The Articles of Confederation Chapter 7, Section 1

State Constitutions Because of their experience with British Rule, Americans were cautious about placing too much power in the hands of one ruler States adopted Constitutions that limited the power of the governor

Limiting Power Most states established a bicameral legislature Popularly elected, you must have been a 21-year old male to vote, and own a certain amount of property and pay taxes Made the legislature the most powerful part of their government

Forming and Republic At first, most Americans favored a weak central government They wanted the states to act independently of each other The central government only waged war and handled relations with other countries

Planning a New Government The Articles of Confederation was drawn up in 1776 at the Second Continental Congress It became America’s first constitution It acted as a “firm league of friendship” Congress had the authority to: 1. Conduct foreign affairs 2. Maintain armed forces 3. Borrow money 4. Issue currency

Planning a New Government Congress could not: 1. Regulate trade 2. Force citizens to join the army 3. Impose taxes It also lacked a chief executive (president) Under this plan, all states had one vote, no matter how big or small their population All states had to ratify the Articles, including any amendments The Confederation was ratified on March 1st, 1781

The Confederation Government Weaknesses 1. Congress could not pass a law unless nine states voted in favor of it 2. Could not change the Articles without the consent of all thirteen states Strengths 1. Under this government, the states won their independence from Great Britain 2. Provided for settling and governing the nation’s western territories

New Land Policies During the 1790’s, around 120,000 people were living in territories west of the Appalachian Mountains (they want to organize and join the Union.) Thomas Jefferson proposed a plan to organize these territories

The Ordinance of 1785 Established a procedure for surveying and selling the western lands north of the Ohio River The law divided the territory into townships and were to be sold at least a dollar an acre Richard Henry Lee urged that the rights of the property be clearly defined

The Northwest Ordinance When the population of a territory reaches 60,000, they can petition for statehood Included a Bill of Rights for settlers and also included a clause that prohibited slavery in the new territory This was the nation’s first attempt to stop the spread of slavery

Financial Problems Because Congress did not have the power to tax, they had no way to pay back their debts from the Revolutionary War It requested funds from the states, but the states only contributed a small portion of the money needed

Robert Morris’s Import Tax Proposed a five percent tax on all imports to help pay back the debts of the war This would require amending the Articles to allow Congress the power to levy the tax All thirteen states are needed to amend, and Rhode Island voted no… so the tax did not happen

Problems with Britain As per the Treaty of Paris, Britain was supposed to remove their troops from lands east of the Mississippi River Some of them stayed Some Americans complained that the British were keeping them from trading with the profitable West Indies The British said they did these things because the states had failed to pay back the Loyalists for all of their property that was taken

Problems with Spain Spain did not want the Americans to expand into their land, so they shut off the lower part of the Mississippi River to American shipping in 1784 The Mississippi River is HUGE for commerce This is really going to make the new government’s economy worse