First Steps in the Statehood Process
Text Version

Narrator: Many Americans rejoiced at the signing of the Treaty of Paris with Great Britain.

(Visual description: the screen shows a black and white painting depicting the scene from the signing of the Treaty of Paris.)

Narrator: Although the United States had already written its first Constitution under the Articles of Confederation and formed a new government, the new treaty formally ended the war.

(Visual description: the screen shows the first page of the United States Constitution.)

Narrator: It also extended America's western boundaries past the Appalachian Mountains all the way to the Mississippi River. It was the first of the many land acquisitions that added westward territory.

(Visual description: the screens shows the Northeast portion of a map of the United States with the description “Territory of the Original Thirteen States (Ceded by Great Britain) 1783” etched on that portion of the map. Then, the screen zooms out to display the entire map.)

Narrator: This first expansion of the United States created an enormous opportunity, as the new western land contained endless room for settlement and resources for business. It also created an enormous challenge - the land was unmapped and largely unexplored. Many Native American tribes still claimed ownership of the land, and the French, British and Russians were in no hurry to surrender their land or trading posts.

(Visual description: the screens zooms in again to show the Northeast portion of a map of the United States with the description “Territory of the Original Thirteen States (Ceded by Great Britain) 1783” etched on that portion of the map. Then, the map is replaced by another map that shows the Native American tribes in 1783 divided by shaded areas that represent the original colonies and U.S. territorial claims.)

Narrator: The land north of the Ohio River Valley that included the Great Lakes was known as the Northwest Territory. This region in particular was important to trade, commerce and security for the new nation. The question was: How would these territories progress toward statehood? Many of the existing states had made claims to land that extended beyond their western border.

(Visual description: the screen shows the Northwest Territory portion of a map depicting the States and Territories of the United States of America from 1789 to 1790. Then, the screen zooms out to show the entire map divided by shaded areas that represent States, Territories, Other Countries, and Disputed Areas.)

Narrator: The U.S. government responded by passing the Land Ordinance of 1785 to handle the settling and governing of open land. The Land Ordinance was passed by Congress to sell the land and raise money to pay costs such as debts from the Revolutionary War. Once the land was sold, the law created a process for the surveying of the land in "ranges" and the creation of townships that included areas for public services such as schools.

(Visual description: the screen shows a diagram of the 1785 Land Ordinance demonstrating how the method of subdivision can be applied from the scale of the country down to the scale of a single lot. Then, the screen focuses on the portion of the diagram that says “Range,” before shifting focus to highlight the portion of the diagram that says “36 Square Miles Township.”)

Narrator: The second land law passed was the 1787 Northwest Ordinance.

(Visual description: the screen shows a page from the 1787 Northwest Ordinance, with the title “An Ordinance for the Government of the Territory of the United States, North-West of the River Ohio.”

Narrator: This law was passed to settle issues concerning the "Northwest territory," the region that made up the northwestern quarter of the United States in the 1780s. Among the things settled by the law was land ownership, which was given to the purchaser of the land and their children.

(Visual description: the screen shows a map of the Northwest Territory that was created under the Northwest Ordinance of 1787, and information showing that Ohio joined the territory in 1803, Indiana in 1816, Illinois in 1818, Michigan in 1837, Wisconsin in 1848, and Minnesota in 1858.)

Narrator: In the townships organized in the northwest, local governments were created with a governor, officials, laws and a court system. This maintained democracy and guaranteed people the same rights and freedoms that all other citizens of the U.S. enjoyed under the Articles of Confederation.

(Visual description: the screen shows a plaque located in Marietta, Ohio that commemorates the first settlement in the northwest.)

Narrator: Finally, the territories set their boundaries and applied for statehood once their population reached 60,000. Ohio was the first state to be formed in 1802. States in the Northwest were also required to ban slavery. Opponents of slavery used the ordinance to prevent new northern states from gaining pro-slavery representatives in Congress. As a compromise, slave owners were given the right to capture escaped slaves.

(Visual description: the screen shows the map of Ohio in 1802 when it became a state, divided according to counties.)