A compromise was agreed to; for, like so many other great political triumphs, the passage of the Ordinance of 1787 was a compromise.

Slavery was prohibited, on the one hand; and on the other, that the territory might not become a refuge for runaway negroes, provision was made for the return of such fugitives.

The popular conscience was yet too dull about slavery to be stirred by the thought of returning fugitive slaves into bondage.
Land Purchase.
A fortnight after the passage of the ordinance, the transaction was completed by the sale of a million and a half acres, north of the Ohio, to the Ohio Company.

Three million and a half more, known as the Sciato purchase, were authorized to be sold to a purely speculative company, but the speculation ended in nothing save financial disaster.

The price was nominally seventy cents an acre; but as payment was made in depreciated public securities, the real price was only eight or nine cents an acre.