U.S. History 5.1 Experimenting with Confederation

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In creating a new gov't after D of I, what were 2 things "we weren't ever letting our gov't do?"

Activities: Solve the problem

MAIN IDEA: Americans adopted the Articles of Confederation but found the new government too weak to solve the nation’s problems

WHY IT MATTERS NOW: The reaction to the weak Articles of Confederation led to a stronger central government that has continued to expand its power

What is republicanism?

What did the various states have in common?

How were they different?

What political precedents did the nation’s leaders examine in forming the new gov’t?

What relics of the colonial period survived in the new system of gov’t?

These are the lecture questions -You should know the answers as we go through the notes.

STATE GOV’TS

-each wrote a Constitution

-guaranteed certain rights

speech, religion, press

ex.- Virginia Statute of Religious Freedom

-Representative governments with weak executives

Like a player on a team sport who concentrates solely on setting an individual record, what would happen to the national government if each state pursued its own interests rather than those of the whole nation?

THE COLONIES HAD EACH FORMED SEPARATE , DISTINCT SYSTEMS OF SELF-GOVERNMENT

• This makes people think of their colony as their primary political unit• People’s allegiance is to their colony

The Revolutionary War had given them a common goal, BUT once they were states, they were reluctant to unite under a strong central government. WHY?

CHALLENGE: develop a sys of govt that balances the interest of the state and those of the nation.

STATE GOV’TS

UNITY THROUGH A REPUBLIC –18TH c. Americans believed that a democracy gave too much power to the masses - largely uneducated

REPUBLIC is favored – citizens rule through their elected representativesREPUBLICANISM – the idea that governments should be based on the consent of the people (not to be confused with the Republican party of today.)

People’s definition of republicanism was not all alike: - John Dickinson A republic requires virtuous peopleThe government will only survive if the people place the good of the nation above their personal interests

- Others, encouraged by the writings of Adam Smith (philosopher and economist) believed that self-interest would benefit the republic.If individuals pursue their own economic and political interests, the whole nation will benefit

STATE GOV’TS AND CONSTITUTIONSHow should we put republican values into practice?SIMILARITIES among state constitutions:

o Limited power of government leaderso Guaranteed specific rights for citizens

ｧｧ Freedom of speechｧｧ Freedom of religionｧｧ Freedom of the press

o The emphasis was on liberty rather than on equality•This emphasis reflects their fear of centralized authority

DIFFERENCES among state constitutionso The new states were more democratic than any other western nation at this timeo But the democracy was limited

ｧｧ African-Americans could not voteｧｧ Some states granted voting rights to all white males while others had property ownership as a requirementｧｧ Women were denied the right to vote, despite their role in the revolution

ｧｧ NJ had specific all free property owners as having the right to vote – but forgot to mention that they must be male! A loophole! Some NJ women had the right to vote until 1807, when it was revoked!

POLITICAL PRECEDENTS

Most countries were ruled by kings, therefore few precedentsThe founders’ searched history to find examples

o Short-lived republic in the 17th c. when King Charles I had been executedo Middle Ages, city-states of Italy –Florence, Pisa, Genoa, Venice – had been self-governingo Swiss communities had resisted royal control and formed alliances w/one another that became the Swiss Confederation•Ancient history – Greece and Rome

But, none of these exemplified the balance we needed between the concerns of state and national governments.

5. What relics of the colonial period survived in the new system of gov’t?

6. In what way did the nation’s leaders disagree over the issue of representation?

7. What powers did the gov’t hold and lack under the Articles of Confederation (AOC)?

8. What is the significance of the Northwest Ordinance of 1787?

9. Why did the differences between the states cause problems of representation in the new gov’t?

These are the lecture questions -You should know the answers as we go through the notes.

ARTICLES

-unicameral Congress

-1 vote per state

-very limited powers

-distrust of gov’t

REPRESENTATION BY POPULATION OR BY STATE?

States are political equals, but unequal in size, wealth, and population

o Should delegates represent a state or a number of people?o Should each state elect the same number of reps regardless of their pop?o Or should states with large pops have more reps than states with small pops?

ｧInitially, the delegates saw themselves as representing states, therefore each state would have one vote regardless of population

SUPREME POWER: CAN IT BE DIVIDED?

Assumption: a govt could not share supreme power with smaller units, such as states or provincesCC proposes a new type of government – a confederation –

ｧｧ Two levels of govt share fundamental powers.ｧｧ State govts were supreme in some areas, national was supreme in others - (Like what?)ｧｧ NATIONAL POWERS: ｧｧ DECLARE WARｧｧ MAKE PEACEｧｧ SIGN TREATIESｧｧ BORROW MONEYｧｧ SET STANDARDS FOR COINS AND FOR WEIGHTS AND MEASURESｧｧ ESTABLISH A POSTAL SERVICEｧｧ DEAL W/ NATIVE AMERICANSｧｧ Articles fail to establish an executive department to carry out and enforce the acts of Congress and no judiciary to interpret the meaning of the laws!!!

