Viewing The Ordinance of 1784.The Ordinance of 1784.On April 23, 1784, Congress, operating under the Articles of Confederation, adopted a resolution known as The Ordinance of 1784, which applied to land west of the Appalachian Mountains, north of the Ohio River and east of the Mississippi River -- land encompassed by the current states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin. It provided that settlers could petition Congress for authority to a form a temporary government and adopt the "constitution and laws of one of the existing states." When the new "state" acquired a population of 20,000 free inhabitants, it could draft a "permanent constitution" and seek admission to the union "on an equal footing" with the thirteen original states.
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