Creating a Republic

A Loose Confederation• Why did state governments write

constitutions?

• What were the weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation?

• What process did the Articles create for admitting new states?

• Why did many Americans call for changes in the Articles?

States Write Constitutions

Most states wrote constitutions to spell out the rights of all citizens and limit the power of the government

Virginia’s constitution included a bill of rights, or a list of freedoms government promises to protect

• Virginia’s bill of rights guaranteed:

• Trial by jury

• Freedom of speech

• Freedom of religion

• Freedom of the press

• The states divided power between an executive and a legislature

• The legislature was elected by the voters to pass laws

• Most states had a governor to execute, or carry out the laws

• In most states a person had to be white, male, and over 21 years of age

The Articles of Confederation

• The Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union was the governing constitution of the alliance of thirteen independent and sovereign states

• The confederation had the power to:

• Wage war

• Negotiate diplomatic agreements

• Pass laws

• Appoint military officers

• Coin money

• The Confederation could not:

• Collect taxes

• Borrow money

• Regulate trade between states

• Regulate trade between states and foreign countries

• Force states to provide money

Dispute Over Western Lands

• The state if Maryland refused to ratify the Articles until Virginia and other states ceded, or gave up their claims to land west of the Appalachian Mountains

• Maryland was afraid the landed states would become too powerful

• States agreed to give up land west of the Appalachians

• Maryland ratified the Articles in 1781

Blue Ridge

Weaknesses of the Confederation

• There were many disagreements between states that the central government did not have the authority to resolve

• The Continental Congress printed money during the American Revolution

• The Continental dollar had little or no value because it was not backed by gold or silver

States Print Currency

• States began to print their own money

• It was difficult to determine how much the currency was worth

• Most states refused to accept money from another state

• Trade was very difficult

Settling the West• In the end of the 1800s the West was

not a specific region of the United States.

• The West was described as the next area of settlement as pioneers invaded the territories of Native Americans and removed them from their land

The Land Ordinance of 1785• During the Confederation period the

West was the area just beyond the Appalachian Mountains

• Congress could not force the British from their forts or purchase land from Native Americans

• Disputes among settlers often became bloody

• Congress passed the Land Ordinance of 1785 to provide a more orderly method of settling land north of the Ohio River

• The ordinance stated that land would be surveyed and divided into townships of 6 square miles

• Each township would contain 36 sections

• A section consisted of 1 square miles and contained 640 acres.

• Congress planned to sell the land at auction for no less than a $1 per acre.

• Revenue from the sale of one section in every township supported the creation of a public school

• This is the first example of federal aid to education

• To attract land speculators, the law required that buyers take at least one whole section. Speculators could then divide their sections into smaller rectangular tracts and sell the tracts to settlers for a small profit.

The Northwest Ordinance• The Northwest Ordinance established

the guidelines for governing the new territory

• It stated that no less than three and no more than five territories could be carved out of the Northwest Territory.

• Congress would appoint a governor and three judges for each territory until it became populous enough to form its own government and become a state

• When 5,000 adult males settled a territory a territorial legislature would be established

• The territory could send a nonvoting delegate to represent it in Congress

• When the population of the territory reached 60,000, the people of the territory could write a constitution and apply for statehood

• The new government in the territories had to be a republic, or a type of government in which representative are elected to govern on behalf of the people.

• Also, the territory had to ensure freedom of religion and guarantee trial by jury for those accused of a crime.

• The ordinance prohibited slavery in the territories

Five states were

created from the Northwest Territory:

• Ohio (1803)

• Indiana (1816)

• Illinois (1818)

• Michigan (1837)

• Wisconsin (1848)

Significance of the Land Ordinance of 1785 and the Northwest Ordinance

• It was the first time that the national government had provided an orderly way for its colonies to become political equals.

• These laws became models for developing other lands into new states.

Economic Depression • American merchants saw a decline in

business during the Confederation period

• Great Britain had passed laws that made it difficult for American merchants ships to enter its ports.

• Great Britain also made its ports in the West Indies off limits to any American traders

Difficult Times for Farmers• During the war the demand for food

increased

• Farmers borrowed money from banks to buy more land and equipment

• After the war, the demand for farm products decreased

• Farmers grew more food than they could sell and then they could not repay the bank

• The banks began taking farmers land away to pay their debts

• When Spain closed the port of New Orleans at the mouth of the Mississippi River, farmers could no longer ship their goods south to the Gulf of Mexico for export to Europe

Shay’s Rebellion

• In Massachusetts, farmers who could not repay their debts were jailed or had their property seized

• In September, 1786, the farmers’ discontent ignited a rebellion led by former Continental Army captain Daniel Shays

• The farmers attacked and closed the courts in two Massachusetts counties stopping land confiscations.

