1. The Northwest Ordinance of 1787
The Northwest Ordinance of 1787 established governance for the Northwest Territory, encompassing present-day Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, and parts of Minnesota. Article VI of the ordinance prohibited slavery and involuntary servitude, except as punishment for crimes (archives.gov). This prohibition set a precedent for limiting slavery’s expansion into new territories, creating a geographical boundary between free and slave regions. However, the ordinance did not address the status of enslaved individuals already present in the territory, leading to legal ambiguities and future conflicts over slavery’s expansion.
