Chapter 7

A More Perfect Union

Section 1

The Articles of Confederation

State Constitutions

• A constitution is a plan of government

• At the beginning of the war, each state was asked to create their own constitutions by the continental congress

• States wanted to limit the power of the executive (leader)

• People were elected to office (voted in)

Popular Politics

• State constitutions restricted the power of governors – Person in charge of a state

• This made legislatures in charge. They are the people that make laws (smaller congresses)

• Once the state governments were set up, the citizens believed America should be a republic – or a government which citizens rule through elected representatives.

Power for the States…Initially

• The people originally wanted states to act like small countries, united by a weaker central government

• The second continental congress developed the Articles of Confederation

Articles of Confederation

• Under this, the states had most of the power, but the government had the authority to conduct foreign affairs, maintain armed forces, borrow money, and issue currency

• The government would not be able to regulate trade, force soldiers to join the army, or impose taxes.

• The government would have to ask permission to the states for any of the above, and had no chief executive.

Approving the Articles

• Under the plan, each state had one vote in the Confederation Congress

• Large states with more people thought they should have more votes

• States also argued about rights for the western land

• Eventually all states agreed on the articles

Problems with the Articles

• Congress could not pass a law unless 9 states voted in favor of it.

• There was no provision for allowing new states from the Western Territory

• Eventually they decided to allow states when a territories population reached that of the smallest existing state.

Ordinance of 1785

• In 1785, an ordinance or law was passed which divided the land up into townships 6 miles long and wide, then divided into 36 sections of 640 acres each.

• In 1787 The Northwest Ordinance divided the northwest land into 5 lands. When the population of each land reached 60,000 people, each territory could apply for statehood.

Northwest Ordinance

• The dividing of land would eventually create Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio

• The ordinance included a bill of rights for settlers, guaranteeing freedom of religion and trial by jury.

• The government banned slavery as well

Financial Problems

• By 1781, the money printed during the Revolution had depreciated or lost value to the point where it was completely worthless

• The confederation could not pay back the war debts.

• It requested money from states, but they only provided roughly 1/6 of the money needed

Solution Shot Down

• A merchant named Robert Morris suggested collecting a 5% tax on imported goods to help pay the national debt.

• It required all states approving it, but Rhode Island shot it down

• The financial crisis got worse

Problems with Britain

• Britain kept their troops in certain forts in the great lakes area

• However, Britain claimed America was in violation of the Treaty of Paris for not paying loyalists for property taken from them during the revolution.

• The congress recommended to pay the loyalists, but the states refused.

Problems of Spain

• Spain was even more upset at Americans going west into their territory

• They closed the lower Mississippi River to American Shipping in 1784

• The government compromised to limit American shipping in return for Spain accepting the border between Georgia and Florida.

• The Southern States rejected the agreement, because they wanted full use of the Mississippi

The Weak Articles of Confederation

• The Government that the Articles of Confederation had created was very weak

• George Washington described the government as, “Little more than the shadow without the substance”

• Many Americans now called for a stronger national government

Section 2

Convention and Compromise

Depression

• America went through a depression after the war, or a period when economic activity slows and unemployment increases.

• Southern Plantations were damaged during the war

• Rice exports dropped Sharply• Farmers could not sell their goods, and

many were arrested for not paying their debt

Trouble in Massachusetts

• Farmers saw the government as another form of tyranny

• Daniel Shays and other angry farmers took the law into their own hands and forced courts to close so no one could take their land

• He then led his army to a federal arsenal of weapons

Shays Rebellion

• The guards fired over the heads of the mob, over and over but the mob didn’t stop

• Eventually they fired and killed 4 farmers

• Shays Rebellion was over, but Americans were now worried their government could not protect them from violence.

Slavery

• Between 1784 and 1804, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York, and New Jersey outlawed slavery

• This divided the country because slavery was still a large part of the Southern economy

Call for Reform

• Now there was a demand for a change to the Articles of Confederation

• James Madison, and Alexander Hamilton, came to Philadelphia for change

• George Washington, originally against changing the Articles, changed his mind after Shays Rebellion

The Constitutional Convention

• Representatives from all over the nation, ranging in age from 30 to an over 80 year old Ben Franklin, attended the meeting

• The meeting was a closed door meeting, or the information was kept from the public

• Each state delegation would have one vote and a majority vote would be used to make decisions

The Virginia Plan

• Edmund Randolph proposed that the delegates create a strong national government.

