What territory did the 1787 Northwest Ordinance create?

The 1787 Northwest Ordinance created the Northwest Territory.

The territory covered land north of the Ohio River, east of the Mississippi River, and south of the Great Lakes. The Confederation Congress enacted the ordinance on July 13, 1787, while the United States still operated under the Articles of Confederation.

The ordinance established a process for governing the region and admitting new states. It set population thresholds for stages of territorial government and promised that territories could eventually enter the Union on an equal footing with existing states. Ohio became the first state formed from the Northwest Territory, in 1803.

The law also included provisions concerning religious tolerance, education, jury trials, and other legal rights. Most controversially in the context of westward expansion, it prohibited slavery in the territory, although it did not end slavery elsewhere. The territory included land that later became Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, and part of Minnesota.