The Northwest Ordinance
Northwest Ordience (APEX)
Northwest Ordinance of 1787
It allowed more goods to come in from the East.
The Northwest Ordinance of 1787 established a systematic process for territories to become states in the United States. It outlined how new territories could be organized, governed, and eventually admitted as states, provided they met certain population and governance criteria. This framework promoted orderly westward expansion while ensuring that new states would have equal standing with the original states. The ordinance also included provisions for civil liberties and the prohibition of slavery in the Northwest Territory, reflecting the values of the time.
Western territories had limited self-government. When they reached a population of at least 60,000 people, they could draft a constitution. If congress apporved the document, they became a state.
Nine states had to ratify the Constitution before it could become law.
It did that. The issue could not be ducked by a Congressman. All had to vote in favor of, or opposed to slavery.
Because the Supreme Court said that slavery was protected by the Constitution. So in theory, the new territories could not vote to become free-soil States.
The Northwest Ordinance of 1787 (or the Northwest Ordinance, as it is now referred) helped the US grow by creating the first organized territory of the United States, the Northwest Territory. This territory contained land from the Great Lakes to west of the Ohio River and east of the Mississippi River. The Ordinance also abolished slavery in the new territory, which helped lead the way for further growth as a slave-free nation. The ordinance also created Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, and Michigan.
Yes. Congress could NOT tell territories or states not to have slaves.
The crisis over Missouri Compromise exposed the divisions of the country on the contentious issue of slavery. The line that literally divided the territories that would become states put the Union into a precarious balance that could easily tip in favor of the slave states.
Territories had constitutions that had to be approved by congress while states did not have to have their constitutions approved. Before a territory could enter the Union they needed to draft an acceptable state constitution.