Admission to the Union

When the people of a territory or a region have grown to a sufficient population and have made their desire for statehood known to the federal government, Congress in most cases has passed an enabling act, authorizing the people of that territory or region to frame a proposed state constitution as a step toward admission to the Union.

The ordinance called for the land (recently confirmed as part of the United States by the Treaty of Paris) west of the Appalachian Mountains, north of the Ohio River and east of the Mississippi River to eventually be divided into ten states.

[5] Stipulations for new state dictated that it would be subject to the Articles of Confederation and acts of Congress; would be subject to payment for federal debts; would not tax federal properties within the state border or tax non-residents at a rate higher than residents; and would have a republican form of government.

[5] Jefferson's original draft of the ordinance gave names to the proposed states and contained a provision that "After the year 1800 there shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in any of them.

[7]While the Articles of Confederation were in effect, the Congress considered various ordinances admitting particular new states into the Union, none of which were approved: Considered one of the most important legislative acts of the Confederation Congress,[10] the Northwest Ordinance established the precedent by which the Federal government would be sovereign and expand westward with the admission of new states, rather than with the expansion of existing states and their established sovereignty under the Articles of Confederation.

[11] The Northwest Territory remained in existence until 1803, when the southeastern portion of it was admitted to the Union as the State of Ohio, and the remainder was reorganized.

Thus the Congress, utilizing the discretion allowed by the framers, adopted a policy of equal status for all newly admitted states.

In most cases, the organized government of a territory made known the sentiment of its population in favor of statehood, usually by referendum.

In one instance, Mormon pioneers in Salt Lake City sought to establish the state of Deseret in 1849.

In 1905, leaders of the Five Civilized Tribes (Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, and Seminole) in Indian Territory proposed to establish the state of Sequoyah as a means to retain control of their lands.

Among them, Michigan Territory, which petitioned Congress for statehood in 1835, was not admitted to the Union until 1837, because of a boundary dispute with the adjacent state of Ohio.

[19] Also, statehood for Kansas Territory was held up for several years (1854–1861) because of a series of internal violent conflicts involving anti-slavery and pro-slavery factions.

Notable exceptions include: the various portions (the Western land claims) of several original states ceded over a period of several years to the federal government, which in turn became the Northwest Territory, Southwest Territory, and Mississippi Territory; the 1791 cession by Maryland and Virginia of land to create the District of Columbia (Virginia's portion was returned in 1847); and the creation, on at least three occasions, of a new state (Kentucky, Maine and West Virginia) from a region of an existing state (Vermont was created from what was disputedly claimed to be a part of New York and was not admitted until New York consented); two large additions to Nevada, which became a state in 1864, were made in 1866 and 1867.