included within the Atlantic Ocean, the St. Croix, the lakes, and more
precisely, so far as relates to the frontier, having relation to the
present argument, within "a line to be drawn through the middle of the
river Mississippi, until it intersect the northernmost part of the
thirty-first degree of north latitude, thence within a line drawn due
east on this degree of latitude to the river Apalachicola, thence along
the middle of this river to its junction with the Flint River, thence
straight to the head of the St. Mary's River, and thence down the St.
Mary's to the Atlantic Ocean."

I have been thus particular to draw the minds of gentlemen, distinctly,
to the meaning of the terms used in the preamble; to the extent which
"the United States" then included; and to the fact, that neither New
Orleans, nor Louisiana, was within the comprehension of the terms of
this instrument. It is sufficient for the present branch of my argument
to say, that there is nothing, in the general nature of this compact,
from which the power, contemplated to be exercised in this bill,
results. On the contrary, as the introduction of a new associate in
political power implies, necessarily, a new division of power, and
consequent diminution of the relative proportion of the former
proprietors of it, there can, certainly, be nothing more obvious, than
that from the general nature of the instrument no power can result to
diminish and give away, to strangers, any proportion of the rights of
the original partners. If such a power exist, it must be found, then, in
the particular provisions in the Constitution. The question now arising
is, in which of these provisions is given the power to admit new States,
to be created in territories beyond the limits of the old United States.
If it exist anywhere, it is either in the third section of the fourth
article of the Constitution, or in the treaty-making power. If it result
from neither of these, it is not pretended to be found anywhere else.