• In 1787, Shays led more than 1,000 unhappy farmers against the Springfield arsenal.

• The state of Massachusetts raised a militia force strong enough to put down Shays rebellion

• The militia easily put down Shays Rebellion but people who believed in orderly government were afraid

• People felt the United States was not united and that the Articles of Confederation were too weak

• Some leaders called for a convention to revise the Articles

The Constitutional Convention• Essential Questions• Who were the leading delegates to the

Constitutional Convention?• What were the main differences

between the two rival plans for the new constitution?

• What compromises did the delegates have to reach before the Constitution could be signed?

Philadelphia• Philadelphia, the most modern city in

the United States hosted the convention that would give birth to the Constitution

• The Constitutional Convention opened on May 25, 1787

• Every state except Rhode Island sent delegates because its state leaders wanted nothing to do with creating a stronger central government

The Delegates• Fifty-five men attended one or more

sessions of the convention which lasted from May to September

• The delegates became known as the “Founding Fathers” of the nation

• The delegates did not represent the people because most of the white male delegates were lawyers or judges

• Most of the delegates represented a new generation of American leaders

• Half were young men in their thirties such as Alexander Hamilton and James Madison

• Hamilton served as Washington’s secretary during the Revolution

• Madison had been part of Virginia’s government and has helped write the state’s constitution

James Madison

• Madison read books on history, politics and commerce to prepare for the convention

• He arrived with a well-defined political philosophy He believed the main purpose of government to be “to act upon and for the individual citizen.”

• Madison favored writing a new constitution instead of revising the Articles of Confederation

• Madison played an active role in the convention by taking very careful notes of all discussions

• Some of the most prominent figures of the period did not attend the convention because they had other duties to attend to.

• Thomas Jefferson, Thomas, Paine, and John Adams were all in Europe at the time and could not attend

• Benjamin Franklin, the oldest delegate, at age 81, suffered from poor health and could not attend the convention regularly

• George Washington was unanimously chosen to preside over the convention

Secret Proceedings• The delegate decided to keep the

proceedings secret because they wanted to be able to speak their minds without pressure from the outside

• To ensure their privacy, delegates agreed to sit, day by day, in a room with closed windows and guards posted at the doors

• Soon after the convention began the delegates realized that the Articles of Confederation could not be revised

• They chose instead to write an entirely new constitution

• The delegates agreed to vote by state with each state having one vote

The Virginia Plan • On May 29, Virginia governor Edmund

Randolph presented Madison’s proposal known as the Virginia plan

• It called for a strong national government with three branches of government

• 1. executive- carries out laws• 2. legislative- makes the laws• 3 judicial- determines if the laws are

carried out fairly

• The Virginia Plan also called for a two-house legislature

• In both houses the number of members would be based on population

• That would mean that the larger states would have more representation than smaller states

• This was different from the Articles of Confederation, which gave each state one vote in Congress regardless of population

The New Jersey Plan • The small states were against the Virginia

Plan fearing that the larger states could easily outvote them in Congress

• New Jersey delegate William Paterson presented a counterproposal called the New Jersey Plan

• It, too, called for three branches of government and a single house of Congress with each state having one vote

• Debate raged for two weeks with the small states favoring the New Jersey Plan and the large states favoring the Virginia Plan

• On July 2, the convention selected a “grand committee’ made up of one delegate from each state to work toward a solution.

• Ben Franklin was chair of the committee

The Great Compromise• Roger Sherman of Connecticut worked

out a compromise that he hoped would satisfy both large and small states

• A compromise is a settlement in which each side gives up some of its demands in order to reach an agreement

• Sherman’s compromise called for the creation of a two-house legislature

• Members of the lower house known as the House of Representatives would be elected by popular vote.

• Seats in the lower house would be awarded to each state according to population

• Members of the upper house, called the Senate, would be chosen by state legislatures.

• Each state would have two senators• On July 16th the delegates approved

Sherman’s plan

The Three-Fifths Compromise• Southerners wanted to include slaves in the

population count even though they would not let slaves vote

• If slaves were counted the southern states would have more representatives in the House of Representatives

• Northern states objected because slaves were not allowed to vote and therefore they should not be counted in the population count

• The delegates agreed that three fifths of the slaves in any state would be counted.

• This agreement was called the Three-Fifths Compromise

The Slave Trade• Other compromises on slavery

occurred at the convention• Northerners agreed that Congress

could not outlaw slavery for 20 years• They also agreed that no state cold

stop an escaped slave from being returned to a slaveholder

• The desire to establish an effective national government outweighed their desire to act against slavery

Signing the Constitution• Thirteen delegates had returned home

• The 42 remaining delegates named a committee to write the final draft

• On September 17, 1787 39 delegates signed the Constitution

• George Mason of Virginia, Edmund Randolph of Virginia, and Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts refused to sign

Signing the Constitution

Ideas Behind the Constitution• Essential Questions

• What did American leaders learn from studying ancient Rome?

