ORDINANCE OF 1787, an act of congress under the confederation in respect to the government of the territory of the United States n.w. of the Ohio river. The large: states which, by their original charters from the English crown, included within their boundaries portions of the n.w. territory, were not willing at first to relinquish jurisdic tion over their several parts, but smaller states like Maryland and New Jersey claimed that the territory ought to be surrendered as common property, inasmuch as it was the united effort of all the states that had secured independence. Accordingly, after considerable agitation, New York fixed a limit for its western boundary, and ceded a part of its lands for the states that became members of the confederation. 'Virginia soon followed, giving 'up the state's lauds,n.w. of the Ohio; and a law was passed for the temporary govern ment of the territory, which provided for the organization of a state whenever its inhab4 itants numbered 20,000. No settlements of any consequence, however, were made during
the following three cr four years. The ordinance of 1787, three years later, has usually been attributed to Nathan Dane, a representative from Massachusetts in the congress of the confederatiod, although it has been claimed that a clergyman, the rev. Manasseh Cutler, originated it. The ordinance defined the rights of the citizens, prohibited slavery within the territory, and provided that the navigable waters leading into the Mississippi and St. Lawrence rivers, and the carrying-places between the same, should be con. mon highways. It was passed at a very critical time in the formation of the union, and subsequent events have shown that it was of the greatest importance, as there was danger of the whole region becoming a slave territory.