1. 4-4: The League of Friendship, 1781-1787 (Articles of Confederation)

2. Objectives
NAT 2.0 Explain how interpretations of the Constitution and debates over rights, liberties, and definitions of citizenship have affected American values, politics, and society.
MIG 2.0 Analyze causes of internal migration and patterns of settlement in what would become the United States, and explain how migration has affected American life.
GEO 1.0 Explain how geographic and environmental factors shaped the development of various communities, and analyze how competition for and debates over natural resources have affected both the interactions among different groups and the development of government policies.

3. Objectives
POL 1.0 Explain how and why political ideas, beliefs, institutions, party systems, and alignments have developed and changed.
POL 3.0 Explain how different beliefs about the federal government’s role in U.S. social and economic life have affected political debates and policies.
WXT 2.0 Explain how patterns of exchange, markets, and private enterprise have developed, and analyze ways that governments have responded to economic issues.

4. Key Concepts
The American Revolution’s democratic and republican ideals inspired new experiments with different forms of government.
Migration within North America and competition over resources, boundaries, and trade intensified conflicts among peoples and nations.

5. Creating State Governments
Political Organization
State Constitutions
Republicanism
Consent of the governed
Strong governors
Bicameral legislatures
Voting requirements
Property qualifications
Universal manhood suffrage
Bills of rights

6. Creating State Governments
Political Organization
Factors for Unity
Common language/culture
Single geographic unit
No interstate wars
Cooperation against England
Factors Against Unity
Strong state loyalties
Poor transportation and communication
Economic independence
No common enemy

7. Creating State Governments
Social Reform
Women
Abigail Adams—“Remember the Ladies”
“Republican Motherhood”
Slavery
Legal in every state
Pennsylvania Gradual Emancipation Law
Abigail Adams was an early proponent of women’s rights. She wrote a letter to her husband, John Adams, asking him to “remember the ladies.” The letter demonstrates that some colonial women hoped to benefit from republican ideals of equality and individual rights.
Slavery, which was legal everywhere, was later guaranteed by the Constitution.

8. Articles of Confederation
Overview
“League of Friendship”
Weak central government
Structure
Unicameral Congress
1 vote per state
No executive or judiciary
Powers
Treaties/war
Borrow money
The Articles of Confederation were proposed by the Continental Congress in 1776 and were ratified by the states in The writers of the Articles of Confederation were cautious about giving the new government power they had just denied Parliament. This satisfied small farmers, frontier settlers, city workers, states’ rights advocates, and debtors.

9. Articles of Confederation
Strengths
Concluded war
Treaties
Land Ordinance of 1785
Northwest Ordinance
Orderly creation of states
Encouraged public education
Banned slavery above Ohio River
The Articles of Confederation kept the states united in name.
The Land Ordinance of 1785 divided western lands into townships of 36 sections. Income from one section of each township was used to support public education. Land sold in 640-acre sections at no less than $1 per acre.
The Northwest Ordinance of 1787 provided for the orderly creation of territorial governments and new states. Ohio was the first state admitted to the Union from the Northwest Territory. It served as a model for the democratic treatment of territories in contrast to Britain’s colonies. With 5,000 male adults, a territory could be granted a legislature. A governor and judges were appointed by Congress. They would lead the territory along with a legislature. With 60,000 inhabitants, the territory could write a constitution and apply for statehood, on equal footing with the original states in all respects whatsoever. Slavery was excluded north of the Ohio River. This was the first national document containing a prohibition of slavery.

10. Articles of Confederation
Weaknesses
Power in states
No authority to tax
Multiple currencies
No regulation of commerce
Shays’ Rebellion
MA farmers unable to pay debts
Sought end to foreclosures and imprisonment for debt
Government unable to call up troops—stronger government needed
The leaders of Shays’ Rebellion did not attempt to overthrow the government of Massachusetts, however, because the Articles of Confederation government was unable to raise money to pay for an army, it was not able to protect the life, liberty, and property of Americans. According to natural rights philosophy, a government that cannot secure these rights must be replaced by a better one.