<P> The language of the ordinance prohibits slavery, but also contained a clear fugitive slave clause as well . Efforts in the 1820s by pro-slavery forces to legalize slavery in two of the states created from the Northwest Territory failed, but an "indentured servant" law allowed some slaveholders to bring slaves under that status; they could not be bought or sold . Southern states voted for the law because they did not want to compete with the territory over tobacco as a commodity crop; it was so labor - intensive that it was grown profitably only with slave labor . Additionally, slave - states' political power would merely be equalized, as there were three more slave - states than there were free - states in 1790 . </P> <P> In two parts, the Northwest Ordinance mentions the Native Americans within this region . The first pertains to the demarcation of counties and townships out of lands that the Indians were regarded as having lost or relinquished title: </P> <P> Section 8 . For the prevention of crimes and injuries, the laws to be adopted or made shall have force in all parts of the district, and for the execution of process, criminal and civil, the governor shall make proper divisions thereof; and he shall proceed from time to time as circumstances may require, to lay out the parts of the district in which the Indian titles shall have been extinguished, into counties and townships, subject, however, to such alterations as may thereafter be made by the legislature . </P> <P> The second describes the preferred relationship with the Indians: </P>

Who established rules for settling new lands and creating new states