Which policy guided the admission of new states from western territories into the United States?

• A. It created a system for federal taxation
• B. It guaranteed the right to bear arms
• C. It established a framework for admitting new states in the Northwest region
• D. It prohibited the processing of cotton

Answer: (C)

The policy being tested is the Northwest Ordinance, which established a framework for admitting new states from the Northwest Territory. It set up how western lands would become states: a territory would be governed, then once it reached about 60,000 free inhabitants, the people could draft a constitution and petition Congress for admission as a state. This process ensured orderly expansion and that new states would join on equal footing with existing ones. It also prohibited slavery in that territory, shaping how expansion and statehood would proceed. The other options don’t fit because they relate to taxation, gun rights, or cotton processing, none of which address how territories become states.