Land Ordinance of 1784

E199576

The Land Ordinance of 1784 was an early U.S. law drafted largely by Thomas Jefferson that outlined a systematic process for organizing and governing western territories as they moved toward statehood.

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All labels observed (2)

Label Occurrences
Ordinance of 1784 2
Land Ordinance of 1784 canonical 1

Statements (48)

Predicate Object
instanceOf United States federal law
historical legal document
land ordinance
appliesToTerritory Western territories of the United States
territory east of the Mississippi River
territory north of the Ohio River
territory west of the Appalachian Mountains
associatedWithEvent westward expansion of the United States
associatedWithPerson Thomas Jefferson
containsProvision conditions for transition from territory to statehood
framework for temporary territorial governments
procedure for drafting state constitutions
country United States of America
dateEnacted 1784-04-23
documentType statute
draftedBy Thomas Jefferson
followedBy Land Ordinance of 1785
Northwest Ordinance
surface form: Northwest Ordinance of 1787
governmentType Congress of the Confederation
surface form: Confederation Congress
historicalContext early United States territorial expansion
historicalPeriod post-American Revolutionary War era
influenced Northwest Ordinance
surface form: Northwest Ordinance of 1787

later U.S. territorial governance policies
jurisdiction United States government
surface form: United States federal government
language English
legalArea constitutional development of the United States
public lands
territorial law
legalStatus enacted ordinance
legislativeBody Congress of the Confederation
originallyProposed ban on slavery in western territories after 1800
originallyProposedBy Thomas Jefferson
principalAuthor Thomas Jefferson
principle new states admitted on equal terms with original states
providedFor admission of new states on equal footing with existing states
division of western lands into distinct territories
purpose to establish a procedure for territories to become states
to outline temporary governance for western territories
to provide a systematic process for organizing western territories
relatedTo Land Ordinance of 1785
Northwest Ordinance
surface form: Northwest Ordinance of 1787
replacedBy Land Ordinance of 1785
shortDescription early U.S. ordinance establishing a process for organizing and admitting western territories as states
subject public land policy
statehood process
territorial organization
votingRequirement approval by Congress of the Confederation
yearEnacted 1784

Referenced by (3)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Northwest Ordinance relatedDocument Land Ordinance of 1784
United States in Congress Assembled enacts Land Ordinance of 1784
this entity surface form: Ordinance of 1784
Land Ordinance of 1785 relatedTo Land Ordinance of 1784
this entity surface form: Ordinance of 1784