The First Colony of the United States

OLD NORTHWEST TERRITORY 

THE FIRST COLONY OF THE UNITED STATES 

HEREIN, UNDER
THE ORDINANCE
OF 1787, BEGAN 
THE WESTWARD 
EXPANSION OF 
THIS NATION. 
THE AMERICAN 
BILL OF RIGHTS 
FIRST NATION-
ALLY RECOGNI-
ZED HUMAN 
SLAVERY PRO-
HIBITED. PRI-
MOGENITURE 
ABOLISHED.

AND THE GREAT 
NEW PRINCIPLES 
OF COLONIES 
BECOMING EQ-
UAL IN RIGHTS 
WITH PARENT 
STATES WAS ES-
TABLISHED...

ITASCA LAKE 
SOURCE OF THE 
MISSISSIPPI 
RIVER, DISCOV-
ERED BY HENRY 
R. SCHOOLCRAFT 
IN 1832.

THE TREATY
OF PARIS, 1783, 
PROVIDED THAT
THE UNITED
STATES' NORTH-
WEST BOUND-
ARY SHOULD EX-
TEND FROM THE 
NORTHWEST 
ANGLE OF LAKE 
OF THE WOODS 
TO THE MISSISS-
IPPI RIVER. 

ITASCA WAS ON
THIS BOUNDARY.

THIS TABLE IS ERECTED 1938, BY THE 
NORTHWEST TERRITORY CELEBRATION COMMISSION

FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES; GEORGE WHITE, CHAIRMAN; MRS LELAND 
S. DUXBURY, MRS. GEORGE BAXTER AVERILL, MRS. JOHN S. HEAUME, MRS. SAMUEL JAMES CAMPBELL, 
MISS BONNIE FARWELL, MRS GEORGE D. SCHERMERHORN, VICE CHAIRMAN; CONGRESSMAN ROBERT T. SECREST, 
TREASURER; REV JOSEPH E. HANZ, SECRETARY; UNITED STATES SENATORS ARTHUR H. VANDENBERG, 
FREDERICK VAN NUYS; CONGRESSMAN THOMAS A. JENKINS; PAUL V. MCNUTT, E. M. HAWES, EXEC. DIRECTOR