Which 1787 law created the governing framework for the Northwest Territory?

The Northwest Ordinance created the governing framework for the Northwest Territory in 1787.

The Confederation Congress adopted the ordinance on July 13, 1787. It organized the territory north of the Ohio River and east of the Mississippi River, an area that later became the states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, and part of Minnesota. The law established a territorial government and described a process through which territories could become states.

The ordinance set a population threshold for statehood and protected several civil liberties, including religious freedom and trial by jury. It also prohibited slavery in the Northwest Territory, making the measure an important early federal restriction even though it did not end slavery elsewhere.

The Northwest Ordinance is sometimes confused with the later Constitution, which established the permanent federal government, or with the Land Ordinance of 1785, which primarily created a system for surveying and selling western lands. The 1787 law instead addressed territorial government and future state admission.