March 2, 1819
[Fifteenth Congress, Second Session]
An Act establishing a separate territorial government in the southern part of the Territory of Missouri
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That, from and after the fourth day of July next, all that part of the Territory of Missouri which lies south of a line beginning on the Mississippi River, at thirty-six degrees north latitude, running thence west to the river Saint François; thence, up the same, to thirty-six degrees thirty minutes north latitude; and thence, west, to the western territorial boundary-line; shall, for the purposes of a territorial government, constitute a separate Territory, and be called the Arkansaw Territory.
Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That there shall be established in the said Territory of Arkansaw, a temporary government, to consist of three departments, the executive, the legislative, and the judiciary.
Sec. 3. And be it further enacted, That the executive power shall be vested in a governor, who shall reside in the said Territory, and shall hold his office during three years, unless sooner removed by the President of the United States; he shall be commander-in-chief of the militia of said Territory, shall have power to appoint and commission all officers required by law to be appointed for said Territory, whose appointments are not otherwise provided for by this act; shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed; shall have power to grant pardons for offenses against the said Territory, and reprieves for those against the United States, until the decision of the President thereon shall have been made known; shall, on extraordinary occasions, have power to convene the general assembly, hereinafter provided for, after one shall have been organized in conformity to law; shall, ex-officio, be superintendent of Indian affairs, and shall have such other powers, and perform such further duties, as are by law given to, and imposed on, the governor of the Missouri Territory, in all cases in which they shall become legally applicable to the Territory of Arkansaw.
Sec. 4. And be it further enacted, That there shall be a secretary for the said Territory, who shall reside therein and continue in office for the term of four years, unless sooner removed by the President; he shall perform all the duties imposed on the secretary for the Territory of Missouri, by an act of Congress of the fourth of June, eighteen hundred and twelve, entitled “An act providing for the government of Missouri.”
Sec. 5. And be it further enacted, That the legislative power shall, until the organization of the general assembly, hereinafter provided for, be vested in the governor and the judges of the superior court of the Territory, who shall have power to pass any law for the administration of justice in said Territory, which shall not be repugnant to this act, or inconsistent with the Constitution of the United States: Provided, That whenever the general assembly shall be organized, all the legislative power of the Territory shall be vested in, and be exercised by, the said general assembly.
Sec. 6. And be it further enacted, That so much of the act of Congress of the fourth of June, eighteen hundred and twelve, entitled “An act providing for the government of the Territory of Missouri,” as relates to the organization of a general assembly therein, prescribes the powers and privileges thereof, the mode of election, and period of service, of the members thereof, and defines the qualifications and privileges of the electors and elected, shall be in full force and operation in the Arkansaw Territory, to the extent of its application, so soon as the governor thereof shall be satisfied that such is the desire of a majority of the freeholders thereof, and not until then: Provided, That until there shall be five thousand free white males, of the age of twenty-one years and upwards, resident in the said Territory, the whole number of representatives shall not exceed nine.
Sec. 7. And be it further enacted, That the judicial power of the Territory shall be vested in a superior court, and in such inferior courts as the legislative department of the Territory shall, from time to time, institute and establish, and in justices of the peace. The superior court shall be composed of three judges, who shall reside in the Territory, and continue in office for the term of four years, unless sooner removed by the President. The superior court shall have jurisdiction in all criminal and penal cases, and exclusive cognizance of all capital cases, and shall have and exercise original jurisdiction, concurrently with the inferior courts, and exclusive appellate jurisdiction in all civil cases in which the amount in controversy shall be one hundred dollars or upwards. The superior court shall be holden at such times and place, or places, as the legislative department shall direct, and continue in session until the business therein shall be disposed of, or as long as shall be prescribed by law. Provided, That any two of the judges shall constitute a court of appellate, and any one a court of original, jurisdiction.
Sec. 8. And be it further enacted, That the governor, secretary, judges, and all other officers, of the Territory, civil and military, shall, before they enter on the duties of their respective offices, take an oath or affirmation to support the Constitution of the United States, and to discharge, with fidelity, the duties of their offices; the governor, before a judge of the supreme or district court of the United States, or a judge of the superior court of the said Territory; the secretary and judges, before the said governor, or a judge of the supreme or district court of the United States; and all other officers, before the governor, or any of the judges of the supreme or inferior courts, or justices of the peace, of said Territory.
Sec. 9. And be it further enacted, That the governor, secretary, and judges of the superior court authorized for said Territory, during the temporary government thereof, shall be appointed by the President of the United States, with the advice and consent of the Senate: Provided, That the President shall have full power, during the recess of the Senate, to commission all or any of the said officers, until the end of the session of Congress next succeeding the date of the commission. The governor, secretary, and judges of the superior court shall receive the same compensation, payable quarter-yearly, which the governor, secretary, and superior judges of the Missouri Territory are entitled to by law.
Sec. 10. And be it further enacted, That all the laws which shall be in force in the Territory of Missouri, on the fourth day of July next, not inconsistent with the provisions of this act, and which shall be applicable to the Territory of Arkansaw, shall be, and continue, in force in the latter Territory, until modified or repealed by the legislative authority thereof.
Sec. 11. And be it further enacted, That the bounty-lands granted, or hereafter to be granted, for military services during the late war, shall, while they continue to be held by the patentees or their heirs, remain exempt from all taxes, for the term of three years from and after the date of the patents respectively.
Sec. 12. And be it further enacted, That whenever, according to the provisions of this act, the people of the Arkansaw Territory shall have a right to elect members of the house of representatives of their general assembly, they shall also have the right to elect a Delegate from the said Territory to the Congress of the United States, who shall possess the same powers, enjoy the same privileges, and receive the same compensation granted and secured by law to the delegates from other Territories.
Sec. 13. And be it further enacted, That until otherwise directed by the legislative department of the said Territory of Arkansaw, the seat of the territorial government thereof shall be the post of Arkansaw, on the Arkansaw River.
Sec. 14. And be it further enacted, That the line now established by law, between the land-offices at the seat of justice in the county of Lawrence, and at the town of Jackson, in the county of Cape Girardeau, shall, from and after the passage of this act, be so altered as to run, be the same, and correspond, with the northern line of the said Territory of Arkansaw, anything in the act, entitled “An act making provision for the establishment of additional land-offices in the Territory of Missouri,” passed the seventeenth day of February, one thousand eight hundred and eighteen, to the contrary notwithstanding.
Approved
March 2, 1819.
Source: The Federal and State Constitutions, Colonial Charters, and other Organic Laws of the States and Territories now or heretofore forming the United States of America, compiled and edited by Francis Newton Thorpe (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1909). Vol. I United States-Alabama-District of Columbia.
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