“… Article 6. There shall be neither slavery nor
involuntary servitude in the said territory,
otherwise than in the punishment of crimes
whereof the party shall have been duly convicted:
Provided, always, That any person escaping into
the same, from whom labor or service is lawfully
claimed in any one of the original States, such
fugitive may be lawfully reclaimed and conveyed
to the person claiming his or her labor or service
as aforesaid.…”
— Northwest Ordinance, 1787
Based on this excerpt from the Northwest
Ordinance, which statement is a valid
conclusion?
(1) The issue of slavery was largely ignored
before the Civil War.
(2) Abolitionists had gained control of the
Constitutional Convention.
(3) Slavery was legally banned in the Northwest
Territory.
(4) Enslaved persons had constitutionally
protected civil rights.