Revolutionary Society  After the revolution people started to question the meaning of equality in America  Americans continue to look at these issues

Social and Political Reform  Many Americans did not want class to have special privileges  Abolished laws of primogeniture  Lower property requirements for voting  Pennsylvania and Georgia allowed all white tax payers to vote  Some were afraid women would soon want a vote

 Americans were now represented by elected representatives  Governments re-examined relationship between state and church  At the time the Anglican Church received tax monies  several states voted to cut ties with the church

African Americans  John Woolman – Quaker ( )  Preached the veils of slavery  Abolitionists sentiment spread  African Americans demanded freedom  Many felt the revolution would set the free  Phillis Wheatley–writer–religious and moral issues

 Northern states did not have the economic justification for slavery  Anti-slavery societies formed here  Franklin –1775 – helped organize “Society for the Relief of Free Negroes, Unlawfully Held”  Vermont drafted a constitution prohibiting slavery

 Massachusetts – judge ruled slavery unconstitutional  By 1800 was on the road to extinction in northern states  Free blacks excluded from voting, serving on juries  Denied access of education  Segregated neighborhoods

 In southern states Slaves made up a large percentage of the population  Slave numbers continued to grow  Many in the south believed that their economic well being depended on slavery

Women’s Rights  Women began making demands for more rights  Abigail Adams – told her husband to remember women when he went to the Continental Congress  Women needed access to education to attain equality  Women however would continue to be defined as mothers and homemakers

Lessons of Republicanism  In 1776 states took on the task of adopting constitutions  States took on the process of electing legislatures

State Constitutions  Authors of the state constitutions believed men and women possessed natural rights  Government should have no control over these natural rights  Each state constitution contained a declaration of rights  Religion, speech, press, unlawful searches and seizures and trial by juries

 Almost every state reduced the power of governors  Pennsylvania and Georgia abolished the position of governor  The framers of the state constitutions were fearful for any one person getting too much power  Most power was in the hands of legislatures

Power to the People  Massachusetts adopted a constitution in 1780Deligates were selected to form a new constitution  Included: House, Senate, and elected Governor  Governor had veto power  Constitution started- “We …the people of Massachusetts agree upon, ordain, and establish”

National Government  1775 – Second Continental Congress waged a war in the name of a country that did not exist  Congress assumed more and more power of national affairs

Articles of Confederation  Congress appointed a committee to draw plans for a confederation  Articles approved  Confederation of states  Limited power to federal government

 1 Legislative body – selected each year from each state  Each state had 1 vote  No veto power over legislation  Denied Congress the power to tax  Weak central government  Ratified

Western Legislation  1784 – cut 10 new states out of western territory  When population reached – lowest state population – apply for statehood  1785 – Land Ordinance – orderly process for new townships & public lands (section set aside for education)

 1787  Territories established  Governor, Secretary, 3 judges  60,000 people – write a constitution and petition for statehood  Bill of rights Northwest Ordinance

Daniel Boone  Famous settler who helped explore the Cumberland Road  Established settlements in Kentucky  Brutal fights against Native Americans  White people start the push west that will destroy Native American population.

British Goods  England merchants flooded America with English goods  Goods often cheaper that American goods  Put a strain on American economy  Local merchants could not compete with low prices  National government had no power to regulate trade

 Southerners who wanted to ship large quantities of raw materials could not agree on trade restrictions  Some states printed their own money (no value) to pay debts

Diplomatic Problems  Central government to weak to enforce peace  States passed laws restricting payments to England merchants for pre-war debts  England refused to withdraw troops from Northwest territory  Spain refused to abide by land boundary between them and Georgia  Closed the Mississippi River to Americans

James Madison  Many leaders felt that America was at a crisis  States were going in their own direction –often in conflict with other states  Madison tried to persuade Americans toward a stronger central government  Wanted the establishment of a government that could run the country but still be doing the will of the people

Shay’s Rebellion  Poor farmers in Massachusetts  Banks –taking their homes and farms away  Many were heroes from the revolutionary war  They were paying heavy taxes  Government lack of concern  1786 – Shay and neighbors closed a county court – foreclosures being conducted  Threatened to seize a federal arsenal

 Congress did not have the funds to put together an army and put down the uprising  Wealthy Boston men – paid for an army –4,000-  This backfired on leaders when the next election voters – elected leaders sympathetic to Shays’s demands  Many nationalist looked at Shays Rebellion as an example of law and order

Philadelphia Convention  1787 – 55 men – representing 12 states  They were looking at a way to fix the Articles of Confederation  Soon they decided to scrap the Articles and establish a new constitution

Virginia Plan  Madison’s plan – two houses – one elected by the people – other chosen from the 1 st  Representatives for both houses – proportioned by population  Known as the Big State Plan

New Jersey Plan  Small sate plan  Each state would get 1 vote in Congress  Also included power to central government to tax and regulate trade

Great Compromise  Agreement to:  2 houses  1 – legislatures elected / population – House of Representatives  2. Equal representation for each state - Senate

3/5 th Compromise  South and north could not agree on how to count slaves. If they counted as a full person it would give the southern states more representation in government  Agreement to count slaves as 3/5 th a person

Slavery  Many northerners wanted to end slavery  Southerners felt their economy needed slavery  In the Constitution slaves were described as “other persons”, “such persons”  Agreement that Congress could not stop slavery until 1808  South – fugitive slave law – later the Fugitive Slave Act of 1793

President  Agreement that the president should be elected by electoral college  Prominent men in each state elected by voters  Number based on representatives and senators  Done so a president would not be indebted to congress for his position  President –most votes  Vice-president – 2 nd most votes

 No majority – House decides  Veto power  Right to select judges  Some concerned about the absence of a Bill of Rights

Preamble  We the people of the United States  The new Nation would be a republic of the people not of the states…  Ratification – 9 states needed watch?v=30OyU4O80i4

Federalist v. Anti-Federalist  Federalist favored a strong nation government  Anti-Federalist favored strong State government  Anti-Federalist criticized the formation of a new constitution  They wanted a government similar to the Articles of Confederation

Federalist Papers  Written by Madison, Hamilton, and Jay  Essays – printed in national newspapers  Spoke in favor of a new constitution with a strong central government

Bill of Rights  Anti-Federalist were afraid of a strong national government  Feared government with too much power could trample the rights of the people  Bill of Rights created by Madison  1 st Ten Amendments of the Constitution  States what rights the government cannot take away from citizens

Executive (President and Cabinet) Legislative (Senate & House) Judicial (Supreme Court)