Lesson Plan: Northwest Ordinance
Author: Beth Robinson
Subject: History, Government
Grade(s): 4, 8
Benchmarks and Indicators
- History 3-5, Benchmark C: Explain how new developments led to the growth of the United States.
- Indicator: Grade 4, GLI 4. Explain how Ohio progressed from territory to statehood, including the terms of the Northwest Ordinance.
- Government 6-8, Benchmark B: Explain how the Declaration of Independence, the U.S. Constitution, including the Bill of Rights, and the Northwest Ordinance have provided for the protection of rights and the long-term future of a growing democracy.
- Indicator: Grade 8, GLI 7. Explain how the Northwest Ordinance established principles and procedures for the orderly expansion of the United States.
Lesson Summary
This lesson was designed for a pair team of an 8th grader leading a 4th grader. The Fourth graders were studying the Northwest Territory at the same time, but were not capable of analyzing the document alone. The pairs worked together to read the document. The Eighth grade students were prepared to have a full understanding and adapted their questioning for the Fourth graders to have a better grasp of the document. There is a meaningful spin on the lesson for the Eighth graders as teachers if you are able to adapt the lesson in this way.
This lesson is designed to follow discussion of the Northwest Territory and the purposes of the Land Ordinance of 1785 and Northwest Ordinance of 1787. Following this lesson is a discussion of the further relations of Native Americans in the Northwest Territory and the effects leading to their further removal.
Students will view the primary source document Ordinance of the Northwest Territory (1787) either on the internet directly or in a printed version. (To aid reading of the document, you may wish to save the typed version and underline main points that correlate to focus questions.) Students will use the document to understand how the land was to be governed and specific laws regarding rights of peoples, including Native Americans. They will use an Ohio Memory scrapbook of other primary sources in regards to the Northwest Territory to further draw conclusions about relationships of peoples in the Northwest Territory.
Instructional Procedures
- Review the purposes of the previously discussed documents Land Ordinance of 1785 and Northwest Ordinance of 1787. Focus attention to what governing means in light of the main difference of the Northwest Ordinance purpose. Predict what ideas might be included in a governing document.
- Access primary source of the Ordinance of the Northwest Territory (1787). It would be effective either to print a copy for each student or pair of students or to project the file on a screen to view as a whole class.
- Distribute analysis worksheets and preview the questions. Describe the difference between Article and section for students if they have difficulty analyzing document parts.
- Lead students to the Ohio Memory scrapbookk and preview question #10 for them. If students are not at a computer, the teacher will need to assign the website for computer time or adapt lesson to another day when the class can view each item together and students choose one primary source to respond to personally.
- Allow students to answer questions from the document and be available for individual questions or concerns.
Post-Assessment
The assessment is in two forms. First, the worksheet itself is an individual assessment. A scoring rubric for the worksheet is attached. Secondly, the unit test has two questions about the purpose of the document.
