Which 1787 law created an organized government for the Northwest Territory?

The Northwest Ordinance created an organized government for the Northwest Territory in 1787.

The Confederation Congress adopted the measure on July 13, 1787. It governed the land north of the Ohio River and east of the Mississippi River that the United States had acquired after the Revolutionary War. The ordinance established a territorial government, a path toward statehood, and protections including trial by jury and freedom of religion.

The territory could eventually produce new states on an equal footing with the original states. The ordinance also prohibited slavery in the Northwest Territory, although it did not immediately end slavery elsewhere and included provisions concerning the return of people escaping enslavement. The law was adopted under the Articles of Confederation, shortly before the Constitutional Convention completed the U.S. Constitution.