The Northwest Ordinance established the precedent for expansion
westward across North America with the admission of new states.
LEARNING OBJECTIVE [ edit ]
Explain the economic motivation for passing the Land Ordinance of 1784
KEY POINTS [ edit ]
The Ordinance of 1784 called for the land east of the Mississippi River to be divided into separate
states. The Ordinance of 1785 put the 1784 resolution in operation by providing a mechanism for
selling and settling the land, while the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 addressed political needs.
The immediate goal of the ordinance was to raise money through the sale of land in the largely
unmapped territory west of the original states acquired via the Treaty of Paris.
The passage of the ordinance, which ceded all unsettled lands to the federal government, followed
the relinquishing of all such claims over the territory by the states. These territories were to be
administered directly by Congress, with the intent of their eventual admission as new states.
TERMS [ edit ]
Northwest Ordinance
Created and organized the Northwest Territory, which was arguably the most important
achievement of the Congress of Confederation outside of the Revolutionary War; passed on July
13, 1787.
Land Ordinance of 1785
The Land Ordinance of 1785 was adopted by the United States Congress on May 20, 1785, and
allowed Congress to raise money through the sale of land in the acquired via the 1783 Treaty of
Paris after the end of the Revolutionary War.
Northwest Territory
The territory northwest of the River Ohio; an organized incorporated territory of the United
States that existed from July 13, 1787, until March 1, 1803, when the southeastern portion of the
territory was admitted to the Union as the state of Ohio.
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Land Ordinances
The Land Ordinance of 1784, as outlined by Thomas Jefferson, called for the land west of the
Appalachian Mountains, north of the Ohio River, and east of the Mississippi River to be
divided into separate states. However, the ordinance did not define the mechanism by which
the land would become states, or how the territories would be governed or settled before they
became states. The Ordinance of 1785 put the 1784 resolution in operation by providing a
mechanism for selling and settling the land, while the Northwest Ordinance of 1787
addressed political needs.
Under the Articles of Confederation, Congress did not have the power to raise revenue by
direct taxation. Therefore, the immediate goal of the ordinance was to raise money through
the sale of land in the largely unmapped territory west of the original states acquired in the
Treaty of Paris. Over three­fourths of the area of the continental United States ultimately
came under the rectangular survey. This was important because it provided easily recognized
land descriptions, which in turn contributed enormously to the orderly and largely peaceful
occupation of the land. The rectangular survey also provided the units within which
economic, political, and social development took place.
The Land Ordinance of 1785 laid the foundations of land policy until passage of
the Homestead Act in 1862. Land was to be systematically surveyed into square townships,
six miles (9.656 km) on a side. Each of these townships were sub­divided into thirty­six
sections of one square mile (2.59 km²) or 640 acres. These sections could then be further
subdivided for re­sale by settlers and land speculators.
The ordinance was also significant for establishing a mechanism for funding public
education. Section 16 in each township was reserved for the maintenance of public schools.
Many schools today are still located in section sixteen of their respective townships, although
a great many of the school sections were sold to raise money for public education. In later
states, section 36 of each township was also designated as a "school section"
Northwest Ordinance
The primary effect of the Northwest Ordinance was the creation of the Northwest
Territory as the first organized territory of the United States out of the region south of the
Great Lakes, north and west of the Ohio River, and east of the Mississippi River. On August
7, 1789, President George Washington signed the Northwest Ordinance of 1789 into law after
the newly created U.S. Congress reaffirmed the Ordinance with slight modifications under
the Constitution.
The Mississippi River
The Mississippi River, along with the Ohio River and the Appalachian Mountains, were the
boundaries of the 1784 Land Ordinance
The Ohio River
The new United States Territory that included the Appalachian mountains and the Ohio and
Mississippi rivers was the subject of the 1784 Land Ordinance
Arguably the single most important piece of legislation passed by members of the earlier
Continental Congresses other than the Declaration of Independence, the Northwest
Ordinance established the precedent by which the federal government would be sovereign
and expand westward across North America with the admission of new states, rather than
with the expansion of existing states and their establishedsovereignty under the Articles of
Confederation. It is the most important legislation that Congress has passed with regard to
American public domain lands.
Further, the prohibition of slavery in the territory had the practical effect of establishing the
Ohio River as the boundary between free and slave territory in the region between the
Appalachian Mountains and the Mississippi River. This division helped set the stage for
national competition over admitting free and slave states, the basis of a critical question in
American politics in the 19th century until the Civil War.
The passage of the ordinance, which ceded all unsettled lands to the federal government,
followed the relinquishing of all such claims over the territory by the states. These territories
were to be administered directly by Congress, with the intent of their eventual admission as
newly created states. The legislation was revolutionary in that it established the precedent for
new lands to be administered by the central government (albeit temporarily) rather than
under the jurisdiction of the individually sovereign original states, as it was with the Articles
of Confederation. The legislation also broke colonial precedent by defining future use of the
natural navigation, transportation, and communication routes; it did so in a way that
anticipated future acquisitions beyond the Northwest Territories, and established federal
policy.
The most significant intended purpose of this legislation was its mandate for the creation of
new states from the region, once a population of 60,000 had been achieved within a
particular territory. The actual legal mechanism of the admission of new states was
established in the Enabling Act of 1802. The first state created from the Northwest Territory
was Ohio, in 1803, at which time the remainder was renamed Indiana Territory. The other
four states were Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin. A significant portion of
Minnesota was also part of the territory.