The Northwest Ordinance of 1787 carved out five states: Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin from the Northwest Territory.
What states are in the Northwest Territory?
The Northwest Territory included the modern-day states of Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, and part of Minnesota.
Picture this: a vast stretch of land that ran from the Ohio River up to the Great Lakes and west all the way to the Mississippi. After the Revolution, states like Virginia and New York gave up their western claims to the federal government. That move cleared the path for organized settlement. The National Park Service even defined the territory’s boundaries, which helped early settlers and surveyors know exactly where they stood.
What was the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 quizlet?
The Northwest Ordinance of 1787 established a government for the Northwest Territory, provided a path for new states to join the Union, and included a bill of rights.
On July 13, 1787, the Confederation Congress passed this landmark law. It set the rules for how America would expand westward—no small feat. The ordinance did three big things: it banned slavery in the territory (a decision that later stoked sectional fires), guaranteed key rights like freedom of religion and trial by jury, and laid out a three-stage process for territories to become states. To join the Union, a territory needed 60,000 people. Britannica calls it one of the early government’s finest achievements. Honestly, this was the blueprint for how the U.S. would grow.
