AP US History
Land ordinances were laws passed under the Articles of Confederation that established a system for surveying, selling, and settling western lands in the United States. These ordinances provided a structured process for expansion and land ownership.
The Land Ordinances of the 1780s were a series of measures passed by the United States Congress under the Articles of Confederation. After gaining independence from Britain, one major challenge was managing the vast western territories. The Land Ordinance of 1784, 1785, and the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 established structured settlement processes and governance for these new lands, with key figures including Thomas Jefferson playing pivotal roles in their creation.
The Land Ordinances played a crucial role in westward expansion and set a precedent for public land management and settlement patterns in the United States. They also established a method to fund public education through land sales. The Northwest Ordinance, in particular, laid the groundwork for new states to enter the Union on equal footing with existing ones and prohibited slavery in the Northwest Territory, setting early national policy on these critical issues.