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Name: ___________________________ Per: _______________
SSUSH6 The student will analyze the impact of territorial expansion and population growth in the early
decades of the nation: Explain the Northwest Ordinance’s importance in the westward migration of Americans,
and on slavery, public education, and the addition of new states.
Northwest Ordinance
What is the Northwest
Ordinance?
importance in/on westward
migration of Americans
Importance of effect on slavery
importance on public education
importance on the addition of
new states ( how, why, method,
when, where, who)
Managed Expansion in the Midwest
In 1790 the population of the trans-Appalachian region was estimated at more than 120,000. The large number of
Americans living west of the Appalachians made the management of westward migration a top priority for the new
federal government, which hoped to peaceably maintain political authority over its western citizens and allow the
settlers to extend the political boundaries of the young nation with their movements. The Northwest Ordinance of
1787 offered a solution by creating a model for managed expansion. The legislation provided for the organization
of the Northwest Territory into new states by creating a defined set of conditions that assured the creation of
civilian government in the newly settled regions and prepared the new territories for statehood. The system
successfully managed the steady migration of settlers into the Old Northwest Territory, which eventually became
the states of Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and Wisconsin.
The Northwest Ordinance established a means and precedence by which the United States could expand westward.
For a collection of former colonies, extremely sensitive—to say the least—to the fashion in which they'd been
governed by England, this was a crucial piece of egalitarian legislation.
The final of four Ordinances was adopted by the Articles of Confederation Congress sitting in its last session, in
1787. In sum, the Northwest Ordinance dealt with the territory acquired from Great Britain in the aftermath of the
war—land north of the Ohio River and east of Mississippi. It made four crucial promises to prospective states in
this region.
First, that each would enter the union "on an equal footing with the original states." Second, that revenue generated
from the sale of a portion of each township in the state would go to fund public education—the first instance of
federal aid for education in American history. Third, "neither slavery nor involuntary servitude" were to be allowed.
And four, that a good faith effort would be made to respect the Indians in the territory.
In time, the Northwest Territories would become the states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin and
Minnesota. While the last of the ordinances was the most ill-kept, the third would prove crucial to the future history
of the country. By federal mandate, each of the states in the Northwest Territories entered the union slave-free—a
fact that would weigh heavily against the institution of slavery for years, and would help bring about its ultimate e
The area opened up by the Ordinance was based on lines originally laid out in 1784 by Thomas Jefferson in his
Report of Government for Western Lands. The Ordinance provided for the creation of not less than three nor more
than five states. In addition, it contained provisions for the advancement of education, the maintenance of civil
liberties and the exclusion of slavery.
Above all, the Northwest Ordinance accelerated the westward expansion of the United States.
Northwest Ordinance
On July 13, 1787, the Confederation Congress passed the Northwest Ordinance. The act created a system of
government for the Northwest Territory. It also specified how the various parts of the Northwest Territory could
become states. Earlier legislation such as the Ordinance of 1784 and the Land Ordinance of 1785, had only said that
the territory would some day become states and had described how the federal government would sell the land to
private citizens.
Thomas Jefferson, Nathan Dane, Manasseh Cutler, and Rufus King usually receive credit for the ideas behind the
Northwest Ordinance. According to the act, the territory would have to progress through three separate stages of
government. In the first stage, the Congress was responsible for selecting the territory's leaders. There would be a
governor, a secretary, and three judges. The governor and judges would jointly select laws from already existing
states to create their territory's legal code. The Congress reserved the right to accept or reject all selected laws. The
governor would have power over the militia and Indian matters. He also could select law enforcement officials and
judges for the lower courts. All five members of the territorial government were to have sizeable holdings of land
and be residents of the territory.
Once five thousand free men lived within the territory, the government would enter a second stage. The federal
government allowed residents to elect a legislature. The legislature consisted of two houses, a house of
representatives and a legislative council. The legislative council was a group of five men selected by Congress from
a list of ten names of legislators serving in the house. Every legislator serving in the house had to be an adult male
resident with at least two hundred acres of property under his control. To serve on the legislative council a person
had to be an adult male who owned five hundred or more acres of land. To be able to vote in the territory, a person
had to be an adult male and the owner of at least fifty acres of land. No "squatters" or residents who did not own
property were permitted to vote.
The final phase was actual statehood. The Northwest Ordinance stipulated the creation of at least three but not more
than five states out of the Northwest Territory. Once sixty thousand people resided in a territory, they could apply
for statehood. The people could form a constitutional convention, draft a state constitution, and then submit the
document to the United States Congress for approval. The state constitution had to guarantee basic rights to its
people, including religious freedom, trial by jury, the right to bail except in capital cases, and several additional
rights. The states were to encourage education, but the Northwest Ordinance did not require states to provide public
education. Slavery also was outlawed in any of the states created from the Northwest Territory.
The Northwest Ordinance paved the way for Ohio to become the seventeenth state of the United States of America.
It also, with some minor modifications, established the process for admission to the United States for all states since
1787.
Another opinion of the Northwest Ordinance
On July 13, 1787, the Continental Congress of the United States passed an important law. This was the "Northwest
Ordinance," which declared that the United States intended to settle the region North of the Ohio River and east of
the Mississippi. It set up a method by which new states would be admitted to the Union and said that five could be
carved from the "Northwest" territory. The method of admitting new states that was set out in the Northwest
Ordinance was used, right up to the fiftieth with only a few minor changes. The new states that were added got
exactly the same rights and powers as the old. Federal taxes were to be assessed on the new states using the same
formula as governed the old states. In other words, the new states were equal with the old. But the Northwest
Ordinance did more than concern itself with adding states to the union.
Slavery was forbidden (although fugitive slaves could be tracked and taken back south). The act made a gesture
toward protecting the Indians and their land. The Ordinance also established a bill of rights. Up to this time, this
had been lacking.
Among those rights was an important promise of religious tolerance: "No person, demeaning [conducting] himself
in a peaceable and orderly manner, shall ever be molested [harassed or bothered] on account of his mode of worship
or religious sentiments," said the writers. This was in keeping with the widely accepted belief of Americans that
men and women were individually responsible for their consciences. To force belief, it was widely thought, would
violate Christ's teaching that we must "worship in Spirit and in truth."
Another provision of the Northwest Ordinance showed the importance that Congress attached to religion and
religious freedom. Article Three declared, "Religion, morality, and knowledge being necessary to good government
and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged." In those days,
schools were most often run by churches.
Of course, men being what they are, these provisions were sometimes neglected. Indian land was grabbed.
Prejudice against Catholics and Mormons sometimes resulted in their unfair treatment. It is doubtful the state
governments of these areas have "forever" encouraged religious schools.
But on the whole, this ordinance was wise and is regarded as one of the most worthwhile actions taken by the
Continental Congress.