Directions:  Fill in each blank with the word that best completes the reading comprehension.

     The American Revolution was over. The colonists had won! There was a new country called the United States of America.
     This happened on the East Coast in the late 1700s, but what about the rest of the huge area of land that makes up the United States today? How did all of that land become states of the United States?
     The Northwest Ordinance had a lot to do with it. The Northwest Ordinance was a law passed by Congress that set out rules for a section of the future United States called the Northwest Territory.
     The Northwest Territory is the land west of Pennsylvania, north of the Ohio River, and East of the Mississippi River. On the north it is bordered by the Great Lakes and Canada.
     (1)  _______________________   the time just after the Revolutionary War, parts of the Northwest Territory were claimed by Virginia, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New York. Their claims were based on their original colonial charters that gave them land extending far to the (2)  _______________________   of the current state boundaries. States that did not have any claim to western land objected to certain states claiming such large areas. They feared that those states would become too large and (3)  _______________________  .
     The (4)  _______________________   was solved by the Northwest Ordinance, passed in 1787. This law decided that the Northwest Territory would belong to the whole United States, not to particular states.
     The Northwest Ordinance had other important provisions too. These provisions set the standard for future additions to the United States.
     It set rules for how the territory would be governed and for when parts of the territory could (5)  _______________________   states. At first, Congress would (6)  _______________________   the territory. Congress appointed a (7)  _______________________  , a (8)  _______________________  , and three judges. Later, when the adult male population of a part of the territory reached 5,000, that part could (9)  _______________________   a delegate to Congress. The delegate could participate in discussions in Congress but could not (10)  _______________________  . When the population reached 60,000, the area could petition Congress to become a state. The Northwest Territory could be divided into three to five states in this way.
     The Northwest Ordinance also included statements of the rights of the citizens of the territory. It (11)  _______________________   slavery in the territory. It guaranteed the right to (12)  _______________________   by jury. It granted (13)  _______________________   of religion. It said that Indians must be treated fairly. It also encouraged education for the children of the territory.
     The new rules worked well. They allowed an area that was still (14)  _______________________   wilderness in 1787 to gradually become (15)  _______________________   of the United States. Today's states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin were carved out of the Northwest Territory.
     According to the provisions of the Northwest Ordinance, new states would have equal rights with the original states. According to its provisions too, new citizens would have equal rights with the original citizens. The Northwest Ordinance set the standard for future additions to the United States. It announced to everyone that, in the United States, equality is the law of the land.

The Northwest Ordinance

Write a sentence using each word in the space provided.

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