Revolution Aftermath and the Articles of Confederation Unit 2, Lesson 4

Articles of Confederation First written plan of government for the U.S. 1 branch of government, the legislative branch Created during 1st year of Revolution

Government under the Articles Congress was unicameral (1 house) and each state had 1 representative No executive branch, no judicial branch Federal government was VERY WEAK, giving most power to states Laws and amendments were almost impossible to pass Why weak? Many Americans did not want a strong federal government They worried a strong federal government could become oppressive and give rise to another king Americans wanted as much freedom as possible

Strengths and Successes of AOC Strength: Power to declare war and raise an army

Strengths and Success of the AOC Strength: Congress could control the western territories Northwest Ordinance of 1787- set up a system for settling the Northwest Territory and turning it into states Northwest Ordinance (1787): Divided the area into smaller territories and provided guidelines for new states. Results in formation of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin.

Weaknesses and Failures of the AOC Foreign countries did not respect the U.S. Britain continued to occupy forts in the Northwest Territory Spain disputed borders with America and claimed the Mississippi River 1783- After the Treaty of Paris: England refused to withdraw troops from the Ohio Valley Spain closed the port of New Orleans. Unable to raise/fund an army, the US could not oppose these actions.

Weaknesses and Failures of the AOC No power to regulate trade or print money States printed their own money States did not cooperate economically, creating disunion States competed with each other and taxed each others’ trade (tariffs)

Weaknesses and Failures of the AOC No power to tax Could not afford to pay back war debts Could not afford to build an army Could not afford to build infrastructure (roads, bridges, etc.) States took care of themselves, often with high taxes What was wrong with the Articles? For any law to be final, 9 of 13 states had to agree to it. To change (amend) the Articles, all states had to be in agreement Congress (fed. government) did not have the power to tax.

Shays’ Rebellion Massachusetts raised taxes to pay its debts Western backcountry farmers were hurt by the tax and many lost their farms

Shays’ Rebellion Daniel Shays led 1,200 farmers to a federal arsenal to steal weapons and march to Boston The Massachusetts militia stopped the rebellion Farmers wanted lower taxes and an end to farm foreclosures and attacked courts

Shays’ Rebellion Shays’ Rebellion exposed the WEAKNESS of the Articles of Confederation Congress could not raise an army to address this threat Congress could not stop the financial problems that led to rebellions

Revise the Articles? The Articles of Confederation were TOO WEAK Congress authorized the Constitutional Convention, to REVISE the Articles The convention ended up REPLACING the Articles with the Constitution