Northwest Ordinance

The same Congress that ratified the First Amendment wrote the Northwest Ordinance. According to the United States Code, it is one of the four principle documents on which our nation was founded (Declaration of Independence, Articles of Confederation, Constitution, and Northwest Ordinance). It says, “Religion, morality, and knowledge being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall be forever encouraged and established in the Northwest Territory.” [note: it says that religion is one necessity for which schools must be established.]

Congress later required that all territories becoming states must have Constitutions which were “not repugnant to the Northwest Ordinance.” For example, the Ohio constitution says “religion, morality and knowledge being essentially necessary to the good government and happiness of mankind, schools and the means of instruction shall ever be encouraged by legislative provisions.”