Chapter 8 – Forming a Government

-After declaring independence from Britain in 1776, the first task faced by the new United States was to form a government. -America’s new government would be influenced by many factors. English documents such as the Magna Carta and the English Bill of Rights, both of which limited the power of the English monarch. These documents reinforced the idea that a ruler was not above the law and must respect the rights of the people he or she rules. The English Bill of Rights required the king or queen of England to gain Parliament’s approval to pass laws or taxes. In this way, the people were represented in government and their voice was heard. -America’s founding fathers were also influenced by the thinking of the Enlightenment, or Age of Reason, in which political philosophers such as John Locke reasoned that rulers rule with the consent of the people they govern, and that the people enter into a social contract in which the government must agree to protect the rights of the citizenry. Any government that did not do this, Locke said, must be replaced with one that would. -America had long established its own tradition of self-government, such as the town meeting and colonial legislatures. They also had American-created documents to look to, such as the Mayflower Compact and the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut. The Declaration of Independence also included important ideas about self-government and the unalienable rights of the people. -After declaring independence, each new state wrote its own constitution, or basic set of rules and laws a government must follow. These state constitution shows the American belief in republicanism, governments in which the people elected representatives to make laws on their behalf. Americans also wanted to have limited government, or one in which the power of leaders was limited and no one has complete power. State constitutions also had provisions to protect people’s individual rights, such as the freedom of speech and religion, the right to a trial by jury, etc. For instance, in Virginia, the legislature passed the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, a law that promoted the separation of church and state. Thomas Jefferson was a major supporter of this law. Despite his own religious beliefs, he felt that that freedom of religion was a must in a democratic society. -Some state constitutions guaranteed certain forms of suffrage, or voting rights to certain social groups. Who could vote varied from state to state, some only allowing white males who owned land to vote, while others restricted voting to taxpaying white males. Generally women and African Americans were not allowed suffrage.

Ideas About Government

The Articles of Confederation -At the Second Continental Congress, many delegates believed that a national government was necessary to unite the States together. Some delegates worried that such a central government would become to powerful or even tyrannical. A group of delegates called the Committee of Thirteen was formed to create a new constitution that would be called the Articles of Confederation. The national government’s powers under this constitution would be extremely limited. This is implied by the word “confederation” itself, a government in which a weak central government ties together stronger state governments. -The national legislature would be called the Confederation Congress, with each state having one vote when it came to the passage of laws and other decisions. There was no national leader, such as a president, or a national court system. Each state would maintain its own court system based on English common law. -The Congress had limited powers: to make coins and borrow money, to negotiate and make treaties with other countries and the various native American tribes, settle disputes between the states, and ask the states for money and soldiers. However, it could not force the states to give the national government these things. -The Articles of Confederation were passed by the Continental Congress in 1777, and then were sent to each state legislature for ratification, or official approval. In order to be ratified, the Articles required each state to ratify the new constitution. By 1781, the Articles of Confederation was approved by each state and the United States had its first national government. -One of the first tasks of this new government was to organize western lands. The government hoped to organize these lands and sell them in order to pay for Revolutionary War debt. Congress passed the Land Ordinance of 1785, which created a system for surveying and dividing government owned lands. Territories were split into 36 square mile townships. In each township, 1 square mile was set aside for a school, 4 for Revolution veterans, and the rest put up for sale. Next, the Congress passed the Northwest Ordinance of 1787, which organized the Northwest Territory, or American lands north of the Ohio River including Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, and Wisconsin. This law created a system in which territories may become states: a territory must have a minimum population of 60,000, and a state constitution must be submitted to Congress for approval. It required that each territory provide public education for its citizens. Finally and perhaps most importantly, the Northwest Ordinance banned slavery in the territory.

-Under the Articles of Confederation, the United States was left with a weak national government that lacked power to do things on a national or international level. Other countries would soon take advantage of this fact. For instance, Britain refused to honor its commitments of the Treaty of Paris of 1783. For example, Britain was slow in withdrawing its troops from now-American soil, as well as handing over forts on the frontier to the Americans. Spain would also take advantage of US weakness by closing traffic along the Mississippi River to American farmers and merchants, which harmed the US economy. The Articles of Confederation did not provide for a national army – only the states could provide militias for that purpose and only when they wanted to – so the United States was militarily weak. Other countries took advantage of this. -After the Revolution ended, Britain closed many ports to American ships in an effort to harm the American economy further. Britain also forced American merchants to pay high taxes on US exports to their ports. Since Britain was many Americans’ primary trading partner, this greatly affected American commerce to Europe, and America lost much of its overseas trade in this manner. To get around these restrictions, American merchants would hire British sea captains to export their goods, which was quite expensive. British goods, however, were still freely imported into the United States, creating an unequal balance of trade and a trade deficit (importing more than a country exports). -As a result, the Confederation Congress passed a tariff, or import tax, on British goods in a effort to get Americans to buy domestic goods. But there was little that Congress could do to force the states to enforce the tariff, and some refused to do so altogether. -Relationships between the states under the Articles of Confederation were also strained. Each state acted independently when it came to its economy. Congress had no power to regulate interstate commerce, or trade between the states. As a result, states began to place tariffs on one another, which further slowed down commerce. States could print their own money as well, which led to difficulties in trade. Some states would print far too much money to pay off debts, which often led to inflation, or the gradual decrease in value of money combined with a gradual increase in prices of goods. Congress could not prevent the states from printing their own money. This inflation was good for debtors, those who owed money, and bad for creditors, or those to whom money is owed.

