BALANCE OF LIBERTY AND ORDER

The Confederation Period: 1781-1789

What changes occurred due to the Revolution? (Impact)

To what degree was the Revolution a radical one? (In what ways…)

Social Political Economic IntellectualTo what degree do state government

reflect the ideals of the revolution?

Essential Questions:

Freedom - Economic

“free labor” replaces indenture & apprenticeship (not republican)

Greater contrast – slavery & freedom Emphasis on equality (of opportunity) Land = access to opportunity and freedom Smith- The Wealth of Nations – “invisible

hand” – capitalist base of USTwo visions of economic freedom – public

welfare or individual rights (and best way to achieve)

Freedom - Religious

Separation of church and state Free exercise – both idea in First AmendmentReligion still seen as needed for public

morality & virtue – Christianity favored Religious pluralism and diversity becomes the

pattern

Freedom - Indians

Loss of BOP ability, loss of land, loss of independence and culture

Freedom came to mean protection of land, culture and independence

In NW Ordinance – land not taken w/o consent – but ……

No citizenship Nations and treaty system = method to take land Assimilation goal – Five Civilized tribes Battle of Fallen Timbers; Treaty of Greenville

1795

Freedom – African Americans

Ideas of universal rights – freedoms – D of I Freedom petitions – Quok Walker case Free black communities Gradual emancipation - neonatal

emancipation Some states gave right to political

participation “citizens of color” Constitution – “other persons” (later Dred

Scott Case)

Freedom – Loyalists

Represented all classes – 20-25% - revealed class tensions

Feared anarchy and disorderLand confiscated – not compensated postwar

(elites generally purchased) 100,000-110,000 left Pattern – freedom of expression –

speech/press limited during crisis period ( new internal enemies)

Republican Principles: Political

Innovations/Changes

Increased role for legislature; decreased power of executive

Written constitutions w/ Bill of Rights Separation of powersDecreased property qualifications to

voteMore balanced representation of the

backcountry in legislaturesAmending process

Republican Principles: Social Innovations/Changes

No aristocracy – merit, egalitarianism Separation of church and stateAnti-slavery movement begins – Quok

Walker caseWomen’s education and literacy; some

legal rights – “Republican Motherhood”

Sense of opportunity economically Sense of right to political

participationFirst labor organizations and major

strikes - class

Limitations: African Americans – tension

between liberty and equality Property critical – gain status, wealth Propertyless = dangerous; thus free

propertyless blacks = danger to white liberty

Limitations on importation of slaves both N and S

By 1800 gradual or immediate abolition of slavery in the N

Slavery no longer national institution – becomes southern institution –”peculiar”

Intensified sectional developments and differences

Interpretation of the Confederation Period

Critical Transitional

libertyorder

Ratification of Articles

Issue – power struggle Landed states – western land claims Landless states – no western land claims

Ratification – land ceded to central government - $ through land sales

Land Claims – Ratification Issue

Structure of Confederation Government

State > national government Loose union of “state republics”No executive, no judicial No power to taxNo power to regulate trade Supermajority to pass legislation Amending process – all states must agree

Essential Questions:

To what degree did the Articles of Confederation form a government based on republican principles?

To what degree did the Articles of Confederation form an effective government? What are the criteria for evaluation of an effective government?

Statute at large of Virginia 1786

Be it enacted by the general assembly, that no man shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious worship, place or ministry whatsoever…but that all men shall be free to profess, and by argument to maintain, their opinion in matters of religion.

Effectiveness of Confederation: Successes

Won the warLand Ordinance of 1785 – sale and survey

of landNorthwest ordinance of 1787 – process

for statehood – equal Limited expansion of slavery Due process rights Public education Religious toleration

Northwest Ordinances

Land and NW Ordinances

Problems: EconomicDebt – foreign and

domestic, unfavorable BOT

Inflation – paper money, no specie, no confidence – states tried to help adjust prices and wages

Trade Barriers – no access to West Indies – unfavorable BOT

recession

Problems: DiplomaticNo R-E-S-P-E-C-T!!!!

Britain Won’t leave NW Inciting Indians

Indians Frontier violence Retaking land

Spain Mississippi River Jay-Gardoqui Treaty-

regional divisions Inciting Indians

Problems: Internal Order

Issues of liberty and order

Localists v nationalists

Failure of taxation amendment

Newburgh Plot –military coup

Annapolis Convention – calls for meeting to “revise Articles” Sept 1786

Shays’ Rebellion Oct 1787 - SG:

Shays’ Rebellion

Philadelphia Convention May 1787

Shays’ Rebellion -> fears about disorderAgree

Need to tax Need to regulate trade Need to increase power of central gov’t Currency - national only

Philadelphia Convention

Essential Questions:

How does the Constitution correct the weaknesses of the Articles?

How are republican principles protected?

Madison

Federalist # 10 & 51Separation of power; check and balanceShared sovereignty over same people

(federalism) Consent of the governed

Prevention of tyranny From abuse of power From the majority

Leadership

Franklin Sherman Hamilton

Key Issue = Representation

Virginia Plan Three branches;

separation of powers Legislative –

bicameral; proportionate representation – lower house elects upper

New Jersey Plan One branch Legislature –

unicameral; equal representation/state

Connecticut Compromise

Legislature = bicameral Lower house = proportionate representation; 2 yrs;

voters select Upper house = equal number/state; selected by

state legislature 6 yrs

Electoral college – selects president; safety valve; no desire to establish a democracy

Other Compromises: Issues -representation and regionalism(N/S)

Three fifths Slave population N-head tax; S

representation 3/5th for both

Commerce – tariffs N-tariff by simple

majority S-no export tariff;

supermajority Import tariff = OK;

never an export tariff Slave trade can be

discussed and prohibited in1808

Constitution and Slavery

Protection of slavery is “embedded” 3/5TH Clause – more power to the S in Electoral

College Commence compromise – slave trade Fugitive slave law - extraterritoriality

No right to interference by national government w/in and state – but S still fears loss of the institution and “unfree labor”

Changes

Ratification: Special Conventions; 9/13

Federalists Plan/organization Education and

propaganda – Federalist Papers

Articulate leadership Interest v virtue Created order

Anti-Federalists – objections Too large Too removed Too many taxes Potential for abuse of

power No bill of rights

Anti-Federalists

Henry and Clinton “Brutus”;”Cato”; The Federal Farmer

Federalist # 10

Government by consent of the people – but detached from their narrow interests and factions

“the Society becomes broken into a greater variety of interests, of pursuits, of passions, which check each other”

Essential Question:

Does the constitution fulfill the principles of the declaration – if so how – if not why not?

Who is an American? Immigration and naturalization = white

European Citizens = “free white persons” Indians not citizens until 1924 No Asians

American Creed

DeclarationConstitution Bill of Rights

Three key documents that bind us by ideology –

Consent of the governed

Respect for rights of the individual