remained impossible, to know whether this territory did or did
not then belong to the United States; and, consequently, to know
whether it was within or without the authority conferred by this
clause, to dispose of and make rules and regulations respecting the
territory of the United States. This attributes to the eminent men who
acted on this subject a want of ability and forecast, or a want of
attention to the known facts upon which they were acting, in which I
cannot concur.

There is not, in my judgment, anything in the language, the history,
or the subject-matter of this article, which restricts its operation
to territory owned by the United States when the Constitution was
adopted.

But it is also insisted that provisions of the Constitution respecting
territory belonging to the United States do not apply to territory
acquired by treaty from a foreign nation. This objection must rest
upon the position that the Constitution did not authorize the Federal
Government to acquire foreign territory, and consequently has made no
provision for its government when acquired; or, that though the
acquisition of foreign territory was contemplated by the Constitution,
its provisions concerning the admission of new States, and the making
of all needful rules and regulations respecting territory belonging to
the United States, were not designed to be applicable to territory
acquired from foreign nations.

It is undoubtedly true, that at the date of the treaty of 1803,
between the United States and France, for the cession of Louisiana, it
was made a question, whether the Constitution had conferred on the
executive department of the Government of the United States power to
acquire foreign territory by a treaty.

There is evidence that very grave doubts were then entertained
concerning the existence of this power. But that there was then a
settled opinion in the executive and legislative branches of the
Government, that this power did not exist, cannot be admitted, without
at the same time imputing to those who negotiated and ratified the
treaty, and passed the laws necessary to carry it into execution, a
deliberate and known violation of their oaths to support the
Constitution; and whatever doubts may then have existed, the question
must now be taken to have been settled. Four distinct acquisitions of
foreign territory have been made by as many different treaties, under
as many different Administrations. Six States, formed on