Creating the United States

{ root:'http://www.loc.gov/share/', subscribe_url: 'http://www.loc.gov/share/sites/6wek3sPa/subscribe.php' }

Congress Drafts Northwest Ordinance

Congress Drafts Northwest Ordinance (049.02.00)

About this item        

When the Confederation Congress began planning the organization of the territories north and west of the Ohio River, Thomas Jefferson and his congressional committee acted outside of mainstream eighteenth-century thought in drafting regulations to immediately prohibit slavery or involuntary servitude for anyone except convicted criminals. The final plan for western territories in 1787 did prohibit slavery.
* Currently on Exhibit