1. DRAFTING THE CONSTITUTION

2. WARM UP – MARCH 2
Answer these three questions at the top of the guided notes AND take out your web quest from Monday:
1. What were the strengths of the Articles of Confederation?
2. What were the weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation?
3. What was Shay’s Rebellion?

3. NORTHWEST ORDINANCE
Northwest Ordinance – plan for governing new lands in western territory
Established a government
Guaranteed rights to individuals in the territory
Outlawed slavery

4. Trouble in Paradise: Shays’s Rebellion
Daniel Shays
Farmer, Revolutionary War veteran
ANGRY because he can’t pay the high taxes in MA
Courts continued to approve foreclosures of farms in MA
September 1786-January Shays’s Rebellion
a series of revolts led by former Revolutionary War captain Daniel Shays to prevent judges in Massachusetts from foreclosing on the farms of farmers who could not pay taxes the state had levied

5. Trouble in Paradise: Shays’s Rebellion
In January 1797, Shays organized a militia of 1,200 to march to the arsenal at Springfield, MA with the goal of taking the weapons and marching on the courthouse in Springfield.
At the arsenal, state officials disbanded the mob, 4 rebels killed

6. Trouble in Paradise: Shays’s Rebellion
Why is Shays’s Rebellion significant?
Proved that the nation needed a STRONG CENTRAL gov’t!
Showed that there were LARGE problems with the way state governments and the “federal” government operated under the Articles of Confederation
Highlighted the difficulties facing the disjointed nation as the states were no longer unified in fighting a common enemy like in the war.
Many people began to think that the new national experiment was doomed to fail.

7. Weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation
No central unity
No president or central leader to enforce laws
No national court system to resolve disputes
Congress cannot tax citizens to pay debts
Each state = 1 vote in a one-house legislature (regardless of population)
Major decisions = 2/3 approval (war, etc)
Amendments (changes) to the document, including federal laws = all 13 approval
SOMETHING NEEDS TO CHANGE!

8. Constitutional Convention
Shays’s Rebellion (1787) and other problems highlighted the need for a stronger central government…
“The consequences of [an] inefficient government are too obvious to be dwelt upon. Thirteen sovereignties pulling against each other, and all tugging at the federal head will soon bring ruin on the whole… Let us have [a government] by which our lives, liberty, and property will be secured or let us know the worst at once.”
- George Washington, 1786

9. Constitutional Convention
When: 1787
Who: 55 delegates from all states (except Rhode Island)
White men
Wealthy – lawyers, merchants, or planters
Well-educated
Where: Philadelphia, PA
Why: To address the problems with the Articles of Confederation and create the US Constitution

10. Items for Debate
Congress – Unicameral (one-house) or Bicameral (2 house)?
Representation in Congress – based on population or equal?
Slaves – how to count in population for representation? Should the slave population continue to grow?
Power of government – shared between federal and state governments? How to prevent federal government from being too powerful?
Power of people – should the people directly elect leaders or should representatives elect leaders?

11. State Representation in Congress
The Great Compromise
- Roger Sherman
- Bicameral Congress
Senate – equal representation
House of Representatives – based on population
Virginia Plan - James Madison
- Favored large states
- Bicameral House
- All representation based on state population
New Jersey Plan
- William Patterson
- Favored small states
- Unicameral House
- Each state = equal votes

12. Slave Population & Representation in Congress
The Three-Fifths Compromise
Slaves would count as 3/5 of a citizen when determining population for representation in Congress AND when levying taxes
North - Slave population should NOT count when determining # of Reps in Congress
- Slaves SHOULD be counted when levying federal taxes
South
- Slave population SHOULD count when determining # of Reps in Congress
- Slaves should NOT count when levying federal taxes

13. The Slave-Trade Compromise
Slavery Debate
The Slave-Trade Compromise
Unregulated slave trade for 20 years, then Congress can abolish international slave trading.
Free States (North) -Federal regulations on slave trade/import
-Economy too reliant on slave labor
Slave States (South)
- No federal regulations on slave trade/import

14. Sharing of Power
Federalism - system in which federal and state governments share power
Federal (national) powers = Delegated/Enumerated Powers
State powers = Reserved Powers

15. Limiting National Power
And federal agencies

16. Checks and balances - a system to ensure that no governmental branch becomes too powerful

17. Limiting the Power of the People
Upper class could not trust the “common people” with voting rationally.
Electoral college - group of electors (who represent citizens) that choose the President and Vice President
Reflects a fear of giving too much power to the masses

18. James Madison Kept extensive notes on the Constitutional Convention
Played a major role in drafting (writing) the Constitution
Referred to as the “Father of the Constitution”

19. Constitution of the United States of America
Finished in September 1787, but still needed to be ratified (officially approved) by at least 9 states to take effect
Preamble
7 Articles (sections)
Powers of the legislative branch
Powers of the executive branch
Powers of the judicial branch
States’ rights
How to make amendments
Supremacy Clause (federal laws > state laws)
Signers of the Constitution

20. Federalists vs Anti-federalists
Supporters of the Constitution
Wanted a strong federal government
Insisted that the checks and balances would prevent the federal gov’t from getting too powerful
Opponents of the Constitution
Wanted a weak federal government (favored states’ rights)
Scared that the federal gov’t would become too powerful and deny individual rights

21. Federalists vs Anti-federalists
John Adams
George Washington
James Madison
Alexander Hamilton
Urban areas - Merchants, skilled workers, laborers
saw benefit of large gov’t that could regulate trade
Small states
States with weak economies
Thomas Jefferson
Patrick Henry
Samuel Adams
Richard Henry Lee
Rural areas – feared more taxes
Large states
States with strong economies