A bill to provide a temporary government for the territory of Arizona

A Bill

To provide a temporary Government for the Territory of

Arizona

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled, that all that part of the present Territory of New Mexico situated west of a line, running due South from the point when the South West Corner of the Territory of Colorado joins the Northern boundary of the Territory of New Mexico, to the Southern boundary line of said Territory of New Mexico, be and the same is hereby executed into a temporary Government by the name of the Territory of Arizona, Provided that nothing contained in the provisions of this act shall be construed to prohibit the Congress of the United States from dividing said Territory or changing its boundaries, in such manner and at such time as it may deem proper. Provided further that said Government shall be maintained and continued until such time as the people residing in said territory, shall with the consent of Congress, form a State Government, republican in form, as proscribed in the Constitution of the United States, and apply for and obtain admission into the Union as a State on terms of approval an equal footing with the original States. and the State or States which may be erected out of said Territory shall be formed with the express stipulation that after their admission, they shall forever remain a part of the American union subject to the Constitution of the United States and such amendments as shall be constitutionally made, and to all acts and ordinances of the United States in Congress assembled, conformable thereto, and any act of rebellion on the part of the State Government.

there or alliance with one or more States or foreign nations for the purpose of making war on the United States shall terminate their legal existence and State Government and remand them to a Territorial condition, subject to the Government and control of Congress.

Section 2. And be it further enacted, that the Government hereby authorized shall consist of an Executive, Legislative, and Judicial power. The Executive power shall be vested in a Governor. The Legislative power shall consist of a Council of nine members and a House of Representatives of eighteen. The Judicial power shall be vested in a Supreme Court, to consist of three Judges, and such inferior courts as the Legislative Council may by law proscribe. there shall also be a Secretary, a Marshall a District Attorney and a Surveyor General for said Territory, who together with the Governor and Judges of the Supreme Court shall be appointed by the President by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, and the term of office for each, the manner of their appointment, and the powers, duties, and the compensation of the Governor, Legislative Assembly, Judges of the Supreme Court, Secretary, Marshall, District Attorney and Surveyor General aforesaid with their Clerks, Draughtsman, Deputies and Sergeant at Arms, shall be such as are conferred upon the same officers by the act organizing the which subordinate officers shall be appointed in the same manner & not exceed in number those created by said Act Territorial Government of Washington, which said Act and which where it is not inapplicable, is hereby extended to the Territory of Arizona.

Section 3. And be it further enacted, that there shall neither be Slavery nor involuntarily servitude in the said Territory, otherwise than for in the punishment of crimes, whereof the parties shall have been duly convicted, and that from and after the passage of this Act Slavery or involuntary servitude is hereby forever prohibited in all territories now organized or which may hereafter be organized, and in all Arsenals, Forts, and Dockyards of the United States, and all Acts and parts of Acts, either of Congress or of any organized Territory, establishing, regulating or in any way recognizing the relation of Master and Slave in any part of of said Territories is hereby repealed.