said United States, in the name of the French Republic, forever and in full sovereignty, the said territory with all its rights and appurtenances, as fully and in the same manner as they have been acquired by the French Republic in virtue of the above mentioned treaty concluded with his Catholic Majesty. ARTICLE II. In the cession made by the preceding article are included the adjacent islands belonging to Louisiana, all public lots and squares, vacant lands, and all public buildings, fortifications, barracks, and other edifices which are not private property. The archives, papers and documents, relative to the domain and sovereignty of Louisiana and its dependencies, will be left in the possession of the commissarics of the United States, and copies will be afterwards given in due form to the magistrates and municipal officers of such of the said papers and documents as may be necessary to them. ARTICLE III. The inhabitants of the ceded territory shall be incorporated in the Union of the United States, and admitted as soon as possible, according to the principles of the Federal Constitution, to the enjoyment of all the rights, advantages and immunities of citizens of the United States; and in the meantime they shall be maintained and protected in the free enjoyment of their liberty, property, and the religion which they profess. ARTICLE IV. There shall be sent by the Government of France a commissary to Louisiana, to the end that he do every act necessary, as well to receive from the officers of his Catholic Majesty the said country and its dependencies, in the name of the French Republic, if it has not been already done, as to transmit it, in the name of the French Republic, to the commissary or agent of the United States. ARTICLE V. Immediately after the ratification of the present treaty by the President of the United States, and in case that of the First Consul shall have been previously obtained, the commissary of the French Republic shall remit all the military posts of New Orleans, and other parts of the ceded territory, to the commissary or commissaries named by the President to take possession; the troops, whether of France or Spain, who may be there, shall cease to occupy any military post from the time of taking possession, and shall be embarked as soon as possible, in the course of three months after the ratification of this treaty. ARTICLE VI. The United States promise to execute such treaties and articles as may have been agreed between Spain and the tribes and nations of Indians, until, by mutual consent of the United States and the said tribes or nations, other suitable articles shall have been agreed upon. ARTICLE VII. As it is reciprocally advantageous to the commerce of France and the United States to encourage the communication of both nations for a limited time in the country ceded by the present treaty, until general arrangements relative to the commerce of both nations may be agreed on, it has been agreed between the contracting parties, that the French ships, coming directly from France or any of her colonies, loaded only with the produce or manufactures of France or her said colonies, and the ships of Spain, coming directly from Spain or any of her colonies, loaded only with the produce or manufactures of Spain or her colonies, shall be admitted during the space of twelve years in the port of New Orleans, and in all other legal ports of entry within the ceded territory, in the same manner as the ships of the United States coming directly from France or Spain, or any of their colonies, without being subject to any other or greater duty on merchandise, or other or greater tonnage than those paid by the citizens of the United States. During the space of time above mentioned, no other nation shall have a right to the same privileges in the ports of the ceded territory; the twelve years shall commence three months after the exchange of ratifications, if it shall take place in France, or three months after it shall have been notified at Paris to the French Government, if it shall take place in the United States; it is, however, well understood that the object of the above article is to favor the manufactures, commerce, freight and navigation of France and of Spain, so far as relates to the importations that the French and Spanish shall make into the said ports of the United States, without in any sort affecting the regulations. that the United States may make concerning the exportation of the produce and merchandise of the United States, or any right they may have to make such regulations. ARTICLE VIII. In future, and forever after the expiration of the twelve years, the ships of France shall be treated upon the footing of the most favored nations in the ports above mentioned. ARTICLE IX. The particular convention signed this day by the respective ministers, having for its object to provide for the payment of debts due to the citizens of the United States by the French Republic, prior to the thirtieth of September, 1800, (8th Vendemaire, 9,) is approved, and to have its execution in the same manner as if it had been inserted in the present treaty, and it shall be ratified in the same form and in the same time, so that the one shall not be ratified distinct from the other. Another particular convention, signed at the same date as the present treaty, relative to a definitive rule between the contracting parties, is in the like manner approved, and will be ratified in the same form and in the same time, and jointly. ARTICLE X. The present treaty shall be ratified in good and due form, and the ratification shall be exchanged in the space of six months after the date of the signatures by the ministers plenipotentiaries, or sooner, if possible. In faith whereof, the respective plenipotentiaries have signed these articles in the French and English languages: declaring, nevertheless, that the present treaty was originally agreed to in the French language; and have thereunto put their seals. Done at Paris the tenth day of Floreal, in the eleventh year of the French Republic, and the thirtieth April, 1803. LAWS DEFINING THE LIMITS OF THE STATE OF LOUISIANA. AN ACT Erecting Louisiana into two Territories, and Providing for the Temporary Gov ernment Thereof. Defining the of the Territory of boundaries of an Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled, That all that portion of country ceded by France to the United States, under the name Louisiana, which lies south of the Mississippi territory, and of east and west line to commence on the Mississippi river, at the thirty-third degree of north latitude, and to extend west to the western boundary of the said cession, shall constitute a territory of the United States, under the name of the Territory of Orleans, the government whereof shall be organized and administered as follows: Orleans by act of Congress, ap proved March 20, 1-04. Constitution of Louisiana of 1812. We, the representatives of the people of all that part of the territory or country ceded, under the name of Louisiana, by the treaty Preamble to the made at Paris, on the thirtieth day of April, one thousand eight the State of hundred and three, between the United States and France, contained in the following limits, to wit: Beginning at the mouth of the river Sabine, thence by a line to be drawn along the middle of said river, including all its islands, to the thirty-second degree of latitude; thence due north to the northernmost part of the thirty-third degree of north latitude; thence along the said parallel of latitude to the river Mississippi; thence down the said river to the river Iberville, and from thence along the middle of the said river and lakes Maurepas and Pontchartrain to the Gulf of Mexico; thence, bounded by the said gulf, to the place of beginning, including all islands within three leagues of the coast, in convention assembled, by virtue of an act of Congress, entitled "An Act to enable the people of the Territory of Orleans to form a constitution and State government, and for the admission of said State into the Union on an equal footing with the original States, and for other purposes." In order to secure to all the citizens thereof the enjoyment of the right of life, liberty and property, do ordain and establish the following constitution or form of government, and do mutually agree with each other to form ourselves into a free and independent State, by the name of the State of Louisiana. AN ACT To Enlarge the Limits of the State of Louisiana. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled, That in case the Legislature of the State of Louisiana shall consent thereto, all that tract of country comprehended within the following bounds, to wit: Beginning at the junction of the Iberville with the river Mississippi; thence along the middle of the Iberville, the river Amite, and of the lakes Maurepas and Pontchartrain, to the eastern mouth of the Pearl river; thence up the eastern branch of Pearl river to the thirty-first degree of north latitude; thence along the said degree of latitude to the river Mississippi; thence down the said river to the place of beginning, shall become and form a part of the said State of Louisiana, and be subject to the constitution and laws thereof, in the same manner and for all intents and purposes as if it had been included within the original boundaries of the said State. SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That it shall be incumbent upon the Legislature of the State of Louisiana, in case they consent to the incorporation of the territory aforesaid within their limits, at their first session, to make provision by law for the representation of the said territory in the Legislature of the State, upon the principles of the constitution, and for the securing to the people of the said territory, equal rights, privileges, benefits and advantages, with those enjoyed by the people of the other parts of the State; which law shall be liable to revision, modification and amendment by Congress, and also in the manner provided for the amendment of the State constitution, but shall not be liable to change or amendment by the Legislature of the State. H. CLAY, Speaker of the House of Representatives. Approved April 14, 1812. JAMES MADISON. |