What 1787 law organized the first U.S. territory and banned slavery there?

The Northwest Ordinance organized the first U.S. territory and banned slavery there in 1787.

The Confederation Congress enacted the Northwest Ordinance on July 13, 1787. It created the Northwest Territory, the large region north of the Ohio River and east of the Mississippi River. The ordinance established a territorial government and described a path from appointed territorial administration to statehood.

The law promised that new states could eventually enter the Union on an equal footing with the original states. It also protected certain civil liberties, encouraged public education, and prohibited slavery in the territory. The prohibition applied to the territory north of the Ohio River, although it did not end slavery elsewhere in the United States.

The territory eventually produced Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, and part of Minnesota. The ordinance is sometimes confused with the Land Ordinance of 1785, which created a system for surveying and selling western lands. The Northwest Ordinance dealt primarily with government, statehood, rights, and slavery in the territory.