Bell Ringer: Complete “What If” Activity On a piece of paper write “What if the United State never declared their independence from Great Britain Come up with four things that could have happened/that would be different today. On a

Chapter 3: The Constitution Even before the Declaration of Independence was signed, American colonists thought about independence Independence would mean a new plan for government In January 1776 New Hampshire became the first colony to organize as a state

Leaders wrote a constitution and within a few years all the former colonies had their own state constitutions as well

State Governments Legislature to make laws Most legislatures were bicameral which means they were divided into two houses Governor: was officially elected by legislature or the citizens. They carried out the laws Judges in the courts to decided on what the laws meant and how to apply them Were based on ideas stated in the Declaration of Independence Most contained a bill or list of rights that guaranteed basic freedoms and legal protection

The Articles of Confederation Each state was ready to govern itself when independence was declared However hey realized that 13 small independent forces could not fight the British army Because of this and other reasons, the Second Continental Congress planned for a confederation of states

In 1777 Congress wrote out a plan for the government know as the Articles of Confederation

Articles of Confederation First constitution of the United States Set up a league of friendship among the independent states By 1781 all 13 states ratified the Articles Created a one house legislature where each state had 1 vote Legislature was Confederation Congress

The Confederation Congress passed two laws that had a major effect on the history of the United States

Ordinance of 1785: a law that set up a plan for surveying western lands What did it do: it divided up land west into townships. We still use this method today to survey land

Northwest Ordinance 1787: law that set up a government for the Northwest Territory and a plan for admitting new states to the Union What did it do? Officials used this ordinance as a model to organize governments for other new territories. Provided a plan for admitting new states into the union.

The Ordinance of 1785 and the Northwest Ordinance helped people settle the Northwest Territory By 1790s there were about 120,000 people who lived there

Weakness of the Articles of Confederation Lack of power and money Congress had no power to collect taxes Congress had no power to regulate trade Had no power to enforce the law Lack of central power No single leader or group directed government policy No national court system Rules were too rigid Congress could not pass laws without the approval of 9 states The Articles could not be changed without the agreement of all 13 states

The power of the Confederation Congress was strictly limited Why? The colonists disliked the strong British rules and didn't’t want the new state to get a lot of power

Shay’s Rebellion The United States finally became an independent country when the Treaty of Paris was signed in 1783 Independence did not put an end to the country’s struggle They Articles were too weak to deal with many of the problems facing the country

Struggles in the New Country They faced financial trouble-they could not collect taxes. The Confederation Congress borrowed money to pay for the war but could not pay it back State governments fell into debt and taxed their citizens as well as imported goods the people suffered and the Congress had no power to fix the problem Trade was slow and people lost jobs Farmers went into debt

Shay’s Rebellion: Was an uprising of Massachusetts farmers who did not want to lose their farms because of debt caused by heavy state taxes after the American Revolution Daniel Shay owe money because of state taxes and the state threatened to take his farm away. Shey felt the states had no right to punish him for the problems they created so they protested