From “Undoing Manifest Destiny: Settler America, Christian Colonists, and the Pursuit of Justice” by L. Daniel Hawk
The American Revolution generated a huge public debt. Under the Articles of Confederation, adopted by the Continental Congress in 1777, Congress lacked the authority to tax or to regulate trade and commerce and could generate revenue only by appeals to the states,, which the states routinely ignored. With sovereignty located primarily in the states, the Confederation government had no effective means of enforcing its decisions and resolving disputes between the states. Contributing to its relative impotence was the fact that many delegates attended sessions only when it suited them, so that sessions often failed to reach a quorum, leading to vexing and interminable delays.
Congress, however, considered the nation rich in land, which is to say, Indian land. The Ohio Country, as well as the larger region known as the Old Northwest (bounded by the land north of the Ohio River and east of the Mississippi), constituted a virtual land bank for the fledgling nation. By selling and settling Ohio land, Congress planned to resolve the national debt in short order, stimulate military enlistment with the promise of free land, and fuel expansion. As Congress looked forward to the terms of peace between the United States and Great Britain, it anticipated that Great Britain would relinquish its claims to much of its land in North America. Congress therefore set about the task of mediating land claims among the colonies and establishing a system for the sale and settlement of the land.