1. Copy into your notebook
Federal Powers
State Powers
1. issue money
2. control west
3. sign treaties
4. write laws
5.wage war
1. Write state constitutions & vote for representatives
2. levy taxes
3. enforce laws

2. Lesson 8.1: The Articles of Confederation

3. Essential Question
What were the strengths & weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation, and how was it connected to Shay’s Rebellion?

4. Vocabulary
Wilderness Road – the trail into Kentucky that woodsman Daniel Boone helped to build
Republic – a government in which people elect representatives to govern for them.
Articles of Confederation – Document that outlined the form of government of the new United States
Land Ordinance of 1785 – a law that established a plan for surveying and selling the federally owned lands west of the Appalachian Mountains

5. Vocabulary
Northwest Territory – land that formed the states of Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, and Wisconsin
Northwest Ordinance – legislation describing how territory would be governed and settled.
Shay’s Rebellion - An uprising of debt-ridden Massachusetts farmers in 1787

6. Focus Questions
Why did Americans expand westward into the Northwest Territory?
Why did most of the new state constitutions create governments with separate branches?
What form of government did all the new states create?
Who had the most power under the Articles of Confederation?
What issues did delegates in the Continental Congress disagree about?
What were the weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation?

7. Focus Questions
7. Why did states without western land claims want the other states to give up their land claims in the Northwest Territory?
8. What did the Land Ordinance of 1785 accomplish?
What did the Northwest Ordinance accomplish?
What caused Shay’s Rebellion?
What did Shay’s Rebellion lead to?

8. Moving West
Daniel Boone helped build a trail into Kentucky known as the Wilderness Road.
Settlers came on foot or on horseback.
They were drawn to Kentucky’s rich river valley soil where few Native Americans lived.
While settlers headed into the Western territories, the people in the East began to create new state governments.

9. What We Already Know
Philosophers of The Enlightenment, like John Locke, promoted the belief that people had rights that came from God… and that
governments should
protect those rights.

10. What We Already Know
For eight years, the United States fought a bitter war against the British government that threatened those rights.

11. What We Already Know
During the Revolutionary War, the Continental Congress had served as
the government for the United States.

12. State Governments
Once each colony declared its independence from Britain, each state
had to quickly form its own government to deal with issues at the state level.

13. State Governments
The framers of these early state constitutions did not want to destroy the political systems that they had as
colonies. They simply wanted to make those systems more democratic.

14. State Governments
Nearly all states tried to limit the power of the executive branch, the branch that carried out the laws. Terms of office were usually short and elections were held frequently.

15. State Governments
To be more democratic some states divided their governments with three branches so that power did not rest with any one group.
One branch would write the laws and raise money.
One branch would carry out the laws.
One branch would enforce the laws

16. State Governments
In writing their own state constitutions, some states included a bill of rights in their constitution guaranteeing their citizens certain rights, an idea that came from the English Bill of Rights of 1689.

17. State Governments
which said; “all men are born free and equal.” By 1786 five states had abolished slavery.
In 1777 Vermont was the first to add the abolishment of slavery to its constitution.
In 1783 a Massachusetts court ruled that slavery was against the state constitution

18. State Governments
Not all the states had a bill of rights, and not all had abolished slavery.
All had a republican form of government.
These early state constitutions would later serve as foundation for the U.S. Constitution.

19. The Articles of Confederation
The power to collect taxes and enforce national laws was left to each of the individual states.

20. Makes Sense…
of government. The war showed the need for the states to work together. This idea of “united we stand, divided we fall” carried on after independence was won.
During the Revolutionary War, each state was independent, with a republican form

21. The Articles of Confederation
By 1776, the Continental Congress began to develop a plan for a national government. Congress agreed that the
government should be a republic, and
it organized itself
based on the model
that the British
Parliament provided.

22. The Articles of Confederation
arrived at a final plan, which they called the Articles of Confederation.
Although the delegates disagreed about several issues, in forming a new government, Congress eventually

23. The Articles of Confederation
One issue that had stood in the way of the ratification of the Articles of Confederation was the issue of Western land.

24. The Articles of Confederation
Some of the states were land locked and had no western lands, which could be sold to pay debts and increase revenue.

25. The Articles of Confederation
Over the next three years, the other states gave up title to the western land.
Control of the western lands was given over to Congress and the National Government.
The small states finally voted to ratify the Articles by 1781.

26. The Articles of Confederation
The Articles created a government with only a legislative branch; the Congress.
Each state, large or small, had only one vote in Congress.

27. The Articles of Confederation
Since Congress had no Executive Branch, it could not carry out its own laws. Therefore, the only thing Congress could do was:
wage war / peace
sign treaties
print money
control western lands
Write laws

28. The Articles of Confederation
The Articles of Confederation were weak:
It lacked power to enforce laws
It lacked the power to regulate trade among the states.
It required all 13 states to approve changes to the Articles of Confederation.
It lacked the power to levy
taxes

29. Land Ordinance of 1785
The land over which Congress had control was named the Northwest Territory because, at the time, this land was in the Northwest corner of what then was America.
Canada
Northwest Territory
Spanish Territory

30. Land Ordinance of 1785
Since Congress had not been given the ability to raise revenue through taxes, it developed a plan to sell the land under its control; the Northwest Territory.

31. Land Ordinance of 1785
Under the Land Ordinance of 1785, land was surveyed into square 
townships, six miles on a side.
6 MILES
6 MILES

32. Land Ordinance of 1785
Each township was sub-divided into thirty-six sections of one square mile each.
6 MILES
6 MILES

33. Land Ordinance of 1785
One square mile out of each thirty six square mile section was set aside for schools.
6 MILES
6 MILES

34. Land Ordinance of 1785 This was the first time the national government
promoted public
education.

35. The Northwest Ordinance
While the Land Ordinance of 1785 determined how the land was to be divided up and sold, the Northwest Ordinance
determined how the territory was to be governed.

36. The Northwest Ordinance
As each territory grew in population, it would gain rights to self-government.
When there were 60,000 people, they could apply to become a new state.

37. Did you know?
According to the Northwest Ordinance of 1787, once a territory reached a population of 60,000 the people could apply to become a new state. In 2013, the.
population of Menifee was 83,447.

38. The Northwest Ordinance
Under the Northwest Ordinance, slavery was banned in the new territories and religious freedom was guaranteed.

39. The Northwest Ordinance
The significance of the Northwest Ordinance was it set a pattern for the orderly growth of the United States.

40. Shay’s Rebellion
In the mid 1780’s, Massachusetts faced economic problems.
The average family owed $200 a year in taxes.
Debt laws were very strict; property was seized and auctioned off for back taxes.
If the auction didn’t raise enough money to pay the taxes, debtors could be put in jail!

41. Shay’s Rebellion
Farmers asked the Massachusetts legislature to provide debt relief, but they refused and farmers rebelled.
One rebellion leader was Daniel Shay, a war vet. In January 1787, Shay and his men marched on a federal arsenal (weapon storage).
The arsenal was defended by 900 soldiers from the state militia.

42. The militia quickly defeated Shay’s men.
The farmers won the sympathy of many people.
American leaders realized that an armed uprising of farmers spelled danger for the nation.
The leaders also realized the federal government must be strengthened.