The land ordinance of 1785 established a three-step process for admitting new states. what did the first step involve?
congress appointing a governor, secretary, and three judges
the people electing a territorial governor and three judges
congress appointing a governor and two acting senators
the people electing a territorial legislature

The people electing a territorial governor and three judges.

Explanation:

Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union between the states of New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Bay Rhode Island, and Providence Plantations Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia.

Articles of Confederation, drafted by John Dickinson in 1776, to actually become the law of the land all 13 states had to approve, well it took a while, but 12 of the 13 states finally approved. Maryland being the only state to hold out at this point. Maryland basically said there's no way, we are going to sign off on this until the western lands are dealt with.

Thomas Jefferson serving in congress as a delegate of Virginia proposed the land ordinance of 1785 which would have provided such a solution.

Under the Articles of Confederation or first constitution very little got done because it was very hard to pass laws you need a 9 out of 13 of Congress one vote per state in order to pass a law so there's not a lot of laws to study, but in New York State they asked this question a lot  of one of the successes of the Articles was the passage of this piece of legislation known as the Northwest Ordinance, passed July 13 1787,  so basically what this law does is it is a process for new states joining the union territories to become states so in a sense it is like the legs of manifest destiny so you know if you think of manifest destiny is moving forward. I can't move forward without the legs. The legs are the process by which I move forward so, therefore this law is a formula that allows territories to join as states. So, in a sense it's like the country is expanding, so to the concept is that the country in a sense is getting pregnant with new states. So, in order for a territory to qualify for a state there was a three step process called Northwest Territory was established.

Step 1: The people electing a territorial governor, a secretary and three judges.

Step 2: Five thousand people free adult males and electing a state legislature.

Step 3: Sixty Thousand free and having a constitution.