Features of the Ordinance of 1787.
The all-important features of the ordinance were contained in the six
articles of compact between the confederated States and the people and
states of the territory, to be forever unalterable, save by the consent
of both parties. The first guaranteed complete freedom of worship and
religious belief to all peaceable and orderly persons. The second
provided for trial by jury, the writ of habeas corpus, the privileges of
the common law, and the right of proportional legislative
representation. The third enjoined that faith should be kept with the
Indians, and provided that "schools and the means of education" should
forever be encouraged, inasmuch as "religion, morality, and knowledge"
were necessary to good government. The fourth ordained that the new
states formed in the Northwest should forever form part of the United
States, and be subject to the laws, as were the others. The fifth
provided for the formation and admission of not less than three or more
than five states, formed out of this northwestern territory, whenever
such a putative state should contain sixty thousand inhabitants; the
form of government to be republican, and the state, when created, to
stand on an equal footing with all the other States.
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