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Home  »  Respectfully Quoted  »  Northwest Ordinance

Respectfully Quoted: A Dictionary of Quotations. 1989.

 
NUMBER: 55
AUTHOR: Northwest Ordinance
QUOTATION: Religion, morality, and knowledge, being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged. The utmost good faith shall always be observed towards the Indians; their lands and property shall never be taken from them without their consent; and, in their property, rights, and liberty, they shall never be invaded or disturbed, unless in just and lawful wars authorized by Congress; but laws founded in justice and humanity, shall from time to time be made for preventing wrongs being done to them, and for preserving peace and friendship with them.
ATTRIBUTION: NORTHWEST ORDINANCE, 1787, article 3.—Henry Steele Commager, ed., Documents of American History, p. 131 (1934).
SUBJECTS: America