One Minute History: The Northwest Ordinance of 1787

Main Ideas

• The Northwest Ordinance of 1787 was presented as one of the most successful accomplishments of the Articles of Confederation, the United States’ first national government.
• It organized land acquired after the Treaty of Paris of 1783 into townships and five territories: Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin.
• By reserving the land for territories that could later become states, the ordinance helped end competition among states to claim large portions of the western lands.
• Selling the land raised money for the cash-strapped national government, including funds to pay Revolutionary War debts and support public education.
• Territories could apply for statehood after reaching a population of 60,000. The video describes the resulting states in the Ohio Valley as evidence of the ordinance’s success.

Speaker and Source

• One unnamed narrator provides the review.