Editing Northwest Ordinance (section)

===Establishment of territorial government===
While the population of free, male inhabitants of a territory was less than 5,000, there would be a limited form of government: a governor, a secretary, and three judges, all being appointed by Congress. The governor, appointed for a three-year term and given a "freehold estate therein, in one thousand acres of land," would be the commander-in-chief of the militia, appoint magistrates and other civil officers, and help create and publish laws. The secretary, appointed for a four-year term and given a similar freehold estate as the governor but of five hundred acres, would be in charge of keeping and preserving the acts and laws passed by the territorial legislatures, keep the public records of the district, and transmit authentic copies of such acts and proceedings every six months to the secretary of the Continental Congress. Three judges, who would be appointed indefinitely "during good behaviour" and be given the same freehold as the secretary, would be in charge of helping the governor create and pass acts and laws and in making official court rulings.<ref>{{cite web |title=Northwest Ordinance |url=http://loc.gov/rr/program/bib/ourdocs/northwest.html |date=July 13, 1787 |pages=335–337 |website=Library of Congress |department=Primary Documents in American History |access-date=March 7, 2019}}</ref>

Once the population of a territory reached 5,000 free, male inhabitants, it would receive the authority to elect representatives from counties or townships to a territorial general assembly. For every 500 free males, there would be one representative until there were 25 representatives. Then, Congress would control the number and proportion of the representatives from that legislature. No male could be a representative unless he was a [[citizen of the United States]] for at least three years or lived in the district for three years and owned at least 200 acres of land within the same district. The representatives would serve for a term of two years. If a representative died or was removed from office, a new one would be elected to serve out the remaining time.<ref>{{cite web |title=Northwest Ordinance |url=http://loc.gov/rr/program/bib/ourdocs/northwest.html |date=July 13, 1787 |pages=337–338 |website=Library of Congress |department=Primary Documents in American History |access-date=March 7, 2019}}</ref>