Ch 7: Creating the Constitution

Sec 1: Governing a New Nation

Government by the States• Most states wrote new constitutions• Constitution: doc stating rules under

which a gov’t will operate• Governor (executive) didn’t have much

power • Most power given to state legislatures• Executive: person who runs the gov’t &

sees that laws are carried out• More men could vote (21 or older, own

property)

Protecting Rights

• VA’s constitution incl. bill of rights– Freedom of the press, right to trial by jury,

freedom of religion

• States tried to protect indiv freedoms

• MA & NY also incl bill of rights

Articles of Confederation• Created by Continental Congress

• Adopted 1777

• 1st gov’t of the US

• One branch of gov’t—legislature (Congress)

• All states had = representation (1 vote/state)

• 9 states needed to approve a law for it to go into effect

• Limited central gov’t

• States had most power

Collect taxes

Regulate trade

Draft soldiers

Power to enforce laws

Congress

Powers of Congress under the Articles

• Deal with foreign nations & Nat. Am.

• Make laws

• Declare war

• Coin & borrow $

• Create a postal service

Land Ordinance of 1785

• Allowed surveyors to divide public lands in the Northwest Territory into townships

• Each town was divided into sections

• 1 section was set aside for schools

Northwest Ordinance of 1787

• Guaranteed rights for settlers & banned slavery in NW Terr

• Created process for admitting new states– Cong apptd gov, secretary, 3 judges when 1st

settled– Elect leg when had 5K adult male settlers– When pop rchd 60K, could ask to be admitted as

a state

• States eventually created: OH, IN, MI, WI, IL

Success of the US under the Articles

• Won independence

• Negotiated peace w/ Britain

• Set up system for settling terr & admitting states

Economic Problems

• Ea state had own trading policy

• Discouraged trade between the states

• Ea state printed own currency

• Gov’t had no $ to run b/c couldn’t tax

Foreign Affairs

• Seemed weak to foreign nations

• Br trps occupied fts in NW territory

• Sp ctrld New Orleans & refused to let Amer ship gds down Mississippi River

Shays’s Rebellion• Mid-1780s: severe econ depression (period

when business activity slows, prices & wages drop, & unemployment increases)

• MA-crop prices fell, ppl unable to pay taxes• State gov’t seized & sold farms to get back

taxes• Farmers wanted legislature to stop farm sales &

print more paper $ to make it easier to get loans• 1786: Daniel Shays (war vet) led uprising of

farmers• Farmers tried to seize arms but were arrested• Significance: showed need for strong central

gov’t (US gov’t unable to help a state)

Section 2: Constitutional Convention

Goals

• Met in Philadelphia, summer 1787• Main goal: fix Articles of Confederation• Delegates weren’t looking to create a new

gov’t• Some delegates felt that fixing the articles

wasn’t enough so they wrote new Constitution

• Voted to keep debates secret so delegates could freely speak their minds

Delegates

• 55 del from 12 states (not RI)

• GW elected pres of convention

• Ben Franklin also participated

• Alexander Hamilton rep NY

• James Madison rep VA– Took notes of mtg—how we know what

happened there– “Father of our Constitution”

Virginia Plan

• Central gov’t should have 3 branches– Legislative (make laws)– Executive (carry out laws)– Judicial (interpret laws)

• 2-house (bicameral) legislature – Both houses should have representation

based on population (favored larger states)

New Jersey Plan

• Sm states opposed VA Plan

• Wanted = # of votes in Congress

• Single house of Congress w/ = rep from ea state

• Congress should be able to raise $ (tax) and regulate commerce (ex. Trade)

• Regulate: make laws

Great Compromise• AKA Connecticut Compromise

• Proposed by Roger Sherman of CT

• Compromise: agreement in which ea side gives up part of what it wants

• 2 house Congress (Senate & House of Rep)– House of Representatives: lower house, rep

based on pop, 2-yr terms chosen by ppl– Senate: upper house, 2 rep/state, 6-yr terms,

chosen by state legislatures

Differences from Articles• Needed simple majority from both houses to

pass a law under Consitution

• New amendment process (see next slide)

• Under the Articles, needed unanimous vote to ratify an amendment

• Powers of Congress: tax, coin & borrow $, raise an army, deal w/ foreign nations & Native Americans, make & enforce laws, est. postal service, regulate trade, declare war

• Contained executive (president) & judicial (court system headed by Supreme Court)

Amendment Process

Three-Fifths Compromise

• South wanted slaves to count for rep

• N didn’t b/c slaves couldn’t vote

• Comp: ea slave would count as 3/5 of a white person

• 500 slaves = 300 whites when counting pop for representation & taxation

• Comp helped preserve slavery in US

Slave Trade

• Some N states wanted to ban buying & selling of slaves

• S states protested b/c their economy depended on slavery

• Comp: as of 1808 Congress would ban importing slaves but slavery could continue w/in US

New Constitution

• Gouverneur Morris wrote Preamble (introduction)

• Gov’t takes its auth from ppl, not states (unlike Articles of Confederation)

• We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

Sec 3: Debating the Constitution

Ratification

• Ratify: approve

• Ea state would hold a convention to vote on ratification

• Constitution would go into effect when 9 states ratified it

Federalists

• Favored strong central (national) gov’t

• Federalist Papers: publ by Madison, Hamilton, & John Jay

• Series of 85 essays supporting passage of Constitution

Antifederalists

• Opposed ratification of Constitution

• Led by George Mason & Patrick Henry

• Arguments:– Weakened power of states– Had no bill of rights– Thought pres would be like a king

Ratification Process• DE—1st state to ratify• PA, NJ, GA, CT followed• MA divided b/c of Shays’s Rebellion but

eventually ratified doc• Followed by MD & SC• VA divided: Henry attacked it but Madison

warned country could break apart w/o it• Meanwhile NH ratified it=9 states so doc

could go into effect• Eventually, VA, NY, & NC ratified• RI last state (May 1790)

Bill of Rights• GW 1st pres & John Adams VP (1789)

• Constitution provided system of amending doc

• 1789 series of 10 amendments known as Bill of Rights proposed

• Purpose: protect against abuses by gov’t, esp those from colonial struggles w/ Br

• 1st: 5 freedoms (press, speech, religion, assembly, petition)

• 2nd: right to bear arms

• 3rd: no quartering of troops

• 4th: no search & seizure without warrant

• 5th – due process of law

• 6th – right to a speedy trial

• 7th – trial by jury

• 8th – no cruel and unusual punishments

• 9th – rights shall not be denied by people

• 10th – reserved to the states