Road to a New Government

What had happened was… The 13 states all realized that the Articles of Confederation was not working as an effective government Then something happened that finally made them make a change

Shay’s Rebellion Farmers in Massachusetts rebelled after courts foreclosed on their land to pay off debts Farmers marched to the courthouse to prevent foreclosures on their farms Gov’t didn’t have the power to suppress the rebellion Convinced people of the need to create a stronger central government

Constitutional Convention Call a convention to amend the Articles of Confederation Once they begin amending the Articles realize it is better to start from scratch

Constitutional Convention From May 25 to September 17, 1787, delegates at the Constitutional Convention met to revise the Articles of Confederation. It became clear very quickly that a new constitution would have to be made.

Federalism Powers would be shared between the state and central government

Separation of Powers Create 3 branches of government and each branch would have its own powers

Checks and Balances Some powers would overlap to make sure one branch did not become to powerful

Government Set Up 3 Branches of government created Executive Branch – president – enforce/execute laws Legislative Branch – Congress- make laws Judicial Branch – Supreme Court – interpret/judge laws

It was not long before serious disagreements arose among the 55 delegates. Some of the worst debates were between the large states and small states. They disagreed on how the states would be represented in the new legislature. Should it be equal representation or based on populations. Can you help them?

Representation Equal representation and equal voting power New Jersey Plan (small states) Virginia Plan (big states) Equal representation and equal voting power Base representation on population and each representative gets a vote

House of Representatives Great Compromise Senate House of Representatives Each state gets 2 Representatives Representation based on population

Great! How to decide on population? Having decided the question of representation in Congress, delegates turned their attention to important issues related to slavery. One issue was do you count slaves in the population count? Can you help them?

Counting Slaves? Property vs People 3/5 Compromise – count slaves as 3/5 of a person for representation

One Last Thing on Slaves Should the slave trade be permitted in US? Would continue for 20 years and then they could revisit the issue Should we allow slavery? Stayed away from this topic all together because worried it would all fall apart

Ratification In order for the new government to go into place 9 of 13 states had to ratify (agree) to it This was not an easy task

Ratification Anti-Federalists Only support Constitution if add a Bill of Rights Thought the new government was too strong Many were farmers

Ratification Federalists Supported the Constitution Typically the elite – older men Write Federalists Papers (Hamilton, Madison, John Jay) – illustrate the need for a strong national government

Bill of Rights First 10 amendments to the US Constitution Protect personal rights/liberties