Northwest Ordinance

Events leading to
the American Civil War

Northwest Ordinance Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions End of Atlantic slave trade Missouri Compromise Tariff of 1828 Nat Turner's slave rebellion Nullification Crisis Trial of Reuben Crandall Gag rule Martyrdom of Elijah Lovejoy Burning of Pennsylvania Hall End of slavery in British colonies American Slavery as It Is The Amistad affair Prigg v. Pennsylvania Texas annexation Mexican–American War Wilmot Proviso Nashville Convention Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 Uncle Tom's Cabin Kansas–Nebraska Act Recapture of Anthony Burns Ostend Manifesto Bleeding Kansas Caning of Charles Sumner Dred Scott decision The Impending Crisis of the South Lincoln–Douglas debates Oberlin–Wellington Rescue John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry 1860 presidential election Crittenden Compromise Secession of Southern States President Lincoln's 75,000 volunteers Star of the West Corwin Amendment Battle of Fort Sumter

The Northwest Ordinance of 1787 said that the land north of the Ohio River and east of the Mississippi River would eventually become part of the United States. It encouraged people to move out of the east to the west. The Ordinance established policies for governing the territory and included laws eventually adopted in the Constitution. Included in the Ordinance were laws protecting freedom of religion (Article I), rights of the accused (Article II), public education and Indian land rights (Article III), admission of new states (Article V), and prohibition of slavery in the territory (Article VI). The territory included the future states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan, and part of Minnesota. This was a very important part in the American history.