• What traditions of freedom did Americans inherit from Great Britain and from their own colonial past?

• How did the Enlightenment ideas shape the development of the Constitution?

The Lessons of Rome’s Republic• The delegates to the Constitutional

Convention wanted to create a republic, a government in which citizens rule themselves through elected representatives

• Independence and public service were virtues that the Founding Fathers saw in the citizens of Rome

• The Founding Fathers saw the collapse of Rome as a warning to the United States

• No republic could survive unless its citizens remained independent and devoted to public service

• Under the rule of Caesar Augustus, Rome became a dictatorship

• The Founding Fathers believed that the Romans stumbled when they began to value luxury and comfort of independence

Britain’s Traditions of Freedom• The idea of limiting the power of the ruler

was taken from the Magna Carta of 1215• The Magna Carta contained two basic ideas

that helped shape both British and American government.

• 1. It said that English monarchs themselves had to obey the law. King John could not raise taxes without consulting with the Great Council

• 2. The Magna Carta stated that English nobles had certain rights- rights that were later extended to other classes including the right to private property and the right to a trial by jury

The English Bill of Rights• The English Bill of Rights passed in

1689 said that parliamentary elections should be held regularly

• Upheld the right to a trial by jury• Allowed citizens to bear arms• Affirmed the right to habeas corpus,

the idea that no person could be held in prison without first being charged with a specific crime

Teachings of the Enlightenment• Enlightenment thinkers believed that

people could improve society by using reason

• John Locke believed that all people had natural rights to life, liberty, and property

• He also believed that government should function as a contract between the ruler and the ruled

• If a ruler should violate the rights of the people, the people had the right to rebel

• Baron de Montesquieu published The Spirit of Law in which he suggested limiting the power of the government by separating the governing bodies

• This concept is known as separation of powers

• Montesquieu thought the government’s power should be divided among three branches

• Legislative

• Executive

• Judicial

• This would prevent individuals or groups from using the government for their own purposes

Ratification and the Bill of Rights

• Essential Questions

• What were the key issues in the debate between the Federalists and the Antifederalists?

• How was the Constitution finally ratified?

• How was the Bill of Rights added to the Constitution?

Federalists• James Madison, Alexander Hamilton,

and John Jay became the best-known Federalists

• They wrote The Federalist papers, defending the Constitution and urging others to support it

• Federalists pointed out the weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation actually weakened the nation

• Only unity among states would ensure protection against threats to peace from inside as well as outside the country

• The Articles left too much power to the states

• Disputes among states made it difficult for the government to function

Antifederalists

• John Hancock, Samuel Adams, and Patrick Henry were all Anti-federalists

• They attacked almost everything about the Constitution and complained that it failed to protect basic liberties

• Americans just fought to protect their freedoms

• A bill of rights was needed

• The delegates to the Constitutional Convention were supposed to revise the Articles of Confederation

• They did not have the authority to write a new document

• The delegates had done far more than they had the right to do

• One of the strongest supports of the bill of rights was George Mason of Virginia

• A bill of rights was needed to protect basic liberties such as freedom of speech and religion

Ratification• Ratification was to be decided by

special conventions to be called in each state

• This process was supported by the Declaration of Independence which stated that governments “derived their just powers from the consent of the governed”

• Delaware, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey ratified the Constitution in 1787

• Massachusetts ratified the Constitution after Hancock and Adams convinced the state convention to recommend adding a bill of rights to the Constitution

• Georgia and Connecticut also approved the Constitution in 1788

• New Hampshire ratified the Constitution in June 1788

• In Virginia, Patrick Henry, George Mason, and Governor Edmund Randolph led the opposition

• Finally, Governor Randolph changed his mind

• He gave his support to the Federalist when they promised to include a bill of rights

• The Constitution provided that 9 of the 13 states would be sufficient to put the Constitution into effect

• New York ratified the Constitution in June 1788

• North Carolina ratified in November 1789

• Rhode Island became the last state to ratify the Constitution on May 29, 1790

The Nation Celebrates

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The First Presidential Election• The first election under the

Constitution occurred in January 1789

• George Washington was elected President and John Adams was chosen as Vice President

• The first Congress met in New York City, the nation’s first capital

The Bill of Rights

• The framers of the Constitution established a way to amend or change the constitution

• In 1789, the first Congress proposed a set of 12 amendments

• Then the amendments went to the states

• By 1791, three quarters of the states had ratified 10 of the 12 amendments