1. The Articles of Confederation A New Nation Slide 1 of 1,235,614.2

2. Experimenting with Confederation Corresponds with Chapter 5, section 1 When coming up with a new government, the people of the United States had many questions to answer… What was the relationship of the federal government and the state governments? This introduced the concept of republicanism

3. Colonies Become States British settlers in North America had founded not one colony but 13… Each colony had its own governor, council, and colonial assembly Naturally the people thought of the colony as the primary political unit As colonies became states, they were wary of allowing power to go to the federal govt.

4. Unity through a Republic People at the time believed that a democracy placed too much power in the hands of the uneducated masses, and thus favored a republic Republic: a government in which citizens rule through their elected representatives

5. State Constitutions As states created their own constitutions, they often times shared certain points… They limited the powers of government Guaranteed specific rights for citizens Most emphasized liberty over equality, and all feared a centralized government

6. The Continental Congress The Continental Congress tried to draft a constitution for the states as a whole There was a lot of argument over three basic questions Representation by population or by state? Supreme Power: Can it be divided? Western Lands…Who gets them?

7. Representation by population or by State? Should each state get one vote in congress, or should each representation be determined by population, giving larger states more votes For the time being, delegates of congress assumed one vote for each state, as that is how congress functioned at the time

8. Supreme Power: Can it be divided? Most people assumed that governmental power could not be split Congress proposed a new type of government in a set of laws called the Articles of Confederation Confederation: an alliance among sovereign states

9. Western Lands…Who gets them? By 1779, 12 states had agreed to accept the new government Maryland refused to accept the articles until all western lands were turned over to the United States, for fear that the bigger states would overpower the smaller ones

10. The Land Ordinance of 1785 The Land Ordinance of 1785 established a plan for surveying the land Created specific plots for education, religion, revenue, and water Broke up land on a very carefully laid out grid system

11. The Northwest Ordinance of 1787 This did a number of things concerning western lands, including dividing the land into territories, and set requirements for the admission of new states Congress would appoint a territorial governor and judges When a territory had 5,000 voters, it could elect its own government and write a constitution When total pop. Reached 60,000 free inhabitants, the settlers could write a state constitution, which had to be approved by congress before it granted statehood

12. Problems… Problems ranged from economic issues, such as taxation and the national debt, to political issues, such as the nature of Congressional representation There were other problems as well that the Confederacy could not deal with, such as foreign relations

13. Political and Economic Problems There was no national unity Articles could not be amended without the approval of every single state The Confederation lacked the power to tax… What issues could this raise?

14. Borrowers versus Lenders Another problem caused by the debt from the revolution was the struggle between creditors and debtors People had lent money to state governments They favored high taxes to get repaid This in turn would force farmers into bankruptcy

15. Foreign-Relations problems The lack of support from states for national concerns led to foreign-relations problems for the Congress Spain closing the Mississippi British would not evacuate forts on the Grt. Lakes People’s fear of giving too much power to the central government created a situation in which the central govt. lacked sufficient power

16. Essay 1 Citizens Political Adams Jefferson Washington Madison This is the.2 slide