What was the Old Northwest? Here’s a brief history of the Northwest Territory of the U.S., from its early days as a part of French Canada, then a part of the British empire, and finally acquired by the U.S.
The Old Northwest – Northwest Territory of the U.S.
The Northwest Territory, now the five states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin, was from the late 1600s until 1763 the western part of France’s North American empire, known as New France. The French colonial government profited from the activities of about 4,000 traders in the region, who obtained furs from Native American hunters and trappers in exchange for goods made in France or Canada. Furs were transported back to eastern Canadian cities for shipment to France and other European places, and trade goods for the Indians were imported through the same supply network.
Over the years, the French built military forts at strategic locations throughout the region. Most were surrounded by small communities of French-Canadian farmers and other settlers. Away from the protection of these forts, however, permanent French settlement was very limited. Only Catholic missionaries and fur traders typically lived in the more remote areas.
British Acquisition of the Northwest Territory
The Treaty of Paris of 1763, which ended the French and Indian War (known in Europe as the Seven Years’ War), transferred Canada and the Northwest Territory from France to Great Britain. The British took possession of the French forts and assumed control of much of the fur trade, with many of the French fur traders throughout the region remaining in place, and switching their trade from French to British fur buyers and trade goods suppliers.
Later that year, Great Britain issued the Proclamation of 1763, which prohibited settlers in the American colonies from moving west of the Appalachian Mountains. Combined with determined resistance from Native American tribes living in the region, this policy largely prevented Americans from settling the region until after the end of the American Revolution (1775–1783).
America Acquires the Old Northwest
In the Treaty of Paris of 1783, which ended the Revolutionary War, Great Britain formally ceded the Northwest Territory to the United States. The region became the northwestern corner of the new nation, extending west to the Mississippi River. It was a vast acquisition—about two-thirds the size of the original thirteen states.
In 1787, Congress passed the Northwest Ordinance, which established a territorial government for the entire region and created a process by which new states could be admitted to the Union with the same rights and privileges as the original states. With some later adjustments to its boundaries, the Northwest Territory eventually became the states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin. The extreme northwestern portion later became part of Minnesota after the Louisiana Purchase of 1803.
Settlement of the Territory
Although the United States had acquired the Northwest Territory from Great Britain, much of the land remained under the control of Native American tribes. They had never ceded their lands to either Great Britain or the United States and had not been represented in the Treaty of Paris negotiations.
The new federal government hoped to encourage settlement, particularly in what became Ohio. Under the Articles of Confederation, Congress had only limited authority to raise taxes and expected land sales in the Northwest Territory to become an important source of revenue. Several states also hoped to reward Revolutionary War veterans with grants of western land, in lieu of the pay that the veterans had never received.
Settlement proved far more difficult than anticipated. Native American tribes strongly resisted the influx of settlers, and for many years they received support from British troops and fur traders who remained in the region even after it had been ceded to the United States.
Beginning in the 1790s, federal officials negotiated a series of treaties through which Native American tribes ceded portions of the Northwest Territory. These agreements gradually opened more land to settlement. In Ohio, widespread settlement did not begin until the late 1790s, after organized Native American resistance had largely been defeated. Elsewhere, land cessions continued into the 1830s. The last major armed conflict in the region was the Black Hawk War of 1832 in present-day Illinois and Wisconsin. By then, nearly fifty years had passed since the United States had acquired the territory from Great Britain.
What was the Old Northwest? Until the Louisiana Purchase of 1803, the Northwest Territory was the northwest corner of the United States, so it was simply referred to as ‘The Northwest’. Ohio became the first state carved from the Northwest Territory in 1803, followed by Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and finally Wisconsin in 1848. Although the territory itself existed for only a relatively short time, the region continued for generations to be known as the Old Northwest, distinguishing it from the later Pacific Northwest states of Washington and Oregon. Today, the region is more commonly referred to as the Upper Midwest or the Great Lakes States. Throughout this website, we use the term Great Lakes States.
For a more detailed history of the Old Northwest, see The Northwest Territory at Wikipedia.
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