...it was moved by a delegate from Maryland " that the United States in Congress assembled shall have the sole and exclusive right and power to ascertain and fix the western boundary of such states as lay claim to the Mississippi or South Sea as a western boundary, and [to] lay out the land beyond the...

...before that time efforts were made to include in the powers of Congress that of ascertaining and fixing the western boundary of such States as claim to the Mississippi or South Sea, and of laying out the land beyond the boundary into separate and independent States. Maryland took the...

...proposed that Congress should have the right to "fix the western boundary of such states as claimed to the Mississippi or South Sea; and lay out the land beyond the boundary as ascertained into separate and independent states from time to time as the numbers and circumstances...