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Essay On Northwest Ordinance

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{Jason Wilson} The Northwest Ordinance of 1787 was an important stepping stone for the United States after winning the American Revolution in 1783. This Ordinance created rules and regulations for the continued expansion of the United States of America set up by the Articles of Confederation Congress. The “Northwest” refers to what is known today as; Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin and a small part of Minnesota. This gave the federal government a source of revenue that was badly needed in light of the Articles of Confederation. These territories were given the standards to which they would become states and gain representation in the federal government. Settlers were also granted rights that foreshadowed those given in the Bill of Rights. The Northwest Ordinance, while not perfect, laid the foundation for action regarding new states, individual rights, and Indian policy. In the …show more content…

In these territories, freedom of religion was granted allowing a place for minority religious groups to seek refuge. The right of Habeas Corpus, ban to cruel and unusual punishment, and trial by jury was also placed into the charter. The Northwest ordinances also held a provision for a public university to be created. The ordinance stated "religion, morality and knowledge being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged." This led to creation of what is today Ohio University and their first graduating class of 1815. The most important law created for the territories was the abolition of slavery. While fugitive slave laws existed, the banning of holding slaves in these territories helped balance the power to the Union during the Civil War. Southern states originally supported the banning of slavery, as they did not want to have to compete with the Northwest in commodity crops such as

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The Land Ordinance of 1785 was significant because it was used to help lower the national debt. It also helped set up many public schools in the North which continued and set a precedent for public American education that is seen today. The Northwest Ordinance of 1787 made it so that new states could be added to the Union and dealt with issues

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The South longed for slavery to be accepted into the constitution, as their cash crop economy thrived on the utilization of slaves. The abolishment of slaves would impact farmers in the south that produced massive quantities of cash crops. Prior to the

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Although this was a big step towards emancipation, the Northwest Ordinance also stated that any slave that escaped to the Ohio territory was to be returned to their master (Doc. H). The Revolution also brought social change. The Loyalists

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Due to the Northwest Ordinance there wasn’t “slavery nor involuntary servitude in the said territory” (Doc. H) showing how people were starting to realize how slavery was wrong and inhumane. The relationship between the Indians and the Americans had also shifted due to the revolution. The Native Americans were concerned about their relationship with the Americans due to the fighting with the British, but “it [made] [their] hearts rejoice to find out that [their] great father, and his children the Americans have at length made peace”(Doc. C). The Chickasaw Indians were happy to see that their relationship with the Americans was improving due to the American Revolution.

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Not only did this process of selling land provide money for the central government but also, all of the citizens in each town had equal sized properties for their farms. Additionally, Congress created the Northwest Ordinance of 1787, which stressed the Articles of Confederation’s goal of freedom and equality. According to this law, any place can become a state once they had a governor and 60,000 inhabitants. Then, these states would be treated equal to states such as New York

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The most important and prominent example of a success established by the Confederation Government was the resolution of a series of territorial disputes among the states, and the establishment of a process by which territories could eventually be admitted as new states, equal to the original 13, under the Land Ordinances of 1784 and 1785. The Confederation Government demanded claim of the Western states previously occupied by larger states in Congress. The Confederation controlled enough land to permit Congress to begin making policy for the Western lands. The Ordinances of 1784 and 1785 divided Western territory into ten self governing districts, each of which were given powers by the Confederation Government to “petition congress for statehood”

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When the delegates of the 1875-1876 Texas Constitutional Convention came together, their main priority in drawing up a new constitution was to restrict the amount of power the state government had over Texans. After Texas suffered thought the corruption that occurred under the previous governor, Edmund J. Davis, the delegates wanted to ensure that a similar situation would never happen again. The first step they took towards that goal was writing a bill of rights, which would be the first article of the constitution. This article ensured that the people’s rights would be protected from the government such as “guaranteed liberty of speech and press, the right of the accused to obtain bail and to be tried by a jury, and the right of citizens to keep and bear arms.”

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It was important for the new states to receive the same rights when they entered the Union as the existing states. The Northwest Ordinance set the identity for the United States in many ways. The ordinance put aside land in each township for education. It established government, voting regulations, land ownership and laid out regulations for estates. It encouraged free religion, set rules for taxation

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Which is more commonly known as the Northwest Ordinance, this act established a system for governing the Northwest Territory. The ordinance set a precedent that would also be used for settling territories farther west. In addition to creating a system of government for the territory and a process for establishment of states,

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Before the Northwest Ordinance of 1787, many states own land in the area that was considered in the Northwest, is east of the Mississippi River and North of the Ohio River. When all the states were in debt from the American Revolution, the Central government offered that if the states gave up their land in the Northwest, the central government will pay their debt. This was named the Northwest Ordinance of 1787. This also created rules on creating a new state. The land that the states gave up cannot have slaves and in order an area to become a state, they must have a population of 5000 males or 60000 people.

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Shays’ Rebellion broke out in the fall of 1786. Farm foreclosures and imprisonments for failure to pay debts in western Massachusetts caused people to rebel. The Land Ordinance of 1785 divided the Northwest Territory into townships of 36 uniform sections. The Northwest Ordinance of 1787 established the political structure for new territories and prohibited slavery in the Northwest. The Southwest Ordinance of 1790 set up a government that allowed slavery in the U.S. territory south of the Ohio River.

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The government under the Articles of Confederation generated some big issues, but one of its greatest successes was the ordinances of 1787 and 1785. The passage of The Land Ordinance of 1785 allowed new states to join the nation. The Northwest Ordinance of 1787 prohibited slavery in the Northwest Territory. These decrees greatly helped the beginning of the United States.

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Due to the fact that the South had more of an agricultural economy, the Southerners thought that the states should have the right to decide whether residents could own slaves, rather than the federal government. In 1846 a congressman from Pennsylvania named David Wilmot introduced a bill to the House of Representatives called the Wilmot Proviso. This said slavery would not be allowed in any western territory acquired from Mexico. Of course most of the politicians from the North loved the idea, while the politicians from the South did not. The Missouri Compromise on March 3, 1820 (also called the Compromise of 1820) was the first major legislative compromise that was passed to draw a line between slave and free territory.

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During the “Gilded Age” period of American history, development of the Trans-Mississippi west was crucial to fulfilling the American dream of manifest destiny and creating an identity which was distinctly American. Since the west is often associated with rugged pioneers and frontiersmen, there is an overarching idea of hardy American individualism. However, although these settlers were brave and helped to make America into what it is today, they heavily relied on federal support. It would not have been possible for white Americans to settle the Trans-Mississippi west without the US government removing Native Americans from their lands and placing them on reservations, offering land grants and incentives for people to move out west, and the

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The Northwest Coast Indians are believed to have begun living on the west coast area of what we now know as Alaska, Washington State, Oregon, California, and British Columbia, Canada over 10,000 years ago. The Bella Coola, Haida, Nootka, and Tlingit are just a few of the tribes that make up the Northwest Coast Indians who were known as the richest Native American’s due to the large quantity of natural resources that were available to them in this region. Living along the coast, there was so much fish available for them to eat. They enjoyed such fish as salmon, halibut and cod.

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