What 1787 law organized the Northwest Territory and outlined a path to statehood?

The Northwest Ordinance organized the Northwest Territory and outlined a path to statehood in 1787.

The Confederation Congress adopted the law on July 13, 1787. It governed the territory north of the Ohio River and east of the Mississippi River, land that several states had ceded to the national government after the Revolutionary War.

The ordinance established a territorial government and described stages through which territories could become states. It also prohibited slavery in the Northwest Territory, although the ordinance did not end slavery elsewhere in the United States.

The territory eventually contributed land to Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, and part of Minnesota. The Northwest Ordinance is often remembered alongside the Constitution because both were products of the political reorganization of the United States in 1787.