The ordinances of 1784 and 1787

Abstract

The following study concerns the two Ordinences of 1784 and 1787, enacted during the Confederation period for the temporary government of the Federal lands in the West, division of those lands into new states, and eventual admission of the new states into the Union. An attempt is made to give the background of the ordinances, to treat them and their legislative histories in some detail, and to indicate why the earlier and more democratic one was replaced.