What was the name of the 1787 law that organized the Northwest Territory and banned slavery there?

The Northwest Ordinance was the 1787 law that organized the Northwest Territory and banned slavery there.

Adopted by the Confederation Congress on July 13, 1787, the ordinance governed the territory north of the Ohio River and east of the Mississippi River. The area later became the states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, and part of Minnesota.

The law created a process for territorial government and eventual statehood. It allowed Congress to appoint a governor and judges initially, then permitted settlers to form a legislature as the population grew. A territory could become a state after reaching a specified population threshold and meeting other conditions.

The ordinance’s sixth article prohibited slavery in the territory, although it did not end slavery elsewhere and allowed the recovery of escaped enslaved people. It is often confused with the Land Ordinance of 1785, which mainly established a system for surveying and selling western lands.