A division of the Northwest Territory into "not less than three nor more than five States"
A three-stage method for admitting a new state to the Union: a congressionally appointed governor, secretary, and three judges to rule in the first phase; an elected assembly and one non-voting delegate to Congress to be elected in the second phase when the population of the territory reached "five thousand free male inhabitants of full age"; and a state constitution to be drafted and membership to the Union to be requested in the third phase when the population reached 60,000
A bill of rights protecting religious freedom, the right to a writ of habeas corpus, the benefit of trial by jury, and other individual rights; in addition the ordinance encouraged education and forbade slavery.