Chapter 7 Section 1 “If at first you don’t succeed…”

Yay for independence…but now what? The states now had their freedom, but no one really knew what to do with it. The thirteen colonies would find it hard to come together because no state really felt a great deal of loyalty to any other state. Directly after the American Revolution, all thirteen states wrote their own individual constitutions. These Constitutions spelled out what the laws were and what rights the citizens of that state had. An Ipod would have been nice, but I guess freedom is good too! But, what do I do with freedom?

I’m taking my power and going home!! Because the states did not want to give up power, making a national government would prove to be an impossible job. They ended up with a very weak constitution called the Articles of Confederation. Under it, the states had most of the power. The Articles of Confederation had several drawbacks. No Regulation of trade No authority to raise taxes No executive branch (no president) No national court system Power Give me that power stinky face!! I had it first cabbage head!!

This government just isn’t working!! Conflicts arose between states. For instance, New Hampshire and New York both claimed Vermont. However, the national government had no authority to resolve such conflicts since we had no court system. There were also money problems. The national government had no right to raise taxes, and the United States owed millions of dollars that we had borrowed during the war. Also each state began to print its own money. Most states would not accept another states money. This caused problems when trading between states. This is how Government should Work This is how the Articles of Confederation worked

A Silver Lining One good thing that came out of this weak government was the Northwest Ordinance. It dealt with the Northwest territory. The Northwest Ordinance provided a way for people to settle in the northwest territory and even provided a way for parts of the territory to become states. Once a colony had 60,000 settlers, it could ask congress to be admitted as a state. This is how we got the states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin.

Shay’s Rebellion Because of this terrible government, the United States fell into a depression. This depression hit farmers very hard. States like Massachusetts were raising taxes to get more money, but the farmers couldn’t pay. When farmers didn’t pay the taxes, they had their farms taken from them. Daniel Shays, a Massachusetts farmer, led 1,000 farmers in a rebellion. They attacked Courthouses and government officials. Massachusetts had to send in the army to stop them. This was known as Shays’ Rebellion. As it became clear that the Articles of confederation was not working, leaders from the colonies decided to get together to revise the Articles of Confederation. They met in Philadelphia. In the end, however, this convention would create an entirely new framework of government.

Review Questions Name a weakness of the Articles of Confederation. What was the one good thing that came out of the Articles of Confederation? What is the process for territories to become states? How did Americans react to Shays rebellion?