Congress of the Confederation (July 13, 1787) passed "An Ordinance for the Government of the Territory of the United States, North-West of the River Ohio," later shortened to the Northwest Ordinance.
This Ordinance, recognized in The United States Code Annotated as one of America's four most significant government documents, was later introduced into Congress by Rufus King, a signer of the Constitution, received House approval, July 21, 1789; received Senate approval, August 4, 1789 and signed into law by President George Washington, August 7, 1789, during the same period the First Amendment was being formulated. In addition to prohibiting slavery within the territory, Article VI, it stated:
<SECTION 13. And, for extending the fundamental principles of civil and religious liberty, which form the basis whereon these republics, their laws and constitutions are erected:
to fix and establish those principles as the basis of all laws, constitutions and governments, which forever hereafter shall be formed in the said territory:
to provide also for the establishment of states, and permanent government therein, and for their admission to a share in the federal councils in an equal footing with the original states, at as early period as may be consistent with the general interest:
SECTION 14. It is hereby ordained and declared by the authority aforesaid, That the following articles shall be considered as articles of compact, between the original states and the people and states of the said territory, and forever remain unalienable, unless by common consent, to wit:
ARTICLE I. No person, demeaning himself in a peaceable and orderly manner, shall ever be molested on account of his mode of worship or religious sentiments in the said territory....
ARTICLE III. Religion, morality, and knowledge being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged.> 1787CC010
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American Quotations by William J. Federer, 2024, All Rights Reserved, Permission granted to use with acknowledgement.
Endnotes:
1787CC010. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Ohio, August 7, 1789, Article VI, "An Ordinance for the Government of the Territory of the United States Northwest of the River Ohio," prohibiting slavery from entering the territories, introduce by Rufus King and signed into law by President George Washington. The Constitution of the United States (Trenton: Moore and Lake, 1813), p. 366. Acts Passed at a Congress of the United States of America (Hartford: Hudson and Goodwin, 1791), p. 104. Rufus King (a signer of the U.S. Constitution), The Life and Correspondence of Rufus King, Charles King, editor (New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1894), Vol. I, pp. 288-289. THE NORTHWEST ORDINANCE OF 1787, Section 13, 14; Article I, III. Journal of Congress (ed. 1800) (early proposals of the bill) Vol. IX, pp. 109-110. The Constitutions of the United States of America with the Latest Amendments (Trenton: Moore & Lake, 1813), p. 364. Revised Statutes of the United States relating to the District of Columbia and Post Roads...together with the Public Treaties in force on the first day of December 1873 (ed. 1878). Life, Journal and Correspondence of Manasseh Cutler, Vol. I, chap. 8. William MacDonald, Select Documents Illustrative of the History of the United States, 1776-1861 (NY: Macmillan Company, 1897, 1898), p. 26. Frances Newton Thorpe, ed., Federal and State Constitutions, Colonial Charters, and Other Organic Laws of the States, Territories, and Colonies now or heretofore forming the United States, 7 vols. (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1905; 1909; St. Clair Shores, MI: Scholarly Press, 1968), Vol. I, pp. 957-962. Henry Steele Commager, ed., Documents of American History, 2 vols. (NY: F.S. Crofts and Company, 1934; Appleton-Century-Crofts, Inc., 1948, 6th edition, 1958; Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, Inc., 9th edition, 1973), p. 131. Paul M. Angle, ed., By These Words (NY: Rand McNally & Company, 1954), pp. 91-93. Lillian W. Kay, ed., The Ground on Which We Stand-Basic Documents of American History (NY: Franklin Watts., Inc, 1969), p. 38-39. Daniel L. Driesbach, Real Threat and Mere Shadow-Religious Liberty and the First Amendment (Westchester, IL: Crossway Books, 1987), Vol. I, pp. 427-428. Edwin S. Gaustad, Neither King nor Prelate-Religion and the New Nation, 1776-1826 (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1993), (complete text including drafts and proposals), pp. 153-158. Poole, North American Rev., (includes history of the act) CXXII: 229-65. Article III of An Ordinance for the Government of the Territory of the United States, North-West of the River Ohio (Northwest Ordinance). William Benton, The Annals of America, 20 vols. (Chicago, IL: Encyclopedia Britannica, 1968, 1977), Vol, III, pp. 194-195. Tim LaHaye, Faith of Our Founding Fathers (Brentwood, TN: Wolgemuth & Hyatt, Publishers, Inc., 1987), p. 91. D.P. Diffine, Ph.D., One Nation Under God-How Close a Separation? (Searcy, Arkansas: Harding University, Belden Center for Private Enterprise Education, 6th edition, 1992), p. 3.