Final answer:
The Northwest Ordinance of 1787 established a procedure for creating new states, prohibited slavery in the territory, and promised fair treatment of Native Americans, laying out a grid system for land division.
Step-by-step explanation:
The Northwest Ordinance of 1787 was a significant piece of legislation passed by the Confederation Congress, which laid out a structured process for expansion and governance of the Northwest Territory. Among its mandates, the Ordinance laid a blueprint for the formation of new states, thereby outlining the process by which a territory could become a state. It also banned slavery in the Northwest Territory, vowed to treat local Native American tribes with "the utmost good faith" and declared their land would not be taken without consent, although, in practice, this commitment was often overlooked as expansion progressed. The Ordinance established a mathematical grid system for dividing the land into townships and smaller parcels, earmarking land for civic purposes like schools, which is a system still visible in American landscape patterns today. Moreover, it was one of the first pieces of legislation under the Articles of Confederation to take a step towards addressing the contentious issue of slavery, laying out early policies that signified the country's approach to expansion, with assertions of expansion with honor, albeit execution of this ideal fell short when conflicts with indigenous peoples arose.