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The Northwest Ordinance

The Congress of the Confederation

13 July 1787 · 18th Century · Political Theory · English

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Abstract

Written: 1787
Setting: The Confederation period; New York City (Congress) and the Northwest Territory
Author: The Congress of the Confederation
Country: United States
Language: English
Genre: Federal statute
Form: Fourteen sections and six articles of compact
Recommended: Grades 6–12 (Clear eighteenth-century legal prose; short.)

Setting. In the summer of 1787, as delegates in Philadelphia drafted a new Constitution, Congress in New York passed a law for governing the lands north and west of the Ohio River. The region stretched to the Mississippi and the Great Lakes.

Stages. An appointed governor, secretary and three judges rule first; once five thousand free men live there, they elect an assembly and a non-voting delegate. Property and inheritance rules are also laid down.

Rights. Six permanent articles guarantee freedom of worship, the great writ, jury trial, bail, moderate fines and secure contracts, and forbid cruel punishments.

Education and the Indians. The third article calls religion, morality and knowledge necessary to good government, encourages schools and pledges good faith to native nations, a pledge often broken.

Statehood and slavery. Three to five states would enter on equal footing; slavery is forbidden except as punishment for crime, though fugitives may be reclaimed.

Legacy. The region became five states and part of a sixth, the Ohio River became a line between slave and free, and the slavery clause's words returned in the Thirteenth Amendment. The First Congress under the Constitution re-enacted it in 1789.

Key figures

Nathan Dane: Massachusetts delegate credited with the final draft
Thomas Jefferson: Author of the 1784 plan for western government
Manasseh Cutler: Agent of the Ohio Company
Arthur St. Clair: First territorial governor

Summary

The Northwest Ordinance, officially An Ordinance for the Government of the Territory of the United States North-West of the River Ohio, was passed by the Confederation Congress on 13 July 1787, while the Constitutional Convention was meeting in Philadelphia. It is one of the most important laws in American history. It created a government for the vast territory between the Ohio River, the Mississippi and the Great Lakes, and it set the pattern by which new states would join the Union as equals of the original thirteen. The first part of the ordinance sets out a plan of government in stages. At first Congress appoints a governor, a secretary and three judges, who adopt laws from the existing states. When the territory has five thousand free adult male inhabitants, they may elect a general assembly and send a non-voting delegate to Congress. The ordinance also provides rules for inheritance and the transfer of property. The second part consists of six articles of compact between the original states and the people of the territory, to remain unalterable except by common consent. Article 1 guarantees that no peaceable person shall be molested on account of his mode of worship or religious sentiments. Article 2 secures habeas corpus, trial by jury, proportionate representation, bail, moderate fines, no cruel or unusual punishments, and the sanctity of private contracts. Article 3 declares that religion, morality and knowledge are necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, and that schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged; it also promises the utmost good faith toward the Indians and that their lands shall not be taken without their consent except in just and lawful wars authorized by Congress. Article 4 binds the new states to the Union, and Article 5 provides that between three and five states shall be formed and admitted on an equal footing once a state has sixty thousand free inhabitants. Article 6 forbids slavery and involuntary servitude in the territory, except as punishment for crime, while allowing the return of fugitives. The territory eventually became Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin and part of Minnesota. The ban on slavery made the Ohio River a boundary between slave and free states, and its words were later used in the Thirteenth Amendment. The promise of good faith to the Indians was repeatedly broken, as the frontier wars that followed showed.

Plot or Argument

Government in stages
Sections 1–12: governor, secretary and judges, then an elected assembly and a delegate to Congress.
Article 1
Freedom of worship for all peaceable persons.
Article 2
Habeas corpus, jury trial, bail, no cruel punishments and protection of contracts.
Article 3
Religion, morality and knowledge; schools; good faith toward the Indians.
Articles 4–5
Obligations to the Union; formation of three to five states admitted on an equal footing.
Article 6
Slavery and involuntary servitude forbidden, except as punishment for crime, with a fugitive clause.

