d in the territory not less than three nor more than
five States, designating their boundaries. It was passed while the
Federal Convention was in session, about two months before the
Constitution was adopted by the Convention. The members of the
Convention must therefore have been well acquainted with the
provisions of the Ordinance. It provided for a temporary Government,
as initiatory to the formation of State Governments. Slavery was
prohibited in the territory.

Can any one suppose that the eminent men of the Federal Convention
could have overlooked or neglected a matter so vitally important to
the country, in the organization of temporary Governments for the vast
territory northwest of the river Ohio? In the 3d section of the 4th
article of the Constitution, they did make provision for the admission
of new States, the sale of the public lands, and the temporary
Government of the territory. Without a temporary Government, new
States could not have been formed, nor could the public lands have
been sold.

If the third section were before us now for consideration for the
first time, under the facts stated, I could not hesitate to say there
was adequate legislative power given in it. The power to make all
needful rules and regulations is a power to legislate. This no one
will controvert, as Congress cannot make "rules and regulations,"
except by legislation. But it is argued that the word territory is
used as synonymous with the word land; and that the rules and
regulations of Congress are limited to the disposition of lands and
other property belonging to the United States. That this is not the
true construction of the section appears from the fact that in the
first line of the section "the power to dispose of the public lands"
is given expressly, and, in addition, to make all needful rules and
regulations. The power to dispose of is complete in itself, and
requires nothing more. It authorizes Congress to use the proper means
within its discretion, and any further provision for this purpose
would be a useless verbiage. As a composition, the Constitution is
remarkably free from such a charge.

In the discussion of the power of Congress to govern a Territory, in
the case of the Atlantic Insurance Company _v._ Canter, (1 Peters,
511; 7 Curtis, 685,) Chief Justice Marshall, speaking for the court,
said, in regard to the people of Florida, "they do not, however,
participate in political power; they do not share in the G