members to be appointed by the President without consulting the Senate, and was to be convened and prorogued by the governor as he might think proper. The judicial officers, also appointed by the President, were to hold office for four years, instead of the usual term of good behavior. The right to a jury trial was restricted to cases where the matter in controversy exceeded twenty dollars, and to capital cases in criminal prosecutions. The slave-trade was restricted by threefold prohibitions: 1. No slave could be imported from abroad; 2. No slave could be brought into the territory from the Union who had been imported from abroad since May 1, 1798; 3. No slave could be introduced into the territory "directly or indirectly," except by an American citizen "removing into said territory for actual settlement, and being, at the time of such removal, bona fide owner of such slave,"—the penalty being three hundred dollars fine and the slave's freedom.
This Bill seemed to set the new Territory apart, as a peculiar estate, to be governed by a power implied in the right to acquire it. The debate which followed its introduction into the Senate was not reported, but the Journal mentioned that Senator Adams, Jan. 10, 1804, moved three Resolultions, to the effect that no constititutional power existed to tax the people of Louisiana without their consent, and carried but three voices with him in support of the principle.[1] Other attempts were made to arrest the exercise of
- ↑ Diary of J. Q. Adams (Jan. 10, 1804), i. 287.
