Which act established procedures for selling new lands in the Northwest Territory and creating new states?

The Northwest Ordinance is the correct answer because it established the procedures for selling new lands in the Northwest Territory and laid out the framework for creating new states. Enacted in 1787, the Northwest Ordinance provided a methodical approach to governance and settlement in the newly acquired territories, which included lands northwest of the Ohio River. The ordinance set forth guidelines for establishing government in these territories, including granting rights to citizens and outlining the process by which new states could be admitted to the Union on equal footing with the original states.

While the Public Land Act of 1796 facilitated the sale of public lands and made adjustments to the previous system established by the Land Ordinance of 1785, it did not create the foundational procedures for statehood or governance that the Northwest Ordinance provided. The Land Ordinance of 1785 primarily dealt with the surveying and sale of land rather than state governance and creation. The Homestead Act, which came later in 1862, focused on providing land to settlers but was not related to the Northwest Territory or the founding framework for state incorporation.