IV) The Articles of Confederation

Who is this woman? What is her title? Hillary Clinton Secretary of State

A)How it came about? 1) proposed by Richard Henry Lee during the proposal for the Declaration of Independence

2)the 2 nd Continental Congress approved the idea and went to work on it in 1777

3)the states desired “a league of friendship amongst the 13 independent states” 4) as part of it every state was promised to keep its sovereignty – what does that mean again? That they don’t have to answer to anyone else!

5) it was then sent to the states and ratified (approved) by all 13 colonies in March of 1781

B)That’s all well and good … but what did it say?

C)Achievements 1) created a Congress (which met at Federal Hall, pictured above) called the Committee of States (made up of one house) in which voters chose representatives for their given state (which was given one vote)

2) helped set up land ordinances which set up further expansion of the United States a) each state gave up their individual control over land west of the Appalachian Mountains b) in return they agreed to all share in the value of the resources in those lands c) they also agreed to give those lands the opportunity for statehood

d) they also agreed to the “idea” of the equality of citizens from one state to another

3) it helped set up the first post offices

4) with a stable government now in place, the Articles also convinced the British to sign a peace treaty with the young America which gave them more land to explore

4)it set up the cabinet positions of: a) Secretary of Foreign Affairs (later to be renamed the State Department) who was to make war/treaties with other countries b) Secretary of War (the Defense Department today) who was to try to organize all the states currencies and a way for the country to borrow money c) Secretary of the Treasury d) Secretary of the Marine (Sea Trade)

5) it promised that all citizens would be treated the same in each state

6) it promised that any criminals who fled one state for another who be returned back to the state they committed the crime in for their day in court

D)Problems with the Articles of Confederation…

1) All of the 13 states were independent from another –as a result… a) friendships between once friendly states started breaking down b) the states started making independent treaties with other nations c) the states eventually started taxing each other and sometimes even placing a trade embargo on their fellow states

d) the states started printing their own currency e) the nation’s economy was now filled with high prices and unpaid debts due to states refusing to pay their share of the government’s taxes

f) the states had to pay for their own armies g) the states refused to listen to what the national government said

2)In addition … a) there was no executive or judicial branch – what could be the problems with that? b) In order for any changes to be made all 13 states had to agree - what could be the problems with that? One group is too Powerful! Its hard for everyone to agree

3)the people started to get angry and revolt – for example: Shay’s Rebellion a)in 1786, farmers were sick of the price wars between the government and the states (in particular the prices on grain to make alcohol) b)one poor farmer who was losing his land due to all of the fighting, Daniel Shays, starts a local revolt of farmers in Springfield, Mass. against the government

c) eventually the US government sends in troops to crush the rebellion before it took over Boston d) this incident served as a wake up call to the nation that the Articles needed to be changed

E)So they met … 1) first VA and MD met at Mount Vernon in 1785 to solve trade issues – Who lives at Mount Vernon? 2) then in Annapolis, MD in 1786, 5 states came and met together to talk about the problems with the Articles George Washington

3) seeing that this wasn’t going to change much unless they had a solid sense of support, Alexander Hamilton (NY) and James Madison (VA) organized a meeting to be held in Philadelphia in May ) delegates were told that this meeting was “for the sole purpose of revising the Articles of Confederation” 5) it would soon become much more …

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