A Confederation of States 5.1

Objectives Explain how the states’ new constitutions reflected republican ideals. Describe the structure sand powers of the national government under the Articles of Confederation. Summarize the Congress’s plan for the settlement and governance of western lands. List the main weaknesses of the Articles.

Key Parts Early State Governments Congress Creates the Articles of Confederation Congress Creates a Plan for Western Lands Conflicts With Spain and Britain Weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation

Introductory Read 5.1 for the next ten min. Create a charts as shown on page 134, give three bullet points each.

Early States Governments Some states reject executive power. The more democratic Patriots wanted to create state governments with strong legislatures and weak governors. Seeking greater rights for the people Unicameral legislature- one house whose members were elected by the people.

Cont. Most states preserve colonial traditions, however New York and Massachusetts chose to create more conservative state constitutions. Strong governor Bicameral legislature- two houses- Senate and a House of Representatives.

Cont. Even the conservative constitutions dramatically expanded the power of the common people. You start to see the people choosing member of both houses of legislature, not just the lower house. Almost all states enlarged their legislatures. Creating smaller districts and a greater number of representatives.

Cont. Freedom of religion became more prominent. The American Revolution promoted greater religious liberty, so most states also guaranteed freedom of religion in their constitutions. This occurred via the passage of the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom in 1786.

Congress Creates the Articles of Confederation In 1777 the Continental Congress drafted the original constitution for the union of the United States called the Articles of Confederation. Under the leadership of John Dickinson Congress designed a loose confederation of the 13 states, rather than a strong and centralized nation.

Cont. The national government consisted of a congress of delegates, chose by state legislatures rather than by voters. Each state no matter how larger or small only had a single vote. The powers to make, implement and enforce the laws were all placed with the Congress. The National government included no President or executive branch. Executive Power was spread among several comittess of congressmen.

Cont. The Articles granted certain limited powers to Congress. These were mostly external: to declare and conduct war, negotiate peace, and to regulate foreign affairs. Congress had no power to raise money through taxes.

Congress Creates a Plan for Western Lands Western settlement threatened to escape the governments control. The government could not afford a war with the Native Americans so they created the Land Ordinance of 1785. This was a system of dispensing or distributing the public lands by running grid lines. They divided each township (six square mile area) into 36 sections of one square mile. (640 acres at $1 per acre)

Cont. The Northwest Ordinance of 1787 provided a government for the western territory. Governor, secretary and three judges. Once a territory had 5,000 men they could establish and elected assembly- but the governor still retained an absolute veto over its laws. Once a territory reached 60,000 people then they could request admission into the Union as a state on equal terms as the 13 original.

Conflicts With Spain and Britain Spanish forbid American Trade. They did not trust American expansion westward because they feared it threatened their colonies of Louisiana and Mexico. Spanish would not allow trade with Americans in New Orleans. Congress struggled to support western settlers.

Cont. Relations with the British Empire were strained. They went back to the rules of the Navigation Acts. Massachusetts prohibited British ships from transporting its exports, but this didn’t work because the rest of the states did not support them and Congress was to weak to coordinate a common front against Britain’s mercantile policy.

Weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation Under the Articles the federal Congress could not establish a common currency, nor regulate interstate commerce, or levy the states. Without taxes the government could not pay off the war debt. Between 1781-1786 the government only got 1/6 of what they requested from the state.

Cont. The slow down in trading of goods increased unemployment in the seaports and reduced prices paid to the farmers for their produce. Without trade to the West Indian market for shipping Americans could not pay for their imported goods. British collectors came to for their money and this sent shockwaves throughout the American economy.

Shays’ Rebellion. Farmers couldn’t pay their taxes or their debts so they began to rebel against the courts. In 1787 Daniel Shays who was a veteran of the war, led about 1,000 farmers to seize weapons from the Springfield Armory and tried to shut down the courts. Massachusetts raised an army to shut them down.