What 1787 U.S. law created a process for governing territories north of the Ohio River?

The Northwest Ordinance was the 1787 U.S. law that created a process for governing territories north of the Ohio River. It organized the Northwest Territory and established a path from territorial status to statehood.

Congress adopted the ordinance on July 13, 1787, under the Articles of Confederation. The territory included land that later became Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, and part of Minnesota. The ordinance provided for an appointed territorial governor and judges, followed by an elected legislature once the population reached a specified threshold.

The law also prohibited slavery in the Northwest Territory and protected religious liberty, trial by jury, and education. It declared that new states formed from the territory would enter the Union on an equal footing with the original states. The ordinance did not itself create the Constitution, but it became one of the Confederation period's most important and durable achievements.