Problems in the New Nation

-This loss of trade, combined with inflation, led to a major depression, or period of major economic inactivity. This led to a loss of employment and wealth for many Americans. -Another major issue at the time was the issue of national and state debts. States typically chose one of two ways of paying off their debts. The states either printed money or raised taxes. -Printing money led to inflation and depression, as has been discussed already. The second method, raising taxes, led to social unrest. For instance, in Massachusetts, the government there raised taxes on land and property. However, farmers and others already hit hard by depression had trouble paying these debts. As a result, many went bankrupt and were forced to sell their property, and some were even sentenced to debtor’s prison. -This crisis reached its peak in 1786 when a Massachusetts farmer and Revolutionary War veteran named Daniel Shays led an uprising called Shays’ Rebellion. These “rebels” took control over and shut down various state courts, reasoning that since courts collected taxes, they could not do so if not in operation. Eventually, the rebellion was put down, but Massachusetts let Shays and his followers go, because they knew putting them to death would be extremely unpopular. Shays’ Rebellion again showed the weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation. Congress could not offer military help to Massachusetts to help put down the rebellion, and some began calling for a new national government capable of handling such crises. National leaders like George Washington were embarrassed for the new country. -Other problems with the Articles of Confederation: no national leader such as a President; no national army or navy (Congress could ask for state militia soldiers, but not force the states to provide them); no ability to collect taxes nationally or pass tariffs on imported goods; no national currency and the states printed their own money. -At first, there were calls to amend, or change, the Articles of Confederation. A meeting took place in Annapolis, Maryland, in which delegates from five states agreed to meet in Philadelphia to make these changes to the Articles of Confederation at a Constitutional Convention. This convention was to be held in May of 1787 in the same building that the Declaration of Independence and the Articles of Confederation were originally signed and put into effect. Although these men only intended to change the Articles of Confederation, the outcome of this convention would be an entirely new constitution and form of government for the United States of America.

Problems in the New Nation

The Constitutional Convention -Delegates from 12 of the 13 states met in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in May of 1787 for the Constitutional Convention. -Many of the founding fathers attended this convention, including Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, and a Virginian named James Madison, who would become known as the “Father of the Constitution” because of his contributions at the convention. Other founding fathers, such as John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, did not attend because they were serving as ambassadors to Britain and France, respectively. Adams was much in favor of a strong central government and a new constitution; Jefferson, on the other hand, was strongly against it. This highlights a key division between American politicians at this time: those in favor of strong central government and those against it. -Some only wanted to revise the Articles of Confederation; others wanted to change it completely and create a new constitution. But even those who wanted a brand new constitution disagreed over just what form the new government should take. There were disagreements between Northern and Southern states; large and small states; slave and non-slave states. Each state had its own interests and desires. And every state disagreed on how powerful to make the central government. -Two major plans were presented for the new central government. The first was the Virginia Plan, proposed by James Madison. It favored the larger or more populous states, who claimed that since they had more people, they deserved more representation in the national government. The Virginia Plan proposed a strong central government divided into three branches: the legislative, executive, and judicial. The legislature would two-chambered, or bicameral, with an upper and lower house, where representation would be based on population. The larger states favored this plan; the smaller states rejected it. Instead, they proposed the second of the two plans, called the New Jersey Plan, introduced by William Paterson. The “small state” plan proposed a similar government to that proposed by Virginia Plan, except representation would be equal for each state, thus giving the smaller states an equal say with the larger states in the national government. It also called for a unicameral, or one house, legislature. Obviously, the larger states rejected this plan because it did not take into account the need for more representation for more populous states. -In the end, the delegates created what became known as the Great Compromise. Each side gave up some of its demands and settled on a more powerful central government divided into three branches (legislative , executive, and judicial), and the bicameral legislature would be comprised of the House of Representatives, the size of which was determined by state population, and the Senate, in which states had an equal number of votes.

