3. Authorities & decisions: The Northwest Ordinance

Decision-makers, laws and consequences

The Confederation Congress adopted the Northwest Ordinance in July 1787. It established a territorial government and a process for admitting states, and barred slavery in the Northwest Territory.

The ordinance did not secure Indigenous consent to territorial settlement. Subsequent federal treaties, warfare and land policies displaced Native nations while new states entered the Union.

Institutional consequences

The authorities identified above acted within institutions that determined who could govern, enforce decisions and challenge official power. The resulting changes to political participation, legal status, military control or property administration are part of the historical record of this specific event, rather than evidence that every later government followed the same path.