User:Notuncurious/Working/tmp7
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Northwest Ordinance (formally An Ordinance for the Government of the Territory of the United States, North-West of the River Ohio, and also known as the Freedom Ordinance) was an act of the Congress of the Confederation of the United States. The Ordinance unanimously passed on July 13, 1787. The primary effect of the 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, the U.S. Congress affirmed the Ordinance with slight modifications under the Constitution.
An Ordinance for the Government of the Territory of the United States, North-West of the River Ohio | |
---|---|
Created | 1787 |
Ratified | 13 July 1787 (unicameral Congress of the Confederation) 7 August 1789 (United States Congress, with some modification) |
Author(s) | Congress of the Confederation, under the Articles of Confederation |
Purpose | Establish governance of the Northwest Territory and ensure eventual admission of states to the Union. |
Arguably the single most important piece of legislation passed by members of the earlier Continental Congresses other than the Declaration of Independence, it established the precedent by which the United States would expand westward across North America by the admission of new states, rather than by the expansion of existing states.
The act also through the most empowered recognition of the importance of education and its encouragement provided for the concept of a sponsored higher education. The Morrill Act of 1862 and the Morrill Act of 1890 would follow and forever change the relationship of higher education and government. Higher education would become a tool for a good government and through the Hatch Act of 1887, an equal partner in supporting the growing needs of the expanding agrarian society.
Further, the banning of slavery in the territory had the 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 the balancing act between free and slave states that was the basis of a critical political question in American politics in the 19th century until the Civil War.