meet at such time and place as shall be prescribed by the said ordinance; and shall then form for the people of said territory, within the boundaries aforesaid, a constitution and state government: Provided, That the same, whenever formed, shall be republican, and not repugnant to the constitution of the United States; and that the legislature of said state shall never interfere with the primary disposal of the soil by the United States, nor with any regulations congress may find necessary for securing the title in such

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