Congress passed the Land Ordinance of 1785, which was a plan for dividing and selling land in the western territories. The Western Land Ordinance of 1785 put the 1784 Land Ordinance into operation by providing a mechanism for selling and settling the land. The Northwest Ordinance, officially titled "An Ordinance for the Government of the Territory of the United States North West of the River Ohio," was adopted by the Confederation Congress on July 13, 1787.Also known as the Ordinance of 1787, the Northwest Ordinance established a government for the Northwest Territory, outlined the process for admitting a new state to the Union, … The Northwest Ordinance of 1787 was a very early federal law passed by Congress in the era of the Articles of Confederation.Its main purpose was to create a legal structure for the settlement of land in five present-day states: Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin. The Northwest Ordinance, adopted July 13, 1787, by the Confederation Congress, chartered a government for the Northwest Territory, provided a method for admitting new states to the Union from the territory, and listed a bill of rights guaranteed in the territory. Williams, Frederick D., ed. The Northwest Ordinance outlined the basis for government in these western lands and an administrative structure to oversee the territory, as well as a process for achieving statehood, while the Land Ordinance of 1785 called for the U.S. government to survey the territory for future sale and development. The Ordinance of 1785 put the 1784 resolution in operation by providing a mechanism for selling and settling the land, while the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 addressed political needs. 1989. On this date, the Confederation Congress approved “An Ordinance for the Government of the Territory of the United States, North-West of the River Ohio,” by a vote of 17–1. The Northwest Ordinance was important because it provided the foundation for the creation of later territories within the Union and established the process by which territories became states. Ordinance of 1785. Further readings. The basic unit of land grant was the township, which was a square area measuring 6 miles (10 kilometers) on each side. Virginia ceded the single largest area to the national government. Land was to be subdivided according to a rectangular grid system. It also specified how the various parts of the Northwest Territory could become states. A committee of Congress, headed by James Monroe of Virginia, made a report about a plan for governance of the Northwest Territory that would be the basis for the subsequent Ordinance of 1787. The 1785 ordinance laid the foundations of land policy until passage of the Homestead Act of 1862. Known as the Northwest Territories, it comprised the present-day states of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, and Wisconsin, as well as part of Minnesota. The federal surveyors divided the land into carefully planned individual square townships. In hopes of raising revenue from the sale of western land, Congress passed the Land Ordinance of 1785. Thomas Jefferson was acutely aware of the great potential benefits offered by lands in the West. The Northwest Ordinance: Essays on Its Formulation, Provisions, and Legacy. The Northwest Ordinance of 1787 set out a process by which land was to be organized as dependent territories and then as states fully equal in status to those already in the union. Rights of habeas … A growing population in the original states, now largely free from British interference, was beginning to push into these areas. The Ordinance of 1785 provided for the scientific surveying of the territory’s lands and for a systematic subdivision of them. May 9, 1786. 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