Northwest Ordinance of 1787. The Ordinance, reaffirmed by Congress in 1789 following ratification of the U.S. Constitution, established the framework for developing future territories and admitting new states. The Ordinance represented a statement of the federal government's general attitude toward and policy for the territories' ultimate status. It established the precedent that the territorial system's long-range objective was to admit new states. To prepare the territory for the’ transition to statehood, residents were subject to. the same federal laws and taxation as the existing states. The Ordinance assumed that the limits on democratic government were temporary, and increased measures of self-government were extended as the territory matured. It insured that territorial residents received the full protection of their constitutional rights and that the territory would be admitted into the Union on an equal footing with the original states. Although the Northwest Ordinance established the basis for a cohesive territorial system, it did not prescribe detailed admission procedures. The U.S. Constitution empowers Congress to admit new states. In the absence of specific criteria, the Congress has generally measured whether a territory was ready for statehood against three standards. 1. The inhabitants of the proposed new state are imbued with and sympathetic toward the principles of democracy as exemplified in the American form of government. 2. A majority of the electorate desire statehood. 3. The proposed new state has sufficient population and sources to support state government and to provide Share of the cost of the federal government. reits While statehood deliberations have resulted in some trends, the broad authority of Congress and the diversity of new states led to many variations in admission procedures, statehood condi- tions, factors and time affecting frames for achieving these patterns, statehood. ! The various including population size and composition, geographic location, economic development, and historical circumstances, have all affected these trends. 1898 SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR ALTERS TRADITIONAL TERRITORIAL POLICY The 1898 Spanish-American War marked a turning point for U.S. territorial policy. Under the Treaty of Paris, Spain ceded the Philippines, Puerto Rico, and Guam to the United States. Ifrends and variations in statehood admission procedures were analyzed in our March 1980 report, Experience of Past Territories Can Assist Puerto Rico Status Deliberations (GGD-80-26). 9000212