The Northwest Ordinance | Primary Source Essentials
How did the Northwest Ordinance shape the expansion of the United States in the early republic? In this rapid-fire episode of BRI’s Primary Source Essentials, explore how the Confederation Congress established a process for admitting new states to the Union with the Northwest Ordinance of 1787. Learn about the three-step process for statehood, the protection of essential rights, the promotion of education, and the ban on slavery in the Northwest Territory. Discover how this critical ordinance laid the foundation for the creation of five states—Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Wisconsin, and Minnesota—and promoted republican principles of self-government and a healthy civil society.
0:00 Welcome to Primary Source Essentials. In this episode, we will briefly discuss the Northwest Ordinance and the expansion of the National Union in the early Republic. The British had banned colonial settlement west of the Appalachian Mountains with the proclamation of 1763. However, with the 1783 peace treaty ending the Revolutionary War,
0:22 Americans began settling west to the Mississippi River. During the 1780s, several states voluntarily surrendered their land claims in the west to the national government, and the Confederation Congress began creating land ordinances to provide for the orderly settlement of the West. In July 1787, the Congress passed the Northwest Ordinance
0:44 to set up a process for territorial government and statehood. The Northwest Ordinance provided for the admission of territories to the Union as states on an equal basis, and a three step process. First, Congress would appoint a governor, a secretary, and three judges to govern the territory. Second, the territory could create a bicameral legislature
1:05 when he reached 5000 white adult male inhabitants. Third, the territory could create a state constitution, creating a republican government, and apply for statehood when it reached 60,000 inhabitants. The ordinance protected certain rights, including freedom of conscience, the right to a trial by jury, and the right of property.
1:27 The Northwest Ordinance provided for education as the basis of good citizenship. Notably, the ordinance also banned slavery, but provided for the recapture of enslaved fugitives, so the Northwest Ordinance provided a process by which new states would enter the Union and the country would grow. Eventually, five states Ohio, Michigan, Indiana,
1:51 Wisconsin, and Minnesota were created out of the Northwest Territory. It did so by establishing the new states on certain principles of self-government, protecting rights, and building a healthy civil society. Thanks for watching and check out the other videos in Primary Source Essentials.
