Date post: | 18-Jan-2018 |
Category: |
Documents |
Upload: | wilfrid-dixon |
View: | 218 times |
Download: | 0 times |
Learning Target
• The American Revolution’s democratic and republican ideals inspired new experiments with different forms of government.
OK, we won our Independence and everyone was very excited!
Very excited…
• After declaring independence in 1776, American political leaders created new constitutions and declarations of rights that articulated the roles of national and state governments to protect their rights.
• These documents protected individual rights and limited government power.
• Power was typically placed in the hands of state governments, property rights were strongly protected.
This protection of property extended to…
Articles of Confederation
• The first government we tried, was called the Articles of Confederation. Under this government, the 13 states were unified and a central government with very limited power was created.
• After all, they knew what they didn’t want in a government…
• So they went the other way…
Articles of Confederation
• Under the Articles, there was no real national government.
– 13 individual republics united loosely together.– Power lay in the hands of the States.
Articles of Confederation
• But it got worse…
• During the Revolution, the Congress printed $250,000,000 of money they didn’t have to pay for the war.
Financial Crisis
• This created a financial crisis that had to be dealt with.
• If America would not pay off its debts, then the new nation could not receive credit.
• No credit, no international business.
• No international business, no economy!
Financial Crisis
• Since each state controlled its own economy, currency and credit the 13 individual states really controlled the economy of the United States.
Financial Crisis
• If the Federal Government controlled the economy, currency and credit then the financial crisis could be dealt with.
• But that would require a new government.
• The Articles of Confederation, had to go!
• Instead of having 13 individual republics, each sovereign & independent, we needed one government with power over the states.
• This went against everything the people
thought before.
Constitutional Convention
• 55 men arrived in Philadelphia to debate the new Constitution. Among them were: – George Washington, Benjamin Franklin,
Alexander Hamilton and James Madison
Constitutional Convention
• James Madison was the central figure in the writing of the Constitution.
• They had a few things going for them:
1.) They knew they needed a new form of government.
2.) They knew what they didn’t want.
Constitutional Convention
• And they had a lot of…
Constitutional Convention
• Two main sides to the debate:
– The Virginia Plan– The New Jersey Plan
The U. S. Constitution
• Threatening to derail the convention was the issue of slavery.
The U. S. Constitution
• But there was another problem…• Representation in the House of
Representatives depended on population. Southern states believed they would be under-represented in Congress, and slavery could be outlawed by northern states who were turning against slavery.
The U. S. Constitution
3/5
The U. S. Constitution
• Slaves would each count as 3/5 of a person for the purposes of representation in Congress.
• This increased the population of southern states by 20%
The U. S. Constitution
• And it provided enough southern votes in Congress to fend off any challenges to slavery until the Civil War.
President Washington
• Dealing with this was President Washington
Economic crisis
• When President Washington met with his cabinet, one of the first issues to come up was the debt from the Revolution.
Economic crisis
• The new, stronger, federal government had just inherited a debt of $54,000,000
• (in 1790 dollars)
Economic crisis
• Alexander Hamilton also wanted the federal government to assume the debts the states had accumulated under the Articles of Confederation.– Another $21,000,000
Economic crisis
• This would put the federal government in charge of the U.S. economy, the states would not have any control over it.
Economic crisis
• Since most southern states had paid off their war debt already, this was not a popular plan in the South.
Blue = < 1 person per sq. mile
Orange = > 50 people per sq. mile
Economic crisis
• A deal was struck between Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson
– Hamilton would get federal control of the entire debt of the united States
Economic crisis
• A deal was struck between Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson
– The capital of the united States would be located in the south, giving southern states access to the central government.