THE STATUS OF OUR NEW TERRITORIES. 37/ or in any of its amendments. The other instance is found in the 13th Amendment/ — in which "United States" is plainly used in its original sense, if the words which follow it are to have any meaning; and yet, if the authors of that amendment had under- stood that the term "United States," when used in the Constitution to express extent of territory, had its third meaning, they would have omitted the words, "or any place subject to their jurisdiction." If a broader view be taken of the Constitution and its amend- ments, it will be found that the only portions of it which indicate the slightest intention to extend their operation beyond the limits of the States, are the clause authorizing the admission of new States,' the clause providing for the government of territories,^ and the 13th Amendment. The Constitution of the United States, like other constitutions, is mainly occupied with the creation and organization of the three great departments of government, — the legislative, the ex- ecutive, and the judicial. Accordingly, the first three articles, comprising about six-sevenths of the whole, are entirely occupied with these three departments respectively. The last three sections of Art. I (namely, the 8th, 9th, and loth Sections) are, however, peculiar to the Constitution of the United States as a federal con- stitution, and will, therefore, be excluded from view for the present. Of the remainder of Art. i, and of the whole of Arts. 2 and 3, it may be affirmed that not one word in either has any reference or any application to any territory outside the limits of the States. As to Arts. I and 2, the correctness of this view has never been questioned, and, as to Art. 3, its correctness is established by the uniform practice of the legislative department * of the govern-
- ["Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime,
whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States or any place subject to their jurisdiction."]
- See supra, page 370, note i.
■ Art. 4, sect. 3, subsect. 2.
- For example, the entire judicial power in the Territories has always been vested
by Congress in one set of courts, regardless of the dual system which exists in all the States by virtue of Art. 3 of the Constitution. Moreover, these courts have always been termed Territorial courts (not United States courts), and have always been so re- garded ; the statutes by which they have been created and governed are wholly separate and distinct from those creating and governing the courts of the United States within the States; their judges have generally held office only for a term of four years, whereas all judges appointed under Art. 3 of the Constitution hold office during good behavior; and originally there was no appeal from any Territorial court to the Supreme Court.
