Northwest Ordinance
The Northwest
Ordinance was passed by the United States Congress on July 13, 1787, was one of
the most important laws ever adopted. The ordinance provided for the government
of the region north of the Ohio River and west of Pennsylvania, then called the
Northwest Territory. It was a model for all territories that later entered the
Union as states. These territories formed into five complete states, which are
Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin and part of Minnesota east of the
Mississippi River. The ordinance was largely the work of General Nathan Dane,
Rufus King, and Manasseh Cutler.
Under the terms of
the ordinance, the territories could achieve equality with older states by
passing through three steps leading to full self-government. (1) Congress,
which governed the territory, appointed a governor, a secretary and three
judges. (2) When the territory, or any division of it, attained an adult male
population of 5,000, they could choose a legislature and send to Congress a
delegate who could speak but not vote. (3) When the total population reached
60,000, the territory could apply for admission into the Union on terms of full
equality with the older states. The ordinance removed the danger of colonial
rebellion, because it assured the territories of participation in the national
government.
The Northwest
Ordinance contained more than a plan of government. It laid the groundwork for
social and political democracy in the West. It forbade slavery. This
prohibition of slavery strengthened the ranks of antislavery states in the
Union. All persons were guaranteed trail by jury and freedom of religious
worship. The Ordinance guaranteed fair treatment and just dealings with the
Indians, and laid the basis for the support of schools that declared, “means of
education shall forever be encouraged.”
The terms of the
ordinance were so attractive that pioneers poured into the new territory. In
1788, one of the first groups of settlers founded the town of Marietta, Ohio.
Thousands of families followed the first settlers in the westward movement. The
territory then formed into the five states—Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan
and Wisconsin including what is now part of Minnesota east of the Mississippi
River.
In the earlier
history of the Northwest Territory the French first occupied the region had
established posts by the early 1700s. Competition between French traders
operating from these posts and English trappers from Pennsylvania helped start
the French and Indian War (1754-1783). The war ended with the cession of the
area to victorious England.
During the
Revolutionary War (1775-1783) violent fighting took place in the Northwest
between the settlers and the British and their Indian allies. The campaign of
George Rogers Clark against British-held posts helped win the territory for the
United States. The region was ceded after the war. Before the government could
out the region to settlement, it had to deal with the claims of Massachusetts,
Connecticut, Virginia, and New York. These states insisted that their colonial
charters extended their boundaries into the area. The states ceded their claims
to Congress between 1781 and 1785, because Maryland refused to approve the
Articles of Confederation until it received assurance that the other states
would yield their claims.
The land then
became a territory of the United States. Congress, eager for revenue from the
sale of lands there, adopted the Ordinance of 1785. This law provided for
orderly rectangular surveys into mile-square units called sections.
These were sold at auction at a minimum price of $1 an acre. Congress also
struggled with the problem of a government for the territory. Thomas Jefferson
in 1784 had drafted a plan that would have divided the Northwest Territory into
14 units. These could become states when the population of the smallest state
in the Union. The Eastern States rejected this proposal, because they feared
that the many Western States would dominate Congress. Instead, Congress adopted
the Northwest Ordinance, or Ordinance of 1787. This provide for the division of
the region into from three to five states, and the establishment of a
membership in the Union.
Settlement began at
once. The first arrivals were sent out by a New England speculating group
called the Ohio Company. The official name was the Ohio Company of
Associates. They founded the town of Marietta at the mouth of the Muskingum
River in Ohio. Other interests soon established rival settlements at such
villages as Gallipolis and Cincinnati. To the north, colonists clustered about
Cleveland in the “Western Reserve” area retained by Connecticut when it ceded
its lands to Congress. Arthur St. Clair became the first governor of first
territorial government on July 15, 1788.
The population grew
slowly at first because of the continual Indian attacks. President George
Washington sent three expeditions to fight the Indians, but the first two met
with disaster. The territory became more peaceful after General Anthony Wayne
defeated the Indians in the Battle of Fallen Timbers in 1794. In 1796, Wayne forced the Treaty of
Greenville on the defeated Indians. In this treaty, they ceded most of the
lands of southern Ohio and parts of eastern Indiana to the United States. Other
land cessions followed during the early 1800s.
As more settlers
moved into the region, the Northwest Territory was divided. In 1800, the
western part of the region became the Territory of Indiana, with William Henry
Harrison as governor. The Michigan Territory was created in 1805, and the
Illinois Territory in 1809. Ohio became a state in 1803, Indiana in 1816,
Illinois in 1818, Michigan in 1837, and Wisconsin in 1848.
The Ohio Company,
or Ohio Company of Associates was organized at the Bunch of Grapes Tavern in
Boston on March 1, 1786. Eleven delegates, elected by persons interested in the
venture, set up the company. They planned to raise $1,000,000 in $1,000 shares,
which was payable in almost worthless Continental paper money. Within a year the
company distributed 250 shares. The company appointed Manasseh Cutler, Rufus
Putnam, and Samuel Parsons to petition the Continental Congress to sell it a
tract beyond the Ohio River. Congress approved, and later passed the Northwest
Ordinance of 1787.
At first the Ohio
Company contracted to buy 1,500,000 acres at 66-2/3 cents an acre. But because
of financial difficulties, these terms were never fully carried out. Congress
finally granted title to 750,000 acres of the land that is now part of southeastern
Ohio. The agreement provided that 214,285 acres could be bought with army
warrants, and that 100,000 acres were to be offered free to settlers. One
section of each township was reserved for schools, one for religion, and three
sections for future disposal by Congress. This last term was designed to keep
land speculators from monopolizing the territory. Two townships of 46,080 aces
were set aside “for the support of an institution of higher learning.” This
institution was founded at Athens, Ohio, in 1804, and became Ohio University.
The Ohio Company
appointed Rufus Putnam as its superintendent. He led an advance party of 47
surveyors, carpenters, boat-builders, blacksmiths, and laborers to lay out a
town where the Muskingum and Ohio Rivers joined. The group arrived at the mouth
of the Muskingum on April 7, 1788. It founded there the first settlement under
the Northwest Ordinance, and named it Marietta in honor of Queen Marie
Antoinette of France. The settlers also built a fort called Campus Martius to protect
their village. By April 1789, three new settlements had been established. On
July 15, Governor Arthur St. Clair established the first capital of the
Northwest Territory at Marietta. The Ohio Company completed its land operations
by 1797. It divided its assets among the shareholders, but did not go out of
business until about 1832.