The Northwest Ordinance
https://archives.nbclearn.com/portal/site/k-12/browse/?cuecard=1271
General Information
Source:
NBC News
Resource Type:
Creator:
N/A
Copyright:
Event Date:
Air/Publish Date:
1786 - 1787
01/20/2007
Copyright Date:
Clip Length
Video MiniDocumentary
NBCUniversal Media,
LLC.
2007
00:02:21
Description
In 1787, Congress adopts a plan called the Northwest Ordinance, which calls for new states to be
developed in the Ohio region.
Keywords
Second Continental Congress, Articles of Confederation, Ohio, Northwest Ordinance, Union, Ratify,
Territory, United States, National Debt, Slavery, Native Americans, Settlers, Carol Berkin, Baruch
College
Citation
MLA
© 2008-2017 NBCUniversal Media, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Page 1 of 2
"The Northwest Ordinance." NBC News. NBCUniversal Media. 20 Jan. 2007. NBC Learn. Web. 11
March 2017
APA
2007, January 20. The Northwest Ordinance. [Television series episode]. NBC News. Retrieved from
https://archives.nbclearn.com/portal/site/k-12/browse/?cuecard=1271
CHICAGO MANUAL OF STYLE
"The Northwest Ordinance" NBC News, New York, NY: NBC Universal, 01/20/2007. Accessed Sat Mar
11 2017 from NBC Learn: https://archives.nbclearn.com/portal/site/k-12/browse/?cuecard=1271
Transcript
The Northwest Ordinance
NARRATOR: In 1787, the Second Continental Congress, under the Articles of Confederation, adopted a
plan to control the vast amounts of territory in the Ohio region. This plan, referred to as the Northwest
Ordinance, would allow new states to form within the territory and be admitted to the Union. For this
plan to succeed, it would depend on the cooperation of the other states to give up previous claims to the
area.
Professor CAROL BERKIN (Baruch College): The Articles of Confederation are actually written in
1776, and don't get ratified till 1781. And, that's because no one's gonna ratify it until everybody gives up
their western land. The Confederation leaders do an amazing thing. They make a rule that these
territories will have the right to become states that have equal standing in the United States with the
original 13 states.
NARRATOR: The Northwest Ordinance determined how the land would be distributed in these
territories and how the territorial governments should be set up. Once the population of any of the
territorial subdivisions reached 60,000 settlers, it would be made a state. Because the federal government
would then own the territory, it could sell the land to proprietors for settling and development, thus
bringing in money to help pay back the massive national debt accrued from the Revolutionary War. One
critical decision that was made in the Northwest Ordinance was that slavery would be banned in all of the
new territories. However, the Natives Americans living within the territories were poorly treated by the
new American settlers.
BERKIN: The Indians who live there are in fact denied their right in the Northwest Ordinances. They are
not acknowledged as citizens of the United States, or as participants in these territories.
NARRATOR: The Northwest Ordinance gave the new growing country a stronger sense of unity and
proved to be one of the major accomplishments of the government under the Articles of Confederation.
© 2008-2017 NBCUniversal Media, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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