What 1787 law created the Northwest Territory?

The Northwest Ordinance created the Northwest Territory in 1787.

The Confederation Congress enacted the ordinance on July 13, 1787. It organized lands north of the Ohio River and east of the Mississippi River, established a territorial government, and set a process for territories to become states.

The ordinance provided that the territory could eventually produce at least three and no more than five states. It also prohibited slavery in the territory, protected certain legal and religious rights, and encouraged education. Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, and part of Minnesota later emerged from the region.

The law is sometimes confused with the Land Ordinance of 1785, which established a surveying and land-sale system but did not create the Northwest Territory. The Northwest Ordinance became a major model for U.S. territorial expansion and state admission, linking the post-Revolutionary settlement of western lands to the nation-building story celebrated by America250.