"Petitions to Congress from Northwest and Indiana territories for the suspension of the sixth article of compact of the Ordinance of 1787, and the admission of slavery to the territory, together with the counterpetitions, the reports on them and the accompanying documents ... [also] the report of General W. Johnson to the Indiana legislature in 1808, against the modification of the sixth article, and the opinion of John Johnson in Polly's case."--Introd.