Slavery and the Constitution -Aside from figuring out the actual make-up of the new government, the biggest issue facing the delegates at the Constitutional Convention was how the Constitution would address the issue of slavery. Many delegates at the convention, especially from the South, wanted guarantees that slavery would be protected by the Constitution. Many Southern delegates actually threatened to walk out of the convention if their demands were not met. This would foreshadow future Southern actions when it came to slavery: when the South didn’t get its way, it would threaten to leave the Union, or secede. -To appease the Southern delegates, several compromises regarding slavery were reached. There were three main provisions in the Constitution that pertained to slavery: 1) The Three Fifths Compromise – Since many southern states were rural and relatively unpopulated compared to the North, these southern states worried that they would not have enough representation in Congress and thus less political power. These states believed that their slaves should be counted as part of their population, despite the fact slaves were generally not recognized as people or citizens. To the northern delegates, this made little sense. Instead, they wanted slaves counted as property and taxed appropriately. However, to avoid a walk-out of southern delegates, a compromise was made: slaves would be counted not as a full person, but as three-fifths of a person for the purposes of counting population to determine representation and rates of taxation. 2) Slave Importation Clause – Southern delegates wanted a guarantee that Congress would not attempt to outlaw the importation of slaves for at least 20 years, to ensure that the institution of slavery would continue and the domestic slave population in such time could be self-sufficient. Northern delegates reluctantly agreed. In return, southerners dropped a demand that required 2/3 majority for the passage of laws to a simple majority (more than 50%). 3) Fugitive Slave Clause – Southern delegates demanded that the Constitution require states and citizens return fugitive (runaway) slaves to their “rightful” owners. -These slave-related compromises led many to criticize the new Constitution, claiming that it was hypocritical to have a document establishing democracy and protecting basic rights, while at the same time guaranteeing slavery, which was a violation of those basic rights based on the color of one’s skin and their culture.

Principles of the Constitution -The Constitution embodies important principles that the founding fathers believed to be most important. -Popular Sovereignty – the idea that political power ultimately rests with the people. This idea gained ground during the philosophical period known as the Enlightenment. -Federalism – the idea that power should be shared between the national (federal) government and the state governments in a country. The supreme authority under the Constitution would be the federal government, and the Constitution granted specific powers to the federal government alone (such as the use of military force or negotiating treaties with foreign countries, interstate commerce). However, any powers not specifically granted to the federal government were implied to be held by the states (state and local laws, education, commerce within states). Any law passed by the federal government was the “law of the land” and the states had to agree to such laws. -Separation of Powers – the idea that government powers should be divided between multiple branches, and that no one branch had too much power. Each of the three branches has its own responsibilities: the legislative branch is responsible for proposing and making laws. The executive branch is headed by the President and various executive agencies that enforce or carry out the law. Finally, the judicial branch is made up of courts and is responsible for interpreting and applying the law appropriately. -Checks and Balances – The concept of checks and balances refers to the idea that each branch of government has certain powers and duties it may exercise to prevent the other two branches from overstepping their own powers. Examples: Congress (legislative) may pass a law, but the President (executive) may veto, or reject, this law. The President (executive) nominates a person to the Supreme Court, but Congress (legislative) rejects this nominee. Congress (legislative) and the President (executive) pass and sign a law, but the Supreme Court (judicial) rules the law to be unconstitutional and thus invalid. These are just a few of the examples of checks and balances built into the Constitution. -The Ability to Amend the Constitution – The US Constitution is the world’s oldest constitution still in use, in part because it is able to change with changing times and attitudes. The founders understood that life in America would change over time, that conditions would change, and they wanted a document that could change with the country.

Ratification of the Constitution -Once the delegates at the Constitutional Convention finished drafting the Constitution, it was sent to each of the states for ratification, or official approval. This process would take many years as the debate over the Constitution continued in the state legislatures. -The country was divided into two primary political groups: the Federalists, such as George Washington, John Adams, James Madison, and Alexander Hamilton, who supported the Constitution and therefore believed in a stronger central government, and the Anti-Federalists such as Thomas Jefferson, Samuel Adams, and George Mason, who believed that the Constitution granted far too much power to the central government and were concerned that the Constitution had no Bill of Rights that protected the rights of the American people from potential tyranny. -In support of the Constitution, several leading Federalists including James Madison and Alexander Hamilton wrote a series of essays to be published in newspapers throughout the country called the Federalist Papers. They guaranteed that the new federal government would not become tyrannical and would not overpower the sovereignty of the states as the Anti-Federalists warned. The essays pointed out the problems of the Articles of Confederation and urged people to support the new Constitution and urge their states to ratify the document. -The Constitution required 9 out of the 13 states to ratify it in order to go into effect. Of course, unanimous ratification was the ultimate goal. The first to ratify the Constitution was Delaware in 1787, and achieved the threshold of 9 ratifications when New Hampshire approved it in 1788. By 1790, all 13 had ratified the Constitution, but not without some compromises and threats of retaliation. -Some states would only agree to ratify the Constitution if there was a guarantee of personal civil liberties and rights added to the document, which became known as the Bill of Rights, or the first ten amendments (additions or changes) to the Constitution. The Bill of Rights protects basic personal freedoms, such as speech, religion, the right to bear arms, etc. from government infringement. This process also allowed the founders to find out just how effective their system of amending the Constitution might be. Congress proposed the Bill of Rights in 1789, and by 1791, the required ¾ of the state legislatures had approved 10 of the 12 amendments sent to them for debate and approval.