O RIGINS OF A MERICAN G OVERNMENT Chapter 2 Notes and Review

O UR P OLITICAL B EGINNINGS (2.1) Our nation’s original English colonists brought with them a rich history of political experiences and ideas Those experiences and ideas would help to shape the political landscape of our nation, both then and now

T HREE B IG I DEAS 1. Ordered Government An orderly regulation of the relationship between themselves and their government 2. Limited Government Govt. should not be all powerful Protection of rights 3. Representative Govt. Govt. should “represent” the will of the people People should have a voice in what their govt. does

L ANDMARK E NGLISH D OCUMENTS Magna Carta (1215) First documents outlining basic individual rights Trial by jury Due process of law Protection of life, liberty and property

Petition of Right Freedom to criticize the king; could not be imprisoned without jury trial No martial law during peacetime No quartering of soldiers English Bill of Rights No army during peacetime Free elections Fair and speedy trial Excessive bail / cruel punishment

U NICAMERAL AND B ICAMERAL Unicameral – a one house legislature (law making body) Bicameral – a two house legislature

W HAT WAS A CCOMPLISHED AT THE F IRST C ONTINENTAL C ONGRESS (1774) Sent a declaration of rights to King George III Urged all colonies to boycott English goods Local committees to enforce the boycott

W HAT W AS A CCOMPLISHED AT THE S ECOND C ONTINENTAL C ONGRESS (1775) First real National Government Continental army and navy was formed Adopted the Declaration of Independence Fought a war Created a Monetary system Made treaties with foreign powers

T HE A RTICLES OF C ONFEDERATION Our Nation’s first constitution Very weak document and was not effective Had no strong central government to enforce policies between the states A new constitution would be necessary

A N EW C ONSTITUTION W AS N ECESSARY ! Problem: How should the States be represented in Congress? Some States were large with many people and some were small with few people What about slaves?

T HE V IRGINIA P LAN States would be represented in Congress based upon their population or the amount of money sent in support of the Central Govt. (Taxes) Virginia loves the plan, they are a big state Small states hate the plan

T HE N EW J ERSEY P LAN All States were to be equally represented without regard to population or availability of money New Jersey was a small state & loved the plan Large States like Virginia, New York and Pennsylvania hated the plan

THE CONNECTICUT COMPROMISE (AKA “THE GREAT COMPROMISE”) A bicameral legislature The smaller Senate would be represented equally The larger House of Representatives, representation would be based on population Oh NO!!! What about slaves? Are they to be counted as population? Another major battle!

T HE T HREE -F IFTHS C OMPROMISE Southern slave states wanted slaves to be counted as population (even they had no rights) Northern non-slave states objected Compromise “All free persons are to counted, and so should three-fifths of all other persons” Reality: A slave only counted as 3/5 of a person An ugly part of our history to be sure, but it settled the dispute 3/5 Comp. was abolished along with slavery later on.

T HE N EW C ONSTITUTION WAS COMPLETED ! Now it had to be sold to the people for approval!

F EDERALISTS AND T HEIR M AIN A RGUMENT Federalists – favored ratification (formal adoption) of the new constitution Stressed the weakness of the Articles of Confed. All of those problems could be fixed by the new constitution

A NTI -F EDERALISTS AND T HEIR A RGUMENT Objected to the ratification (formal adoption) process Objected to the absence of the word God Denial of some previously held states rights

T WO M AIN I SSUES B EING A RGUED O VER THE N EW C ONSTITUTION 1. The greatly increased powers of the central government 2. The lack of a Bill of Rights Solutions: The “Federalist Papers” were distributed to help explain the limited power of the new central government The adoption of the first ten amendments; the Bill of Rights

F INALLY A N EW C ONSTITUTION WAS W ON AND HAS LASTED FOR OVER 200 YEARS !!!