https://history.house.gov/HouseRecord/Detail/25769822302 Mar 3, 2023 "The Land Ordinance of 1785, enacted by the Confederation Congress, defined how ownership of the vast lands in the Northwest Territory would be legally transferred from the federal government to states and individual landowners. It provided for land surveys and specified that tracts should be divided into “townships of six miles square.” This standardization of federal land surveys reduced boundary disputes and was intended to encourage westward expansion. Furthermore, it generated income for the government as new settlers purchased land. The Land Ordinance of 1785 laid the foundation for how western lands were surveyed and sold until the Homestead Act of 1862." U.S. House of Representatives Records & Research
https://www.visitthecapitol.gov/exhibitions/artifact/northwest-ordinance-1787 is part of the U.S. Capitol Vistor Center and provides the primary source document and significant features of the ordinance.
https://school.eb.com/levels/high/article/Northwest-Ordinances/56283 is a Britannica School entry that provides background information and charts showing how land was divided in the Northwest Territory.
https://www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/ourdocs/northwest.html is a digital resource provided by the Library of Congress.
https://history.house.gov/Historical-Highlights/1700s/Northwest-Ordinance-1787 or “An Ordinance for the Government of the Territory of the United States, North-West of the River Ohio,” was approved by Confederation Congress on July 13, 1787 by a vote of 17-1.
https://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/nworder.asp provides a Yale Law School transcription and is part of The Avalon Project: Documents in Law, History, and Diplomacy.
https://www.in.gov/history/2695.htm provides a timeline of the Events Preceding 1787, Events of 1787 to 1791, and Events of 1800 to 1858.
https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/northwest-ordinance is part of the collection of ourdocuments.gov and provides document info, a document transcript, and images of the document.
Northwest Territory Videos
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5JJfrMElSM Nov 19, 2021 Well before formal legislation was passed, promising freed slaves certain land rights, Black farmers traveled west, exploring, and developing heavily forested land. With tons of experience in their pockets, migrating west made sense and allowed Black farmers and their families a safe place to live and grow. But like most of America’s history, White settlers began to impose new laws and tactics on the once uncharted territory. Eventually, the land Black farmers cleared, plowed, and cultivated prohibited — either directly or indirectly — their existence in those spaces. Through violence, theft, and other mischievous practices, many Black farmers lost their ability to inhabit land they founded and worked on. In this episode of Black History In Two Minutes or So hosted by Henry Louis Gates Jr. — with additional commentary from Imani Perry of Princeton University and Hasan Jeffries of Ohio State University, we look at the plight of Black farmers and how systemic behavior of the 1800s is still felt in the agriculture sector today. Black History in Two Minutes or so