Expanding Our New Nation with the Northwest Ordinance

American Revolution
Written By Tom Hand

The Northwest Ordinance represents the first time the United States spread its wings and began to fulfill its destiny. As a result, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin and part of Minnesota would eventually be added to our country.

Tom Hand, creator and publisher of Americana Corner, discusses the significant and precedent-setting provisions set out in this important document, and why it still matters today.


Images Courtesy of: Library of Congress, Yale University Art Gallery, Gilcrease Museum, National Archives, Digital Commonwealth, Legends of America, National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Wikipedia

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When delegates met at the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia in the summer of 1787, one of the most troublesome questions was what to do about slavery. Not whether it should be abolished, because even the most vehement abolitionist recognized this was neither the time nor the place for that fight. The issues to be decided were how would slaves be counted in the census and whether the states or the central government would control the institution, and what that control would look like. 

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On May 29, 1787, Edmund Randolph, Governor of Virginia, rose and introduced fifteen resolutions to the Federal Convention. Known to history as the Virginia Resolves or the Virginia Plan, Randolph’s proposal, which was probably drafted by James Madison, was an outline for an entirely new national government. It called for a national executive, a two-house national legislature, and a national judiciary.

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In the years immediately following the successful conclusion of its war for independence, the United States struggled to survive under the Articles of Confederation. The nation’s leaders knew something had to be done to fix its many issues for this great experiment in democracy to continue.

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In December 1777, following the loss of Philadelphia, our nation’s capital, General George Washington moved his Continental Army to Valley Forge for the winter. It would prove to be a desperately hard winter for the soldiers, with conditions that might have broken the spirit of less determined men, but one from which the American army emerged a more professional fighting force.

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Our nation’s capital has twice been captured by a foreign army and in both cases, it was by British Redcoats. The more famous incident was the burning of Washington on August 24, 1814, during the War of 1812. However, the first occurred 37 years before that event, in 1777, when the British captured Philadelphia, the capital of newly independent United States.

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General George Washington and his Continentals had achieved a great victory at Trenton on December 26, but the General saw another opportunity if he acted aggressively. On December 30, he recrossed the Delaware hoping for another miracle.

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When it came to finding the right man to command the new Continental Army assembled around Boston, George Washington was the logical choice. John Adams quickly nominated Washington and Congress unanimously approved. As Adams stated, “This appointment will have a great effect in cementing and securing the Union of these colonies.”

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As befitting a wealthy landowner in colonial Virginia, George Washington became active in the colony’s politics in the 1750s. He first ran for a seat representing Frederick County in the Virginia House of Burgesses in 1755 but lost the election. Interestingly, it was the only political race he would ever lose. Washington ran for that same seat in 1758 and was victorious, and he held this seat for seven years.

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When George Washington resigned as Colonel and Commander of the Virginia Regiment in 1758, he returned to Mount Vernon to begin his life as a gentleman planter. Although in less than twenty years Washington would be called away by his country, his time between the French and Indian War and the American Revolution was a significant portion of this great man’s life.

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With the demise of Lawrence Washington in 1752, George Washington inherited much of his stepbrother’s property, becoming a significant landowner at the age of 20. Lawrence’s passing also opened up an Adjutant’s position in the Virginia militia that George coveted given his love of military history and desire to follow in his brother’s footsteps.

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George Washington is more responsible for the creation of America than anyone else in our country’s incredible history. He was the right man with the right set of characteristics and talents at just the right time. It is hard to imagine the United States could have happened without his presence.

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After the tragedy of the Boston Massacre on March 5, 1770, British troops were removed from the city of Boston and tempers cooled a bit in Massachusetts. However, Parliament soon got things heated up again when it passed the Tea Act in the spring of 1773.

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When the French and Indian War ended in 1763, John Adams was single, living on a small farm in Braintree, Massachusetts, and enjoying a flourishing law practice just up the road in Boston. The next year his marital status changed, most would say improved, when he married Abigail Smith. A profitable business and a quiet family life seemed to be in his future, but that soon changed.

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The violence on the evening of March 5, 1770, in Boston is known to us today as the Boston Massacre. It was an unfortunate incident that left five people dead and growing anger between American colonists and leaders in England.

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In his Farewell Address, President Washington shared his thoughts on several topics, including our national debt and the need for our country to remain fiscally prudent.

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Tom Hand
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