The Northwest Ordinance, enacted in 1787, outlawed slavery in the new states created from the Northwest Territory, which included future states such as Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, and part of Minnesota. Specifically, Article 6 of the Ordinance declared, "There shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in the said territory, otherwise than in the punishment of crimes"-effectively banning slavery in these new states

. However, the Ordinance also included a fugitive slave clause that allowed slaveholders to recapture enslaved people who escaped into the territory, reflecting a compromise with Southern states that did not want a competing slave economy north of the Ohio River

. This clause meant that while slavery was prohibited in the new states, the Ordinance did not emancipate existing slaves nor prevent enforcement of fugitive slave laws. In summary, the Northwest Ordinance outlawed slavery in the new states created from the Northwest Territory but simultaneously protected slaveholders' rights to reclaim escaped slaves, establishing a boundary between free and slave regions that influenced sectional tensions leading up to the Civil War