D. Northwest Ordinance of 1787 The Northwest Ordinance of 1787 established territorial government (before the population reached 5000) and if a territory reached a certain population it could apply for statehood and become a state.
The Northwest Ordinance of 1787 was an act enacted by the Confederation's Congress that provided a plan for governing Western lands in a peaceful and orderly way. The U.S. had acquired them after the American Revolutionary War.
Under the act, the Northwest Territory had to be divided into not less than three and nor more than five States, and that each state was to be governed by a governor, secretary, and three judges appointed by Congress until it attained a population of 5,000 adult free males, at which time it would become a territory and could form its own representative legislature.
