What document established the Northwest Territory in 1787?

The Northwest Ordinance established the Northwest Territory in 1787.

Congress adopted the Northwest Ordinance on July 13, 1787, under the Articles of Confederation. It organized the region north of the Ohio River and east of the Mississippi River, an area that later became all or part of several states, including Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin.

The ordinance created a territorial system that could lead to statehood. It outlined stages of government, set population thresholds for entering the Union, protected certain civil liberties, and barred slavery in the territory. Its promise that new states would enter on an equal footing with existing states became an important principle of American expansion.

The Northwest Ordinance is sometimes confused with the Land Ordinance of 1785, which established a surveying system for western lands. The two measures were related, but the 1787 ordinance addressed territorial government and the path toward statehood.