In order for a territory to become a state, there were several different processes they had to go through. Here are the three main ones:
1) Had to have a large enough population in order to be considered a state- Laws like the Northwest Ordinance made it so that states had to have at least 50,000 citizens in order to be considered for statehood.
2) Had to create a constitution- In order for a territory to become a state, they had to develop and pass a state constitution.
3) Congressional approval- The application for statehood then had to be approved by the federal government in order for it to be official.
