STUMBLING INTO
CONFEDERACY
POPULAR SOVREIGNTY AND MASS.
• MASS. DEVELOPS MODEL FOR CONSTITUTION MAKING – THAT OTHER STATES ADOPT
STUMBLING INTO CONFEDERACY • CENTRAL GOVERNMENT
CREATED TO PROSECUTE THE WAR… (1ST/2ND CONTINENTAL CONGRESS)
• DICKINSON (PA) PRESENTS PLAN FOR STRONG CENTRAL GOVERNMENT IN 1776…
CONGRESS DRAFTS THE ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION
SHOWS LEGITIMACY OF GOVERNMENT TO FRENCH…
ADOPTED BY CONGRESS 1777
RATIFICATION ISSUES: • Western lands • Maryland • 1781
THE ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION
COLONIAL EXPERIENCES WITH GOVERNMENT…
THE NORTHWEST ORDINANCE (1787)
ISSUE: WHAT WILL CREATE THE EFFECTIVE MANAGEMENT OF WESTERN LANDS? • (REMEMBER THE TREATY OF PARIS - 1783)
LAND SOLD TO LAND SPECULATORS… • 6 MILLION ACRES - LITTLE MIGRATION
• CONGRESS REASSERTS AUTHORITY – CREATION OF ORDINANCE IN 1787
• CREATION OF TERRITORIES AND PROCESS FOR STATEHOOD – TERRITORIAL GOVERNORS APPOINTED BY CONGRESS
• 60,000 NEEDED FOR STAEHOOD
• ONLY MANAGED LANDS NORTH OF OHIO RIVER…
FEDERAL AUTHORITY AND THE ARTICLES…
PROBLEMS•EMPTY TREASURY•ECONOMIC ISSUES•NO PWER TO TAX•NO NATIONAL ARMY•NO JUCICIAL/EXECUTIVE
TRISTON DALTON IN A LETTER TO JOHN ADAMS…
“No people ever had a fairer opportunity to be what they have anxiously wished to be…”
• EXTREME NATIONALISTS AND THE NEWBURGH CONSPIRACY
• CONGRESS CAN’T PAY SOLDIERS’ WAGES (NO TAXATION)
• FOREIGN POLICY ISSUES • BRITAIN • SPAIN• JAY TREATY
CHANGE NEEDED
MADISON AND DOGMA OF REPUBLICANISM