Chapter 5: From Confederation to Nation Following the approval of Declaration of Independence, each state called itself sovereign, self-governing or independent

Chapter 5: From Confederation to Nation• Following the approval of Declaration of Independence, each state called itself sovereign, self-governing or independent.

–Each state had powers to levy taxes–Raise an army and build a navy–Enter into treaties –Make war and peace

•The very same reasons that made the colonies willing to revolt made them unwilling to unite.

–Why should the Southern colonies follow a government in New York, when they just fought a war against a government in London?

•Sovereign states had no intention of forming brand-new government when that had already been practicing a form of self-government for the last 150 years.•Main desire was to prevent a government from becoming tyrannical.•“Their powers from the consent of the governed.” – had to be secured in each state and the whole new nation.

Chapter 5: From Confederation to Nation• Drawing up a Constitution: Make a government by the consent of the governed into a living reality.

–Do not let an elected assembly draw up a constitution, based on the idea they were elected by the “consent of the People”. They could change the Constitution anytime they wanted.

–Elect a special assembly with no other purpose than to draw up a new constitution, and then dissolve the assembly when job was finished.

–The townsfolk of Concord, MA, brought this idea to the colony of Massachusetts. Idea spread and was accepted. MA used a constitutional convention, elected members, and drew up a constitution that was approved by the people.

–This procedure will be followed by other states, and will also be followed when the whole nation wanted to make a new frame of government.

–New frames of government were all written constitutions, became an American Institution that was admired and imitated around the world.

Chapter 5: From Confederation to Nation• New State Constitutions followed a pattern.

I. Brief declaration of independence

II. Declaring the rights that the citizens reserved for themselves against any government.

o Freedom of press, right to petition against abuses, freedom from unreasonable searches of their homes, freedom from the burden of standing armies, and the right to trial by jury and other proper legal procedures.

III. Framework of government

o Governor – powers were limited by the state legislatures

o Elected by the legislatures for short terms, deprived of his power to veto legislation, dismiss the legislature, or suspend its meetings, could be impeached.

o Upper house – Elected by voters

o Lower House – Elected by voters

o Judicial – Judges elected by voters

Chapter 5: From Confederation to Nation• “All men are created equal. Thomas Jefferson – Declaration of

Independence. Not in state constitutions!– In order to vote, a man had to own property or have a certain income.

– Women were not allowed to vote, or hold a public office.

– Slaves had no civil rights, no political rights, such as voting or holding public office.

• First Moves Against Slavery– 1774, Rhode Passed a law that any slave brought into the colony would

be free.

– Abigail Adams to husband: Follow the Golden Rule – Those being oppressed should not oppress others.

• Continental Congress passed a law that no slaves were to be imported after 12/1/1775.

– Thomas Jefferson tried to include the slave trade in D of I as an abuse of King George III, but the Southern Colonies objected.

Chapter 5: From Confederation to Nation

• First Moves Against Slavery– Some slaves earned freedom by fighting in the Revolutionary War.

– States began to abolish slavery • PA – Gradually starting in 1780

• MA – ended slavery in 1783

• CT and RI – began their abolition in 1784

• NC and VA – passed laws allowing owners to free their slaves.

• The Continental Congress – An Illegal Assembly– A plan for confederation to help the states cooperate in the war effort.

• Committee of 13, John Dickinson of PA as chairman, prepared the Articles of Confederation, which were adopted by Congress in November 1777, and were not ratified by all 13 until 3/1/1781. SC was the 1st, MD was the last.


• “Illegal” because it took so long to ratify the Articles of Confederation. Assumed the powers of government. Central governing was done by the Continental Congress for 6 years in place of the British Government.

• This Congress issued the Declaration of Independence

• Advised States to form governments

• Conducted the successful war against Great Britain

• Congress’s Success and Failures – Wartime, no legal grant of power, jealousy of the states

– Achievements: • Est. an army, navy and marines.

• Wisdom to appoint George Washington to lead the army, and stick with him.

• Kept the army supplied w/ ammo


• Congress’s Success and Failures– Achievements (continued):

• Created a diplomatic corps, which to France recognizing the US as an Independent nation and entered the war.

