Learning Target The American Revolution’s democratic and republican ideals inspired new experiments with different forms of government.

OK, we won our Independence and everyone was very excited!

Very excited…

After declaring independence in 1776, American political leaders created new constitutions and declarations of rights that articulated the roles of national and state governments to protect their rights.

These documents protected individual rights and limited government power.

Power was typically placed in the hands of state governments, property rights were strongly protected.

This protection of property extended to…

Articles of Confederation The first government we tried, was called the Articles of Confederation. Under this government, the 13 states were unified and a central government with very limited power was created.

After all, they knew what they didn’t want in a government…

So they went the other way…

Articles of Confederation Under the Articles, there was no real national government. –13 individual republics united loosely together. –Power lay in the hands of the States.

Articles of Confederation But it got worse… During the Revolution, the Congress printed $250,000,000 of money they didn’t have to pay for the war.

Financial Crisis This created a financial crisis that had to be dealt with. If America would not pay off its debts, then the new nation could not receive credit.

No credit, no international business. No international business, no economy!

Financial Crisis Since each state controlled its own economy, currency and credit the 13 individual states really controlled the economy of the United States.

Financial Crisis If the Federal Government controlled the economy, currency and credit then the financial crisis could be dealt with. But that would require a new government.

The Articles of Confederation, had to go!

Instead of having 13 individual republics, each sovereign & independent, we needed one government with power over the states. This went against everything the people thought before.

Constitutional Convention 55 men arrived in Philadelphia to debate the new Constitution. Among them were: –George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton and James Madison

Constitutional Convention James Madison was the central figure in the writing of the Constitution.

They had a few things going for them: 1.) They knew they needed a new form of government. 2.) They knew what they didn’t want.

Constitutional Convention And they had a lot of…

Constitutional Convention Two main sides to the debate: –The Virginia Plan –The New Jersey Plan

The U. S. Constitution Threatening to derail the convention was the issue of slavery.

The U. S. Constitution But there was another problem… Representation in the House of Representatives depended on population. Southern states believed they would be under-represented in Congress, and slavery could be outlawed by northern states who were turning against slavery.

The U. S. Constitution 3/5

The U. S. Constitution Slaves would each count as 3/5 of a person for the purposes of representation in Congress. This increased the population of southern states by 20%

The U. S. Constitution And it provided enough southern votes in Congress to fend off any challenges to slavery until the Civil War.

President Washington Dealing with this was President Washington

Economic crisis When President Washington met with his cabinet, one of the first issues to come up was the debt from the Revolution.

Economic crisis The new, stronger, federal government had just inherited a debt of $54,000,000 (in 1790 dollars)

Economic crisis Alexander Hamilton also wanted the federal government to assume the debts the states had accumulated under the Articles of Confederation. –Another $21,000,000

Economic crisis This would put the federal government in charge of the U.S. economy, the states would not have any control over it.

Economic crisis Since most southern states had paid off their war debt already, this was not a popular plan in the South.

Blue = < 1 person per sq. mile Orange = > 50 people per sq. mile

Economic crisis A deal was struck between Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson –Hamilton would get federal control of the entire debt of the united States

Economic crisis A deal was struck between Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson –The capital of the united States would be located in the south, giving southern states access to the central government.