Mercantilism

● Economic system based on the theory that a nation accumulates wealth through a balance of trade○ Export more than is imported

● Favored by the British government leading up to and during the American Revolution○ Controlled the colonies by levying taxes○ Example:

■ Sugar Act - put taxes on commonly imported goods■ Stamp Act - put tax on all official documents

● Cause of the American Revolution○ Colonists, especially New England merchants, were angry.○ Sons and Daughters of Liberty organized in protest.

■ Rioted and organized boycotts

● Mercantilism was avoided when new American government was set up.○ Capitalism is the economic system in the United States today.

● Meeting of representatives from nine of the thirteen colonies held in New York City in 1765, during which representatives drafted a document to send to the king listing how their rights had been violated. ○ The Stamp Act Congress was the

first unified meeting of the American colonies to respond to British colonial policies.

○ The act did little to stop the onslaught of taxing measures. It was then repealed in 1766.

Stamp Act Congress

First Continental Congress :

• Who: 56 delegates, drawn from every colony except Georgia

• What: Meeting of colonial representatives to address issues with Great Britain’s handling of the colonies

• Where: Philadelphia• When: 9/5/1774 – 10/26/1774• Why: Discontent over new taxes and the Coercive Acts

(Intolerable Acts) united the colonies with a need to restrict Great Britain’s power over them

• Results:• Asked Great Britain to appeal the Coercive Acts • Organized a boycott• Scheduled Second Continental Congress for May of

1775

Matthew Weidner

Committees of Correspondence• A group formed by the colonists after

the Boston Massacre to help connect the colonies and inform one another of British activities within the colonies.

• Formed in 1772, at the suggestion of Samuel Adams

• Served as opposition against British rule• By connecting the colonies through

these committees, it began the setup of a new government without the British.

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What is the Second Continental congress?

-Todd Grace

A meeting that convened in Philadelphia on May 10, 1775, at which it was decided that an army should be raised and George Washington of Virginia would be named Commander in Chief.

Second Continental Congress Defined:

The Declaration of Independence

What is It?The Declaration of Independence was a formal declaration of the cessation of the New

England colonies from The British Empire in 1776. The reason for the splitting from the empire was because of 27 abuses that King George the 3rd was guilty of, such as not allowing them to self- govern or or taxing them without representation.

Who Wrote it?The Document was largely penned by Thomas Jefferson, but a committee of five helped create it. This committee was made up of Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Roger Sherman and Robert Livingston.

Why is it important?The Declaration holds the core idea behind The United States of America. the line, “We Hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal..” was not only an obvious allusion to John Locke’s theory of Natural Rights, but also stood to sum up the Enlightenment ideal that the Framers had.

The Articles of…….CONFEDERATION

A presentation by Theodore A. Horn

Key PointsA national congress is empowered to make peace, negotiate,

with foreign powers, coin money, control the army, and most important of all CONTROL THE POST OFFICE

It favored an equal system of representation with each state having 1 equal vote

Perhaps the most defining feature of the Articles was their emphasis on the independence of the states

Confederation● Created by the formation of the Articles of

Confederation○ Designed because the writers of the Articles

of Confederation were unhappy with the system of government Great Britain was using■ All the powers of the government reside

in the national government ● The type of government where the national

government derives its powers from the states○ National government is weaker than the

states○ States often consider themselves

independent states linked together only for the purpose of national defense

● Leading up to Shay’s Rebellion ○ 1780- Massachusetts adopted their constitution to favor the rich

■ Banned middle and lowing classes from voting■ This lead to the MA economy to fall

● Banks closed ● veterans from MA Constitutional Army did not get bonuses ● 1786- MA government made a new law stating all debts are to be paid in

cash • Shay’s Rebellion-1786- 1787

o Daniel Shay and 1,500 farmers went to Springfield, Massachusetts stopped the state court from foreclosing their farms

o Secretary of war asked the states for $530,000 to start a new national militia Virginia declined MA could not make a state militia because of poor economy

• got money from a private force- ended rebellion

• This rebellion showed Congress that the Articles of Confederation are weako ultimately lead to the decision to have the convention in Philadelphia in the summer

1787.

A CONSTITUTION

~A constitution is a set of rules and principals that a society abides by to govern the people.

~A constitution composed of multiple documents is referred to as a written constitution

~A constitution composed of a single document is called a codified constitution

~The largest constitution in the world is in India, composed of 444 articles!

THE VIRGINIA PLAN

● Proposed by James Madison and Edmund Randolph

● It was the first sketch of the Constitution offered in Philadelphia and called for a strong national system based on the European nation-state model○ The national government gets its power from the people rather than

from member states

● Included:○ Three branches of government - like todays national government

■ Legislative■ Executive■ Judicial

○ A bicameral Legislature■ The House of Representatives - elected by the people■ The Senate - chosen from people elected by the state

legislatures○ A legislature that had the power to select the executive and judiciary

branches

● The smaller States were unhappy with the Virginia Plan because they wanted equal representation in Congress. The Great Compromise was created to accommodate both the Virginia Plan and the New Jersey Plan.

The New Jersey Plan• The model of government proposed by the smaller states

which strengthened the Articles of Confederation as opposed to replacing them, created a single-house legislature that was represented with one vote per state, gives Congress the ability to raise revenue on duties and postal services, and gives the executive officer the power to appoint a Supreme Court Justice for life. Today

• The Senate is the compromise for the New Jersey Plan in the legislative branch.

• Supreme Court Justices are appointed for life by the President.

Constitution• The New Jersey

Plan and the Virginia Plan were compromised with the creation of both the Senate and the House of Representatives.

• The people, through the electoral college, choose the executive office.

VS.

Great Compromise

The Great Compromise is another name for the

Connecticut Compromise. It was a compromise taking

ideas from not only the Virginia Plan but also the New

Jersey Plan. The compromise stated that they have a

bicameral, one representative for every 30,000 people,

Power to originate bills, each should have an equal vote,

and that national power is supreme. The Great

Compromise dealt with how to best treat differences of

large and small states, a major problem of the time.

Three Fifths Compromise / Federal Ratio

Chase MacDonough*Made using comic sans ms