• He wanted a two house legislature, and states with more population would have more members in the legislature

• Delegates from Delaware, New Jersey, and other small states did not agree

The New Jersey Plan

• William Paterson of New Jersey presented a plan that gave congress more power to tax and regulate trade

• This plan however gave every state equal representation

Compromise

• Roger Sherman of Connecticut had a great idea

• He suggested two houses. In the lower house: The House of Representatives, the number of seats for each state would vary according to the state’s population

• The Upper House: The Senate, each state would have two members

The 3/5 compromise

• Once the representation was settled, the colonies had to deal with the issue of slavery

• Neither side wanted to give African Americans the right to vote

• The colonies decided to count each enslaved person as three-fifths of a free person for both taxation and representation.

Other Compromises

• The northern states let the southern states continue slavery, and pledged not to interfere for 20 years

• The draft of the constitution did not include a bill of rights

• When 9 of 13 states approved, the new government would be created, instead of a unanimous agreement needed for previous

Section 3

A New Plan of Government

Roots of the Constitution

• England did have many items that the creators of the constitution admired:

• Parliament as a way to limit the power of the king

• Parliament also paid for wars and financed the government

• England also had the bill of rights of 1689

Principles of Locke

• John Lock was a philosopher who believed all people had the right to life, liberty, and property

• He also stated that government should be a contract between the people and the ruler

• The contract would protect peoples rights

Baron de Montesquieu

• He was a French writer that stated powers of government should be separated and balanced against each other

• This separation would prevent any one person or group from gaining too much power

Sharing Power

• Federalism is sharing power between the federal and state governments.

• Under the constitution, government gained the powers to tax, regulate trade, control the currency, raise an army, and declare war.

• However, states still had the power to pass and enforce laws within their borders. States also had the power to tax

The Supreme Law of the Land

• No state could make laws or take actions that went against the constitution.

• The power of the government would be divided into three parts based on Montesquieu’s ideas

• The Legislative, Executive, and Judicial Branches

Legislative Branch

• Congress would be two parts, The house of representatives and the senate

• Powers of congress would include collecting taxes, coining money, regulating trade, and declaring war

• It could make new, necessary laws within the constitution

Executive Branch

• Memories of King George made the colonies reluctant for this branch

• Eventually, they agreed on the executive branch, headed by the president

• The president and vice president would be elected by an electoral college, and each state was to have as many electors as representatives in congress

• Each president and vice president would serve a four year term

Judicial Branch

• This is the court system of the country

• The nations power will be in one supreme court and any other lower federal courts that Congress might establish

• The supreme court were to hear cases involving the Constitution, laws passed by congress, and disputes between states

Checks and Balances

• The three branches have roles that check, or limit the others so that no single branch can dominate the government

Checks and Balances

• Both the house and senate must pass a bill for it to become law

• The president can check congress by vetoing or rejecting the bill.

• To override a veto, two-thirds of congress must vote for the bill

The finished product

• With the constitution, Americans had shown the world that it was possible for a people to change its form of government through discussion and choice, rather than war

• Other nations would watch America closely to see if this experiment would really work

Section 4

Ratifying the Constitution

The First Party

• Supporters of the new constitution were called federalists

• They had the support of the most famous and respected men in America – George Washington, Ben Franklin, as well as three of the most respected thinkers, James Madison, John Jay, and Alexander Hamilton

The Second Party

• Anti-federalists opposed the constitution

• They were not as organized, but strongly believed that the constitution took away basic rights won from Britain, favor the wealthy over the poor, and ignore the will of the people

Ratifying the Constitution

• Despite anti-federalist complaints, the vote went forward

• 9 states had to ratify the constitution

• On December 7th 1787, Delaware became the first state to ratify the constitution

• On June 21st 1788, New Hampshire became the 9th state to ratify the constitution

Concerns

• New York and Virginia were the two largest states, but they had not ratified the constitution yet

• Virginia eventually ratified it when they were promised a bill of rights would be added on

• New York gave in when New York City threatened to join the Union on their own and leave the state

• The bill of rights would be added in 1791