The Articles of Confederation

The Making of a Republic -U.S. is now independent -Needs to form their own government

States Write Constitutions -May Congress asked all states to plan their own governments -Each state wrote a Constitution (plan of government)

Limits on Power -Americans didn’t want to give one person so much power in government like a king. -States wrote constitutions limiting the power of the governor -Pennsylvania got rid of the governor and replaced it with a council of 12 people -States divided power between governor and legislature -Most legislatures were bicameral -That means legislatures had two houses to divide government work even more -Goals of these constitutions were to keep the power in the hands of the people -Legislature was stronger than governor now -Legislatures tried to keep things fair but did not always work and challenges arose

A New Republic -Aside from state government, America created a national government -People wanted the new government to be a Republic -What is a Republic?___________________________________________________________________ _ -They could not agree on what powers the republic government should have. -When first formed, Americans wanted this central/national government to be weak. -People wanted to rely on states, except during times of war.

The Articles of Confederation -November 1777, The Articles of Confederation become the nation’s first constitution -Made a weak central government -States had most of the power -The Articles of Confederation said the states were “a firm league of friendship” and each state kept its independence from all others.

Articles of Confederation (Powers of Congress) Government could -Conduct foreign affairs -Keep an army -Borrow money -Issue Currency Government could not -Regulate trade -Draft citizens into military -Tax -Have a chief executive (governor/president) What could be some problems with this form of government? What are some benefits for this form of government?

Some early disputes A few issues almost prevented the Articles of Confederation from happening. -Every single state had to approve the plan. -Every state had 1 vote no matter how big or small they were with population -Larger states felt that they should have more votes -Disputes over which states controlled certain lands in the West -Eventually the issue was resolved when VA and NY gave their lands West of the Appalachian Mountains to Maryland Despite the issues, the Articles of Confederation passed on March 1, 1781

The Confederation Government -Government was too weak to help national needs -Changes were going to need to happen -To change gov’t they needed approval of all 13 states -However, the gov’t did have some successes

The Ordinance of Had the lands North of the Ohio River surveyed -Divided land into big blocks of 6mi by 6mi townships -These areas were further divided into smaller blocks -Gov’t sold each block

The Northwest Ordinance Created a Northwest Territory from the lands north of the Ohio River and east of Mississippi River -Divided this territory into 5 smaller territories -When a territory had 60,000 residents it could seek statehood and be equal to the original 13 states -Slavery was not permitted in these territories -The gov’t now had a process to create new states!

Problems Near and Far -Currency printed by Continental Congress depreciated -Congress had heavy debts after the war -There was a plan for a 5% import tax called a tariff, but Rhode Island opposed it, so it failed to become law -Finances grew worse -Relations with Britain were bad -Britain was blocking American ships from trading in the West Indies and British Markets -Some British troops remained in the Great Lakes Region (violating Treaty of Paris) -Relations with Spain were worse -Spain wanted to stop American expansion into Spanish territory -Closed lower Mississippi River to American ships