CONTENT STATEMENT
- The Northwest Ordinance incorporated democratic ideals into the territories. It provided a process for territories to become states and recognized them as equal to the other existing states.
CONTENT ELABORATION
As students reflect on the way ideas and events from the past have shaped the world today, they understand the significance of the democratic ideals established by the Northwest Ordinance.
The Northwest Ordinance established a plan for admitting states from the Northwest Territory to the United States. The Northwest Ordinance incorporated democratic ideals into the territories by:
- encouraging education;
- guaranteeing trial by jury;
- banning slavery in the Northwest Territory;
- establishing territorial government; and
- encouraging the treatment of American Indians in good faith.
Political leaders in Ohio wrote Ohio’s first constitution so Ohio could become a state. Ohio’s Constitution was modeled after the U.S. Constitution.
EXPECTATIONS FOR LEARNING
Explain how the Northwest Ordinance influenced the incorporation of democratic ideals in the states formed from the Northwest Territory.