Scholars gather for Northwest Ordinance conference

February 4, 2026

Scholars gather for Northwest Ordinance conference

Chris Nichols, Annette Gordon-Reed, Margaret Newell, Maria Hammack

A fully booked conference – with a wait list – is a great way to kick off celebrations in Ohio for the United States’ semiquincentennial, or America 250. At “New Perspectives on the Northwest Ordinance,” scholars from Stanford University, Howard University, Johns Hopkins University and many others joined Ohio State faculty for two days of discussion about an easily overlooked founding document, the Northwest Ordinance.