Northwest Ordinance

American  

noun

1. the act of Congress in 1787 providing for the government of the Northwest Territory and setting forth the steps by which its subdivisions might become states.

---

Northwest Ordinance Cultural  

1. A law passed in 1787 to regulate the settlement of the Northwest Territory, which eventually was divided into several states of the Middle West. The United States was governed under the Articles of Confederation at the time. The Northwest Ordinance organized the territory into townships of thirty-six square miles each and provided for self-government and religious toleration in the territory. Slavery was prohibited.

---

Example Sentences

The law also “authorizes” — but does not require — the display of the Mayflower Compact, the Declaration of Independence and the Northwest Ordinance in K-12 public schools.

From Seattle Times • May 30, 2024

The so-called “convict clause,” the legal exception for prison slavery, originated with the Northwest Ordinance, applying to territories claimed northwest of the Ohio River, and was carried forward in the Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S.

From Salon • Dec. 2, 2023

In his Jan. 1 op-ed, “In unsettled times, look to Midwestern values,” George F. Will defined the Midwest as the 12 states derived from the Northwest Ordinance of 1787.

From Washington Post • Jan. 20, 2023

My reasons: Western New York and southwestern Pennsylvania are west of the Alleghenies, east of the Mississippi River and north of the Ohio River, as specified in the Northwest Ordinance of 1787.

From Washington Post • Jan. 20, 2023

As with the Northwest Ordinance, both sides could declare victory; and the true victors would only become known with the passage of time.

From "Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation" by Joseph J. Ellis