Congress passed the Northwest Ordinance governing territory north of the Ohio River in 1787.
The Confederation Congress adopted the ordinance on July 13, 1787, while the Constitutional Convention was meeting in Philadelphia. It created a territorial government for the Northwest Territory, an area that later became all or part of several Midwestern states.
The ordinance established a process for territories to become states. Congress could appoint a governor and judges at first; once a territory reached a population threshold, settlers could form a legislature. When the population reached 60,000 free inhabitants, the territory could apply for statehood on an equal footing with existing states.
The law also prohibited slavery in the Northwest Territory, protected religious liberty and certain civil rights, and encouraged public education. Its statehood framework influenced later American territorial policy, although the ordinance did not resolve the larger national conflict over slavery in territories outside its boundaries.