1. Creating Republican Institutions
The State Constitutions: How Much Democracy?
Pennsylvania’s Constitution:
Unicameral legislature was created with total power (no governor)
Abolished property ownership as a qualification for voting
Allowed all taxpaying men the right to vote and hold office
John Adams was not a fan of unchecked democracy. His proposal called for a bicameral system, with an elected governor who retained veto power. He also wanted states to appoint the members of the judicial branch.
New York’s Constitution
Property qualifications for voting
Eliminated 20% of the white men from voting in the assembly elections
Eliminated 60% of the white men from voting governor and the upper house.
South Carolina
Eliminated 90% of white men from holding office
Most states were not truly democratic – only PA and VT
The War’s Losers: Loyalists, Native Americans, and Slaves:
Many loyalists suffered economically, others fled
Native Americans were pushed further west off their lands
Slaves did not gain freedom after the war
White women at least received the status of full citizenship

2. Articles of Confederation
Created a weak central government, states had a lot of power
Each state had one equal vote in the national government
In order to amend the Articles, unanimous approval was required
The federal government could: make treaties, borrow money, ask for $ from the states
Had no Executive Office, and no Judicial branch
Could not collect taxes
The one issue that the Articles of Confed did resolve was the claim of some of the states to western lands
Continuing Fiscal Crisis:
The US was in debt, began to sell western land which officials believed that the Indians had lost in the Treaty of Paris

3. Land Ordinances The Land Ordinance of 1784 The Land Ordinance of 1785
called for the land west of the Appalachian Mts. and east of the Mississippi River be divided into separate states.
The Land Ordinance of 1785
Mandated a grid system of surveying, set a minimum price of $1 per acre and required that one grid from each 36 square mile section in each township was reserved for the maintenance of public schools
The Northwest Ordinance:
Slavery was banned in the Northwest Territory
Territories could apply for statehood when they reached 60,000 peoples
All states would enter the United States with the same rights to representation as the existing states

4. Shay’s Rebellion
MASS state legislature increased taxes in an effort to raise funds.
Many farmers who could not pay the taxes had their property foreclosed
Former Rev. War vet, Daniel Shays’ led a rebellion
Revealed the sentiment that American state legislators were now the oppressors that England used to be.
Demonstrated the weakness of the Articles to put down an internal insurrection
Helped many recognize the need for a new government

5. The Constitution of 1787 The Rise of a Nationalist Faction:
Sectional differences slowly emerged: northerners tended to favor local tariffs,
Southerners opposed tariffs and preferred buying low cost British imports
The Philadelphia Convention:
55 delegates, mostly wealthy and upper-class
Thomas Jefferson and John Adams were NOT in attendance – they were in Europe
Sam Adams was rejected from the Massachusetts delegation because he opposed a strong central government
Virginia’s Patrick Henry refused to attend…believing that the group was not there to amend the Articles of Confederation, but to create a new powerful central government

6. New Plans to Consider The Virginia Plan: (James Madison)
Bicameral legislature
Representation was based on population
The government would contain three tiers:
Legislative which would consist of two bodies
Lower house would be elected by the people of each state
Upper house would be appointed by the state legislature
Executive which would be appointed by the legislative branch
Judiciary which would be appointed by the legislative branch
The New Jersey Plan (William Paterson)
Amend the Articles of Confederation – not scrap them
Congress would get the additional authority of collecting tariffs and regulating interstate commerce
Representation would be equal for each state
Unicameral legislature
Executive branch will be elected by the Legislative branch
Judiciary would be appointed by the Executive branch

7. The Great Compromise Combined elements of both VA and NJ plans
Created bicameral legislature:
lower house (Representatives) would be based on population and elected by the people,
upper house (Senate) would have 2 per state and elected by state legislatures.
No property requirements to vote.
Executive branch would be elected by
Popular vote in each state that would decide……..
The Electoral College in which each state gets the number of votes equal to it’s members in the U.S. House and Senate.

8. Electoral College Map

9. Debates over Slavery Negotiations over Slavery:
3/5 Compromise – 60% of slaves would count towards population for representation in Congress, advantage for the South
African slave trade would be allowed in the U.S. until 1808
A Fugitive slave clause was added – allowing owners to reclaim their runaway slaves if they fled to another state.

10. Power of the Federal Government
National Authority:
Constitution is the “Supreme Law of the Land”
Power to tax
Power to raise an army and navy
Power to regulate foreign and interstate commerce
Power to print currency – prohibited states from printing their own currency
Power to establish a postal service
“Necessary and Proper” (Elastic) clause increases power of Congress

11. National Debate The People Debate Ratification:
Constitution would take effect when 9 out of 13 states ratified it
Emergence of two groups:
Federalists – favored ratification
Anti-federalists – weary of ratification
The Anti-federalists: (typically from the backcountry)
Feared centralized power at states’ expense
Criticized the lack of a bill of rights
Federalists Respond: (typically from the east)
The Federalist Papers (Jay, Madison, and Hamilton)
85 essays written to promote the Constitution
Federalist 10 discussed factions
The Constitution Ratified ( )
With the promise of the Bill of Rights, Anti-federalists in New York and Virginia ratified the Constitution