Because the Articles of Confederation, adopted
by the states in 1781 as the country's first constitution, have
often been considered a failure, it is all too easy to overlook
the significant accomplishments of the American government under
the Articles. The Confederation negotiated a peace treaty ending
the war with Great Britain, carried on diplomatic relations with
foreign countries, settled land disputes with the Indian tribes
and, in two brilliant pieces of legislation, established a far-reaching
policy for the settlement and incorporation of western lands.
After first providing for the survey of the land west of the
Appalachian mountains, the so-called Northwest Territory, Congress
enacted the Northwest Ordinance of 1787, the single most important
piece of legislation in the Confederation period. The Ordinance
provided the means by which new states would be created out
of the western lands and then admitted into the Union. Governors
and judges appointed by Congress would rule a territory until
it contained 5,000 free male inhabitants of voting age; then
the inhabitants would elect a territorial legislature, which
would send a non-voting delegate to Congress. When the population
reached 60,000, the legislature would submit a state constitution
to Congress and, upon its approval, the state would enter the
Union.
The importance of the statute, aside from providing for orderly
westerly settlement, is that it made clear that the new states
would be equal to the old; there would be no inferior or superior
states in the Union. Moreover, in the Ordinance Congress compacted
with the settlers of the territories that they would be equal
citizens of the United States, and would enjoy all of the rights
that had been fought for in the Revolution. Where the Articles
of Confederation lacked a bill of rights, the Ordinance provided
one that included many of the basic liberties the colonists
had considered essential, such as trial by jury, habeas corpus,*
and religious freedom. One should also note, however, the important
role that property still played in government, a holdover from
British theory that only those with a tangible stake in society
should partake in its governance.
The Northwest Ordinance would, with minor adjustments, remain
the guiding policy for the admission of all future states into
the Union.
For further reading: Merrill Jensen, The
New Nation: A History of the United States during the Confederation,
1781-1789 (1950); John Porter Bloom, ed., The American Territorial
System (1974); T.C. Pease, "The Ordinance of 1787,"
Miss. Valley Hist.Rev. 25 (1938): 167.
*Habeas Corpus, which literally means "you
have the body," is one of the fundamental rights in Anglo-American
law. Through the writ of habeas corpus, a prisoner may challenge
the legality of his or her imprisonment, and if the state cannot
present adequate evidence to justify the jailing, the court
may order the prisoner's release. Return to text at note.
Downloaded from the US
Information Agency, taken from
Basic Readings in US Democracy by Melvin I. Urofsky, Professor
of Constitutional History, Virginia Commonwealth University,
Richmond, Virginia.
