Confederation to Constitution (1776 – 1791) Chapter 8 Confederation to Constitution (1776 – 1791)

The confederation era: As American’s planned their first nation government, their main goal was to prevent governmental tyranny from reappearing in the new nation It was decided that the new nation would be a republic – a country in which the people choose representatives to govern them With the Continental Congress planning for a central government, it was discussed having one vote or voting should be based on population They also disagreed who should control the Northwest Territory – lands west of the Appalachian Mountains The Articles of Confederation planned to have the government run by a legislative body called – Confederation Congress, which had to power to wage war, make peace, sign treaties, and issue money Each state only had one vote But left the most important power to the states: set taxes and enforce national laws

The articles are ratified: In November, the Continental Congress passed the Articles of Confederation Then sent the Articles to the states for ratification – approval, by 1778, 8 states had ratified the Articles Some small states refused to sign, because they had no western land claims Some states were wanting to sell their land claims in the western lands to help pay off war debt In the end, all states gave up their claims, and in 1781, Maryland, was the 13th state to ratify

Strengths and weaknesses of the Articles: The Confederation Congress had run the nation during the War, but Americans began to realize that Congress was too weak to deal with most other national issues Land Ordinance of 1785 – called for surveyors to stake out 6 mile square plots, called townships, in the western lands, later known as the Northwest Territory, and included states of Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin, and part of Minnesota Northwest Ordinance of 1787 – outlined how the Northwest Territories were to be governed, when there were 5,000 free adult men in an area, men who owned at least 50 acres of land could elect an assembly When 60,000 people were there, they could apply to become a new state, slavery was outlawed, rivers were open for navigation for all, freedom of religion, and trial by jury were all guaranteed Indians were promised that their lands would not be taken, but increased contact between settlers led to territorial conflicts

Problems with Britain and Spain: With the war over, and having borrowed huge sums of money, it was time to pay it back, Congress did not have the money to do so Congress did not have the power to deal with other nations either; like Britain and Spain Britain competed against the American fur trade by refusing to evacuate its military forts south of the Great Lakes Britain barred American-owned ships from British waters in the Caribbean Spain also put up barriers to American shipping in the Caribbean Spain refused to allow Americans to use the Mississippi River or to deposit goods in New Orleans Spain and Congress argued over the boundary of Florida And in the end will lead to further fighting and land disputes

Economic problems and shay’s rebellion: With American trade weakened, the nation was facing serious economic crisis Soldiers were owed much of the nations debt, about 300 soldiers demonstrated before the Pennsylvania State House where Congress was meeting The delegates were forced to flee, again a sign of its weakness One reason Congress didn’t have the money is because it could not levy, collect, taxes States raised taxes to help pay for the war, but everyday American could not pay the taxes, increasing taxes on imported goods just raised the price of everyday goods, hurting Americans more Taxes in Massachusetts were some of the highest in the nation, refusing to grant tax relief, gave uprising that was called Shay’s Rebellion, Shay’s led a march on a federal arsenal, where weapons were stored, around 1,000 soldiers from the state defeated the rebellion Some realized that uprising of common farmers spelled danger for the nation

Creating the constitution: In September, 1786, delegates from 5 states met in Annapolis, Maryland to discuss trade between states Some believed that making a national trade law would help with states with higher taxes, but the Articles of Confederation would have to be amended So in May, 12 states sent delegates to Philadelphia to the Convention, Rhode Island declined

Constitutional Convention: In May, the convention opened, and first order of business was to elect a president for the convention, every delegate voted for George Washington, war hero, and his quiet and dignified leadership set the tone for the convention To not be pressured by politics, they decided their discussions would be secret, but James Madison, Virginia delegate took detailed notes on the proceedings 55 delegates, Constitutional Convention, and the Philadelphia meeting became known as, many had state legislatures that had helped write their state constitutions, the delegates are called founders, or founding-fathers, of the United States Many who had signed the Articles of Confederation were there; Roger Sherman from Connecticut, Governor Morris from Pennsylvania James Wilson, who worked with James Madison in pushing for a system called popular sovereignty – a government system in which the people rule

Constitutional Convention cont…: A few key figures were absent, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, who were overseas at their diplomatic post, and Patrick Henry from Virginia, refused to go “smelled a rat…tending toward monarchy” There were no Native Americans, African Americans, nor women there to represent the diverse U.S. population Many Americans realized that people and states often came into conflict and needed a government that could keep order

Challenges of the convention: 2 plans emerged from their discussions: The Virginia Plan – proposed a government with 3 branches: executive branch, would enforce the law, judicial branch, would interpret the laws, and legislative branch, would create the laws It also wanted legislature to have 2 sections: an upper and a lower, and in both houses representatives would be based on population of the state or the states wealth It had a system of checks and balances – each branch could check the powers of the other branches in certain circumstances Small state didn’t like it because it gave power to larger states The New Jersey Plan – like the Articles, called for a single house of congress, each state had equal votes

The great compromise: After much debate, Roger Sherman from Connecticut, offered a deal know as the Great Compromise – it proposed that one branch have an equal number of votes in the Senate, and the House of Representatives would have votes that represented a states population It passed the convention in July, 1787

Challenges over slavery: Since the House of Representatives would be based on population, they needed to know who to count, slaves? Southern states had many more slaves than Northern states, and the argued that slaves were not citizen, but could be counted for taxation only Three-Fifths Compromise – three-fifths of the slaves population would be counted for both: legislature and taxation Slavery was banned in most northern states and wanted it to expand to the rest of the nation, they agreed that slave trade could not be ban until 1808 All but 3 of the 42 delegates signed the Constitution in September, 1787

Ratification and the bill of rights: Of course with new ideas comes resistance, antifederalist – people who opposed the Constitution Framers of the Constitution began to explain the Constitution to people to help ease their fears, and that the Constitution was based on Federalism – a system of government in which power is shared between the central government and states People who supported the Constitution were know as Federalists The federalist promoted their view in a series of essays The Federalist Papers, written by James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and John Jay Antifederalist feared the Constitution took too much power away from the states, feared the president would be declared King, the Senate would become too powerful, and all the liberties they had won from the Revolution would be lost

The Battle for ratification: The Constitution had to be approved by 9 of the 13 states The proposed Constitution contained no guarantee that the government would protest the rights of the people, or the states Supporters of the Constitution, wanted to add a bill of rights – a formal summary of citizens’ rights and freedoms as a set of amendments to the Constitution Antifederalist wanted written guarantee for: freedom of speech, press, religions, right to trial by jury, and right to bear arms Federalists yielded to their demands and said they would add a bill of rights if the states ratified the Constitution In December, 1787, Delaware, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania votes for ratification, then in January, Georgia and Connecticut followed by Massachusetts in early February. By late June 9 states had ratified, but vital that Virginia and New York the 2 largest states ratify

The Battle for ratification Cont…: Virginia ratified, by a 89 to 79 margin, in late June, and New York followed shortly after It would be a year after that North Carolina and Rhode Island would ratify, all with the condition of a bill of rights had to be added By then the new Congress had written a bill of rights and had already sent them out to be ratified

The Bill of rights and the constitution: In the winter of 1789, James Madison took up the cause of the bill of rights and submitted 10 amendments – or additions to a document, to the Constitution These 10 are know as the Bill of Rights, the first 9 are basic individual freedoms Amending the Constitution was the first step in making it a living document, one that can be changed to reflect societies changes Two-thirds of Congress or two-thirds of the states legislatures can propose an amendment To become a law, three-fourths of the states need to approve it Since the first 10 amendments, 17 more have been added to the Constitution