3. It is further agreed
that the Plantations which at present are or hereafter shall be
settled within the limits of the Massachusetts shall be forever under
the Massachusetts and shall have peculiar jurisdiction among
themselves in all cases as an entire body, and that Plymouth,
Connecticut, and New Haven shall each of them have like peculiar
jurisdiction and government within their limits; and in reference to
the Plantations which already are settled, or shall hereafter be
erected, or shall settle within their limits respectively; provided no
other Jurisdiction shall hereafter be taken in as a distinct head or
member of this Confederation, nor shall any other Plantation or
Jurisdiction in present being, and not already in combination or under
the jurisdiction of any of these Confederates, be received by any of
them; nor shall any two of the Confederates join in one Jurisdiction
without consent of the rest, which consent to be interpreted as is
expressed in the sixth article ensuing.
