What is the Northwest Ordinance of 1787?
The Second Continental Congress adopted the Northwest Ordinance in 1787 as a result of settlers spilling into the area after the U.S. had gained the territory in the Revolutionary War with the 1783 Treaty of Paris. The ordinance stated that the new territory would be admitted to the union as no more than 5 and no less than 3 states. This territory went from the Ohio River in the south to the Great Lakes in the north and to the Mississippi River to the west. The territories would use a three-step process of becoming states. First, they would be administered by a governor, secretary, and three judges appointed by Congress. Then, in the second phase, they would have a non-voting member of Congress and an elected assembly when the male voting population reached 5,000. When the population reached 60,000 (in all), the territory would draft a state constitution and ask...
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to be admitted as a state to the union. In addition, the ordinance stated that rights would be granted to members of the territory, including the right of free speech and religion, the right of habeas corpus, and right to a jury trial. This process of becoming a state was used for all subsequent states that came into the union. Finally, the ordinance stated that slavery was not allowed in the Northwest Territory, so the Ohio River became the dividing line between slave and free states until the Civil War.
What was the Northwest Ordinance of 1787?
The Northwest Ordinance was created in 1787. Its purpose was to organize the procedures to be followed as new territory was opened for settlement and eventual admission into the United States in the form of new states.
The Ordinance of 1787 (its official title) directly addressed the land between the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers and north to the Great Lakes. A governor, secretary, and three judges were appointed to provide initial governmental supervision as the land was opened for development by settlers. When the population in the territory reached 5,000 inhabitants, the Ordinance authorized the local election of a territorial legislature and the designation of a non-voting representative from the territory to the House of Representatives in Washington. When a specific area within the territory reached a population of 60,000, that area could begin the process of applying for admission to the Union as a new state. In accordance with the Ordinance's directions, the territory could be divided into three to five states. Eventually, the states created from the territory covered by the Ordinance were Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, part of Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin.
The Northwest Ordinance established the framework for procedures that were followed as new territory and new states were added to the United States throughout its years of physical expansion.