Statehood and Union

Peter S. Onuf is the Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation Professor of History, emeritus, at the University of Virginia. He is the author and co-author of fourteen books, including, with Annette Gordon-Reed, "Most Blessed of the Patriarchs": Thomas Jefferson and the Empire of the Imagination.

• MapsAcknowledgmentsPreface to the 2019 EditionIntroduction1. Liberty, Development, and Union: Visions of the West in the 1780s2. Squatters, Speculators, and Settlers: The Land Ordinance of 17853. New States in the Expanding Union: The Territorial Government Ordinances4. From Territory to State5. Boundary Controversies6. Slavery and Freedom7. From Constitution to Higher LawNotesIndex

"Onuf explains why the ordinance came to be incorporated into the trinity of icons, along with the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, as 'one of the title-deeds of American constitutional liberty' (from a speech by George F. Hoar). People living in other regions may not understand this, but a Midwesterner will find the resonance clear and unambiguous." —Carl Ubbelohde, The Annals of Iowa"Onuf writes intellectual history of a high order. His book is a thoughtful and provocative inquiry into a subject that is in need of a full-dress reevaluation." —Bernard Sheehan, The Journal of American History"Peter Onuf brings political and constitutional history together in Statehood and Union and illustrates the importance of the ordinance in shaping the Northwest. His work should be read by all early national historians." —Jeffrey Brown, Indiana Magazine of History