Northwest Territory Organized incorporated territory from July 13, 1787 until March 1, 1803

The Northwest Territory was created by US Congress on July 13, 1787 encompassing the region lying west of Pennsylvania, north of the Ohio River, east of the Mississippi River, and south of the Great Lakes. The area covered more than 260,000 square miles (670,000 km2). Virginia,New York, Connecticut, and Massachusetts had claims to this area, which they ceded to the central government between 1780 and 1800. Land policy and territorial government were established by the Northwest Ordinances of 1784, 1785, and 1787. Previously the area was part of the British Province of Quebec and a territory under British rule set aside in the Royal Proclamation of 1763 for use by native American Indians. In the Treaty of Paris on September 3, 1783 the area was assigned from the Kingdom of Great Britain to the now independent United States. US American settlement of the Northwest Territory officially began at Marietta, OH, on April 7, 1788 with the arrival of forty-eight pioneers. However difficulties with native Indian tribes and with British trading outposts presented continuing obstacles for the expansion. The five states Ohio (1803), Indiana (1816), Illinois (1818), Michigan (1837), and Wisconsin (1848) were organized from the territory, and a small part, the land lying between the rivers St. Croix and Mississippi, was incorporated into Minnesota (1858).

	#680 // Sep 14, 1929 // Erie, PA and Toledo, OH 135th Anniversary of the Battle of Fallen Timbers General Anthony Wayne Memorial, erected in 1902 in Erie, PA, his burial place The forces of General "Mad" Anthony Wayne (* 1745, † 1796) defeated on August 20, 1794 a large army of allied Indians at the Battle of Fallen Timbers.
The battlefield was near present-day Maumee, Toledo, Lucas County, OH. In 1795, General Wayne forced the Indians to sign the Treaty of Greenville, which made the Northwest Territory available for safe American settlement.
#795 // July 13, 1937 // Marietta, OH 150th Anniversary of the adoption of the Northwest Ordinance on July 13, 1787, and the creation of the Northwest Territory Mannaseh Cutler (* 1742, † 1823), General Rufus Putnam (* 1738, † 1824), (both were the "fathers" of the Ordinance), and Map of Northwest Territory
This law provided the model for the organized growth of the U.S. The ordinance established government for the area north of the Ohio River and west of Pennsylvania, and illustrated the steps a territory would need to take to achieve statehood.
	#837 // July 15, 1938 // Marietta, OH Settlement of the Northwest Territory Sesquicentennial Sculpture "Colonization of the West" in Marietta, OH by Danish-American artist and sculptor John Gutzon de la Mothe Borglum (* 1867, † 1941) erected in 1938

Federal states formed out of the Northwest Territory
#4314 // August 11, 2011 (self-adhesive coil definitive) Flags of Our Nation Series Ohio State Flag, Statehood on March 1, 1803 [view map]	#4290 // September 2, 2008 (self-adhesive coil definitive) Flags of Our Nation Series Indiana State Flag, Statehood on December 11, 1816 [view map]	#4289 // September 2, 2008 (self-adhesive coil definitive) Flags of Our Nation Series Illinois State Flag, Statehood on December 3, 1818 [view map]
#4298 // August 6, 2009 (self-adhesive coil definitive) Flags of Our Nation Series Michigan State Flag, Statehood on January 26, 1837 [view map]	#4330 // August 16, 2012 (self-adhesive coil definitive) Flags of Our Nation Series Wisconsin State Flag, Statehood on May 29, 1848 [view map]	#4299 // August 6, 2009 (self-adhesive coil definitive) Flags of Our Nation Series Minnesota State Flag, Statehood on May 11, 1858 [view map] (the remainder of initial Northwest Territory became northeast Minnesota)

#UX169 // June 13, 1993 // Fort Recovery, OH Stamped Postal Card Fort Recovery 1793 - 1993

Fort Recovery was constructed on order of General Anthony Wayne, Commander-in-Chief of the US Army, as an outpost to subdue the native Indian tribes of the Northwest Territory. On this site two of the largest Indian battles ever fought in the US history took place, the "Battle on the Wabash" or "The St. Clair Massacre" in 1791 and the "Battle of Fallen Timbers" in 1794.