The assembly first convened on August 26, 1794, and called for immediate steps to be taken to achieve full statehood. The assembly appointed Dr. James White (not to be confused with Knoxville's founder) as its non-voting representative in Congress, making the Southwest Territory one of the first U.S. territories to make use of this power. A special session of the assembly on June 29, 1795, called for a census to be taken the following month to determine if the territory's population had reached the 60,000 threshold required for statehood. The census revealed a population of 77,262 inhabitants. After the census, the territory moved swiftly to form a state government. In December 1795, counties elected delegates for the state constitutional convention. This convention met in Knoxville in January 1796, and drafted a new state constitution. The name "Tennessee," which had been in common use since 1793 when Secretary Smith published his "Short Description of the Tennassee Government," was chosen as the new name for the state. The Northwest Ordinance was vague on the final steps to be taken for a state to be fully admitted to the Union, so Tennessee's leaders proceeded to organize a state government. John Sevier was elected governor, the first Tennessee General Assembly convened in March 1796, and Blount notified the Secretary of State, Timothy Pickering, that the territorial government had been terminated. A copy of the state constitution was delivered to Pickering by future governor Joseph McMinn. Blount and William Cocke were chosen as the state's U.S. Senators, and Andrew Jackson was elected the state's representative. As the Southwest Territory was the first federal territory to petition to join the Union, there was confusion in Congress about how to proceed. Nonetheless, Tennessee was admitted to the Union on June 1, 1796, as the 16th state. The Southwest Territory was governed under an act of Congress, "An Act for the Government of the Territory of the United States, South of the River Ohio" (Southwest Ordinance), passed May 26, 1791. This act essentially mirrored the earlier Northwest Ordinance, the key difference being over slavery, which was prohibited by the Northwest Ordinance, but not the Southwest Ordinance. Both ordinances provided for freedom of religion and the sanctity of contracts, barred legal primogeniture, and encouraged the establishment of schools and respect for the liberty of the Indians. The supreme power in the territory rested in the governor, who was appointed by the President of the United States.