ORDINANCE OF ACCEPTANCE
An ordinance declaring the assent of the people of the State of Missouri, by their representatives in convention assembled, to certain conditions and provisions in the act of congress of the sixth of March, one thousand eight hundred and twenty, entitled “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.WHEREAS, the act of Congress of the United States of America, approved March the sixth, one thousand eight hundred and twenty, entitled “An act to authorize 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,” contains certain requisitions and provisions, and, among other things, has offered to this convention when formed, for and in behalf of the people inhabiting this state, for their free acceptance or rejection, the five following propositions, and which, if accepted by this convention in behalf of the people as aforesaid, are to be obligatory on the United States, viz:
“Second, That all salt springs, not exceeding twelve in number, with six sections of land adjoining to each, shall be granted to the said state for the use of said state, the same to be selected by the legislature of said state on or before the first day of January, in the year one thousand eight hundred and twenty-five, and the same, when so selected, to be used under such terms, conditions, and regulations as the legislature of said state shall direct; provided, that no salt spring, the right whereof now is, or hereafter shall be, confirmed or adjudged to any individual or individuals, shall by this section be granted to said state; and provided, also, that the legislature shall never sell or lease the same at any one time for a longer period than ten years, without the consent of congress.
“That five per cent, of the net proceeds of the sale of lands lying within the said territory or state, and which shall be sold by congress from and after the first day of January next, after deducting all expenses incident to the same, shall be reserved for making public roads and canals, of which three-fifths shall be applied to those objects within the state under the direction of the legislature thereof, and the other two-fifths in defraying, under the direction of congress, the expenses to be incurred in making a road or roads, canal or canals, leading to the said state.
“Fourth, That four entire sections of land be, and the same are hereby granted to the said state for the purpose of fixing their seat of government thereon; which said sections shall, under the direction of the legislature of said state, be located as near as may be in one body, at any time, in such townships and ranges as the legislature aforesaid may select, on any of the public lands of the United States; provided, that such location shall be made prior to the public sale of the lands of the United States surrounding such location.
“Fifth, That thirty-six sections, or one entire township, which shall be designated by the President of the United States, together with the other lands heretofore reserved for that purpose, shall be reserved for the use of a seminary of learning, and vested in the legislature of said state, to be appropriated solely for the use of such seminary by the legislature.”
Done in convention, at St. Louis, in the State of Missouri, this nineteenth day of July, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and twenty, and of the Independence of the United States of America the forty-fifth.
By order of the convention,
DAVID BARTON, President.
Attest,
