THE NORTHWEST ORDINANCES

The sale of lands in the West was one way that the national government could make money, and westward settlement was encouraged. By 1790 nearly 110,000 settlers were living in Kentucky and Tennessee, despite the threat of Native American attack. The Northwest Ordinances of 1784, 1785, and 1787 regulated the sale of lands in the Northwest Territory and established a plan to give these settled territories statehood. The 1784 Ordinance provided governmental structures for the territories and a system by which a territory could become a state. The Ordinance of 1785 spelled out the terms for the orderly sale of land in the Northwest Territory. The Ordinance of 1787 stated that any territory with 60,000 white males could apply for statehood, provided a bill of rights for settlers, and prohibited slavery north of the Ohio River. Controversy over whether slavery should be allowed in these territories was a foreshadowing of the bitter conflicts that would follow on the issue of slavery in newly acquired American territories.