The Northwest Ordinance was enacted on July 13, 1787, creating the first organized territory of the United States.
The law created the Northwest Territory, a large region north and west of the Ohio River. It established a process by which territories could develop governments and eventually enter the Union as states. The territory later produced Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, and part of Minnesota.
The ordinance set a population threshold of 60,000 for statehood and provided for a territorial government before that stage. It also protected several civil rights, encouraged education, and prohibited slavery in the Northwest Territory. These provisions made the ordinance one of the most important laws passed by the Confederation Congress.
The Northwest Ordinance is sometimes confused with the Land Ordinance of 1785, which focused on surveying and selling western lands. Congress reaffirmed the 1787 law in 1789, after the Constitution created the new federal government.