WESTERN LANDS: WHO GETS THEM?

By 1779, 12 states had agreed to the new governmentｧｧ Conflict over western lands delayed the final approval for 2 more years.ｧｧ Some states had claimed land west of the Appalachiansｧｧ Maryland had not gotten any of this land

ｧｧ Fear: states with land claims will expand and overpower smaller states!ｧｧ Refused to approve the Articles until states turn over their western lands to national governmentｧｧ By 1781, land reverts to national, and articles are approved (March 1781)

WESTERN LANDS

-how to settle new lands?

-ownership of land

-landed ceded to the union for all

-Land Ordinance, 1785

-N.W. Ordinance, 1787

-statehood

-banned slavery in territories

GOVERNING THE WESTERN LANDS

Confederate Congress faces the problem of how to govern this land –north of the Ohio and west of the Appalachiansｧｧ Land Ordinance of 1785, establishes a plan for surveying the landｧｧ Northwest Ordinance of 1787 – provides a plan for dividing the land into territoriesｧｧ It also set up a requirements for admitting new states (Oops what about the Native Americans?! – this land was theirs!!)

TO BECOME A STATE:o CONGRESS would appoint a territorial governor and judgeso When pop = 5,000 voters, settlers could write a temporary constitution and elect their own governor.o When pop = 60,000 free inhabitants, settlers could write a state constitution, which had to be approved by Congress before statehood was granted.

LAND ORDINANCE OF 1785 AND NORTHWEST ORDINANCE OF 1787 were the greatest accomplishments of the Confederation – provide a blueprint (plan) for the future growth of the nation.

10. What are some of the political and economic problems the country encountered under the AOC?

11. What foreign-relations problems did the new country encounter?

12. What weaknesses in the Confederation were highlighted by the actions of Rhode Island?

These are the lecture questions -You should know the answers as we go through the notes.

STATE CONFLICTS

-weak national gov’t

-different currencies

-trade barriers

-border disputes

-war debts

POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC PROBLEMS

COUNTRY LACKS UNITY UNDER confederationo Each state acted independently, pursuing its own interests rather than the common goalso Confederation does not recognize pop differences bet states

-Political power in Georgia w 23,000 people = that in Mass. W 235,000!o Articles cannot be amended w/o the consent of every state!

ｧｧ Consequently changes in govt were difficult if not impossible to achieve!o Huge debt Congress has amassed during revolutionary war

ｧｧ Debt was $190 m – lots for thenｧｧ CC had borrowed money from foreign govtｧｧ Had printed Continentals – these were worthless after the war

o No power to tax, so asks the states for approval of a tariff (tax on imported goods)

ｧｧ Plans to repay foreign debt w/ this moneyｧｧ Rhode Island turns down the idea; no tariff!

o Confederation also has no power over interstate or foreign trade

Borrowers versus lenders

As a result of revolutionary war debt, borrowers and lenders are in a struggle with each other

• Wealthy people favored high taxes so they could get their money backO High taxes mean debt for many farmersO Creditors could sue in court and if they won, the farmers land would be confiscated! And sold at auction

ｧDebtors and creditors also disagreed on paper money

• Debtors wanted to increase the supply, and decrease the value of paper money to pay off their debts with cheap currency

O Creditors wanted to keep the supply of money limited, so that money would maintain its full value

ｧPROBLEMS FOR BOTH GROUPS!

Foreign Relations Problems

Lack of states’ concern for national matters causes problems for Congresso Since US could not pay its war debts to British merchants, and was unable to compensate Loyalists for their lost property, Britain refuses to vacate the military forts on the great Lakes.o Spain’s presence of our western frontier is a threat to western expansion.

ｧｧ 1784, Spain closes the Mississippi River to American navigation.ｧｧ Western farmers are unable to ship their crops to eastern markets through New Orleansｧｧ Northerners are willing to give up rights to navigate the Mississippi, but westerners and southerners are not!ｧｧ Northerners want trade concessionsｧｧ W and S want access to the Mississippi

o Congress is too weak to resolve either issue

The problems Congress encountered when dealing w/ foreign nations showed the basic weaknesses of the Confederation government.

Our fear of having a national govt with too much power, resulted in a govt w/o enough power to deal w/ nation’s problems.

The Constitution must come to our rescue!

WEAKNESSES OF THE ARTICLES

-could not tax

-hard to enforce laws

-could not regulate trade

-no executive

-no court system

Articles of Confederation

National Gov’t

War and Defense Financial

matters

Native

Americans DeclarewarMake peace

Signtreaties Set up

Postalservice

Borrowmoney

Set up standardsFor coins & wts. & measurements

Power toDeal w/ NA

Declarewar

Homework

Articles of Confederation Matrix

Complete guided reading workbook 5.2 in detail (define terms at end of worksheet)