Next week, residents will continue the celebrations of this country’s early days and values on the 238th anniversary of the “Ordinance for the Government of the Territory of the United States, North-West of the River Ohio.”

On July 9, in Marietta, Paul LaRue, president of the Ohio State Board of Education, will talk mainly about Article 3 of that document and the effect it has had on education in this country for centuries.

But there is so much more worth celebrating in that founding document. At the time, the authors made repeated references to religious freedoms, noting that “the fundamental principles of civil and religious liberty … form the basis whereon these republics, their laws and constitutions are erected.”

Article 1 of the ordinance: “No person, demeaning himself in a peaceable and orderly manner, shall ever be molested on account of his mode of worship or religious sentiments, in the said territory.” The founding document for what became Ohio and other states is quite clear on how the law should respect all the different ways in which people express their faith (or not).

Knowledge being among the things “necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind,” Article 3 says “schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged.” Further, back in 1787, the authors of the ordinance said quite plainly that the “utmost good faith shall always be observed towards” the natives who were already on the land.

” … Their lands and property shall never be taken from them without their consent; and, in their property, rights, and liberty, they shall never be invaded or disturbed, unless in just and lawful wars authorized by Congress; but laws founded in justice and humanity, shall from time to time be made for preventing wrongs being done to them, and for preserving peace and friendship with them.”

Article 6 is perhaps the most well-known, proclaiming “There shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in the said territory,” approximately 76 years before the Emancipation Proclamation.

Buckeye State residents can certainly be proud of the direction the Confederation Congress of the United States intended for the territory, all those years ago. The degree to which we have stayed on the course they set for us over our history may be up for debate, but there is no doubt elected and other public officials would do well to take another look at it, now.