In Downes v. Bidwell the U.S. Supreme Court established that the United States was not just a nation of states and temporary territories; it was a nation of states and potentially permanent territories. Although the United States had always possessed territories, they were assumed to be transitional phases for areas under U.S. sovereignty. They were to be administered from the nation’s capital until they had reached sufficient population size and had written constitutions establishing republican government, following the blueprint of the 1787 Northwest Ordinance. Congress could then annex U.S. territories as new states into the Union, which it ultimately did for thirty-one of the fifty states.