8377. TERRITORY, Admission of new States.—
I am aware of the force of the observations
you make on the power given by
the Constitution to Congress, to admit new
States into the Union, without restraining the
subject to the territory then constituting the
United States. But when I consider that the
limits of the United States are precisely fixed
by the treaty of 1783, that the Constitution
expressly declares itself to be made for the
United States, I cannot help believing the intention
was to permit Congress to admit into
the Union new States, which should be
formed out of the territory for which, and
under whose authority alone, they were then
acting. I do not believe it was meant that
they might receive England, Ireland, Holland,
&c., into it, which would be the case on your
construction.—
To Wilson C. Nicholas. Washington ed. iv, 505.
Ford ed., viii, 247.
(M.
Sep. 1803)
