The Northwest Ordinance of 1787 included which provisions?

• A. Permanent prohibition of slavery in the Northwest Territory
• B. A Bill of Rights
• C. Both A and B
• D. No restrictions

Answer: (B)

The main idea being tested is that the Northwest Ordinance established a formal set of civil liberties for people in the Northwest Territory, effectively a Bill of Rights for that region. It guaranteed key protections—religious freedom, due process, trial by jury, and habeas corpus—so that even as the territory was governed and prepared for statehood, individuals’ basic rights were respected. This rights-focused framework reflects how the new nation sought to model governance and liberty in the expansion era, making a Bill of Rights for the territory the best fit for what the ordinance embodied. (Context: the ordinance also laid out governance steps and the path to statehood, shaping how new communities would be governed under the rule of law as the United States grew.)