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Act Establishing Florida Statehood, 1845

(From: An Act For The Admission of the States of Iowa and Florida Into The Union, 1845, Collection M81-22)

28th Congress
Second Session

Begun and held at the City of Washington in the District of Columbia on Monday the second day of December, eighteen hundred and forty-four.

An Act for the Admission of the States of Iowa and Florida into the Union Whereas, the people of the territory of Iowa did, on the Seventh day of October, eighteen hundred and fourty-four, by a convention of delegates called and assembled for that purpose, form for themselves a constitution and State Government, and whereas the people of the territory of Florida did, in like manner by their delegates, on the eleventh day of January, eighteen hundred and thirty-nine, form for themselves a constitution and State Government, both of which said constitutions are republican, and said conventions having asked the admission of their respective territories into the Union as States, on equall footing with the original states: Be it enacted, by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the States of Iowa and Florida be and the same are hereby, declared to be States of the United States of America, and are hereby admitted into the Union on equal footing with the original States in all respects whatsoever.

Section 2. And be it further enacted , That the following shall be the boundaries of the said State of Iowa, to wit: Beginning at the mouth of the Des Moines river, at the middle of the Mississippi, thence by the middle of the channel of that river to a pararallel of latitude passing through the mouth of the Mankato or Blue-Earth river, thence west along the said parallel of latitude to a point where it is intersected by a meridian line, seventeen degrees and thirty minutes west of the meridian of Washington City, thence due South to the northern boundary line of the State of Missouri, thence eastwardly following that boundary to the point at which the same intersects the Des Moines river, thence by the middle of the channel of that river to the place of beginning.

Section 3. And be it further enacted, that the said state of Iowa shall have concurrent jurisdiction on the river Mississippi, and every other river bordering on the said state of Iowa, so far as the said rivers shall form a common boundary to said State, and any other State or States now or hereafter to be formed or bounded by the same: such rivers to be common to both: and that the said river Mississippi, and the navigable waters leading into the same, shall be common highways, and forever free as well to the inhabitants of said State, as to all other citizens of the United States, without any tax, duty, impost, or toll therefor, imposed by the said State of Iowa.

Section 4. And be it further enacted, That it is made and declared to be a fundamental condition of the admission of said State of Iowa into the Union, that so much of this act as relates to the said State of Iowa shall be assented to by a majority of the qualified electors at their township elections in the manner and at the time prescribed in the sixth section of the thirteenth article of the constitution adopted at Iowa city the first day of November, anno Domini eighteen hundred and forty-four, or by the legislature of said State. And as soon as such assent shall be given, the President of the United States shall announce the same by proclamation; and therefrom and without further proceedings on the part of Congress the admission of the said State of Iowa into the Union, on an equal footing in all respects whatever with the original States, shall be considered as complete.

Section 5. And be it further enacted, That said State of Florida shall embrace the territories of East and West Florida, which by the treaty of amnity, settlement and limits between the United States and Spain, on the twenty-second day of February, eighteen hundred and nineteen, were ceded to the United States.

Section 6. And be it further enacted, That until the next census and apportionment shall be made, each of said States of Iowa and Florida, shall be entitled to one representative in the House of Representatives of the United States.

Section 7. And be it further enacted, That said States of Iowa and Florida are admitted into the Union on the express condition that they shall never interfere with the primary disposal of the public lands lying within them, nor levy any tax on the same whilst remaining the property of the United States: Provided, That the ordinance of the convention that formed the constitution of Iowa, and which is appended to the said constitution, shall not be deemed or taken to have any effect or validity, or to be recognized as in any manner obligatory, upon the government of the United States.

Source:
Florida Memory Project: Highlights of Florida History
http://www.floridamemory.com/FloridaHighlights/

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