The essays and annotations in this publication provide an opportunity for citizens and students to consider not only the history of the Northwest Ordinance but also basic and enduring issues in U.S. political life. The book is divided into three main parts. The first part provides a background to the Ordinance and its passage by the Confederation Congress. In the lead essay, Andrew Cayton discusses the Ordinance from the perspective of the Indians, Anglo-Americans, and French, who lived on the frontier. In an accompanying essay Robert M. Taylor, Jr. introduces the relatively unknown men who voted on the Ordinance legislation in the Confederation Congress. The second part of the book comprises commentaries on specific sections and articles of the Ordinance itself. In the third part of the book Patrick Furlong discusses the transformation of a paper plan into a functioning government. He details the resulting problems and delays, the strife among officials, the divisions of the territory, and the quests for statehood. This volume also includes a chronology of events, a 66-item selected bibliography, illustrations, and a series of maps, all related to the Northwest Ordinance and the Northwest Territory. (SM)