Lessons

Religion, morality and knowledge
The ordinance links good government to religion, morality and education. Free societies depend on citizens of good character.
- What does Article 3 say is necessary to good government?
- Why might the founders have linked schools with religion and morality?
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Equal footing
New states would join as equals, not colonies. The ordinance extended self-government rather than ruling territories as possessions.
- How does a territory become a state under the ordinance?
- Why was it important that new states be equal to the old?
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A free territory
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- What exception and what limitation does it include?
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Broken promises
The ordinance promised good faith toward the Indians, but the promise was often broken. A just law must be kept to be worth anything.
- What did Article 3 promise the Indians?
- What happened to that promise?
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Context

After the Revolution, the states ceded their western land claims to Congress. The Land Ordinance of 1785 had provided for surveying the territory, and settlers and land companies were pressing to move west.

Composition

Congress debated plans for western government from 1784. The ordinance was passed on 13 July 1787, in part to meet the request of the Ohio Company of Associates, represented by Manasseh Cutler.

Reception

The First Congress under the Constitution re-enacted the ordinance in 1789 with minor changes. Abraham Lincoln and others later cited its ban on slavery as evidence of the founders' intentions.

Justice Law Power / Politics Race Slavery Education Faith / Religion

Comparisons

The Founding Documents
The Constitution was written the same summer; its Bill of Rights repeats many of Article 2's protections.
The Lincoln-Douglas Debates
Lincoln cited the Northwest Ordinance to show that the founders restricted slavery.
The Anti-Federalist Papers
The debates over the Constitution took place as the ordinance began to operate.

Quotes

“Religion, morality, and knowledge, being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged.”

— The Congress of the Confederation, The Northwest Ordinance, Article 3.Quote card

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“There shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in the said territory, otherwise than in the punishment of crimes whereof the party shall have been duly convicted”

— The Congress of the Confederation, The Northwest Ordinance, Article 6.Quote card

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For Students

A reading companion for classical Christian high school students. See the student guide.

Reading Guide

Watch for

The stages of territorial government.
The six articles of compact.
The link between religion, morality and education.
The ban on slavery and its limits.

Key terms and names

Territory: A region governed by the United States that is not yet a state.
Articles of compact: Permanent agreements between the original states and the people of the territory.
Equal footing: The principle that new states have the same rights as the original states.
Involuntary servitude: Forced labour, a broader term than slavery.

Seminar Questions

Comprehension What three officials govern a territory at first?
Comprehension How many free inhabitants must a territory have to become a state?
Interpretation Why might Congress have made the articles of compact unalterable except by common consent?
Interpretation What does Article 3 suggest about the founders' view of religion and education?
Interpretation Can a law be just if its promises are not kept?
Interpretation How did the ban on slavery in the Northwest shape the later history of the nation?
Big Question What role should religion and morality play in public life?

Faith Connections

Proverbs 14:34 (Scripture)
"Righteousness exalteth a nation": the link between morality and good government.
Deuteronomy 6:6–7 (Scripture)
God's words to be taught diligently to children, as the ordinance encourages schools.
Leviticus 25:10 (Scripture)
"Proclaim liberty throughout all the land": the verse later inscribed on the Liberty Bell.

Logic and Rhetoric

Central argument: The western territory shall be governed by law, protect religious liberty and civil rights, encourage education, forbid slavery and grow into equal states.

Rhetorical device: parallelism. Article 3 links "religion, morality, and knowledge" as three necessities of good government.

Debate: Resolved: that the Northwest Ordinance was the most important achievement of the Confederation Congress.

Memory Work

Religion, morality, and knowledge, being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged.
Article 3. A founding statement on education.

There shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in the said territory, otherwise than in the punishment of crimes whereof the party shall have been duly convicted
Article 6. The first federal ban on slavery.

Writing Prompts

Essay: Explain how the Northwest Ordinance applied the principles of the Revolution to the West.

Comparison with The Founding Documents: Compare Article 2 of the ordinance with the U.S. Bill of Rights.

Creative Prompts

Classroom
Draw a map of the Northwest Territory and the states formed from it, with their dates of admission.
Essay
Explain how the Northwest Ordinance shaped the later debate over slavery.
Dialogue
Write a conversation between settlers in Ohio in 1800 about building their first school.