• Created a postal service

• Drew up the Articles of Confederation.

– Failures: • Keeping army fed, clothed, and paid.

• Financing the war was the greatest failure. States would not give the Congress the right to tax. Used a printing press to make money. Cost to print paper money cost more than the paper money itself.

• For a bunch of treasonous wretches conducting an illegal assembly, they did a lot of impressive work to lay the foundation of a new nation.


• A WEAK CONFEDERATION: Problems of a new gov’t– Same as the British Empire had to handle with the colonies

• Regulating Trade (Navigation Acts)

• Making War and Peace (War with France to defend territory)

• Imposing taxes (Raise money to pay for new nation expenses)

– No one had any experience to run an imperial administration

• States were happy with setting up their own gov’t:• Levy taxes, set up courts, regulate commerce, currency, and the

right to vote

• NO MORE TYRANNICAL LEADERS! NOT EVEN IN NORTH AMERICA!

• Want strong central government, not one that dominates

• Articles of Confederation (AofC) calls for a strong union of states, but preserved for each state “its sovereignty, freedom, and independence, and every power and jurisdiction and right”.


• “its sovereignty, freedom, and independence, and every power and jurisdiction and right”. – This not how the Congress interpreted the AofC.

– All states were given only one vote in Congress– did not matter if it was a large state or a small state (in regards to population)

– This shows a gov’t of 13 sovereign states, instead of a new government representing the people themselves.

• 9 of 13 votes needed to agree on any single issue, Unanimous vote needed to change the AofC. Still shows states are still in charge.

• Powers of Congress: Power to deal with foreign countries, settle disputes between states, decide admiralty cases, declare war, make peace, coin money, run the post office , establish weights and measures, trade w/ Indians, borrow $$$, assess property taxes. With these powers outlined in the AofC, states feared they would be swallowed up by the new gov’t


• Despite fears of states the congress had no way to enforce their powers, because the sovereignty of each state was more important than the whole.

• States created amendments that would further limit the power

of Congress.


Small States vs. Large States• The biggest cause for jealousy was the fact large states had

more land in the Western territory than the smaller states.

• Smaller states refused to agree on a general government until the other larger states gave up their claims in the territory west of the Appalachians.

• Why? Thought that land-rich states could:– Pay off their war debts quicker and

– Pay for day-to day costs of a state government w/ income of sale of western lands.

– Keep taxes low

– Have citizens from smaller states move to larger states and pay lower taxes.


Small States vs. Large States• Until Congress took control of Western lands, and larger states

ceded the territory to Congress, smaller states would hold up the ratification of the A of C.

• Once accomplished, and the threat of Great Britain’s army, Maryland finally signed the A of C, and on 3/1/1781, the A of C became the law of the land.

• What does a new government do when you have no power to enforce laws on the states, and has no money run the every day functions?

– Power? Finished a war and guided country into peace

– Power? Had to beg states to donate $$$, b/c the states would not pay taxes enforced by central government.

• Small states did the country a favor by requesting the Congress take control of western lands.


• With Congress in control of the Western territory became the new currency of the new government in place of taxes. How?

• “Public Domain” or unsettled tracts of land, could be sold and the money obtained.

• New peacetime job function for the new gov’t. Land would not become colonies of states but eventually independent states themselves “Empire for Liberty” – Thomas Jefferson.

• Empire would be built by adding new states, equal to the older states. Very new and radical idea. Could the new government handle more than the original 13?

Land Ordinance of 1785 – provided that the land be surveyed into townships – areas of land 6 miles square, made up of 36 sections, each containing 640 acres. Reserve some for schools and central government, sell the rest. Making $$$.

Chapter 5: From Confederation to NationNorthwest Ordinance of 1787: Add-a-State Plan

– Thomas Jefferson’s plan for settlement in the Western Wilderness

– Gave instructions for American way of growing.– Simple plan. Every part of the public domain would in

time become a full fledged state of the Union “on an equal footing with the original states in all respects whatsoever.”

– Three Stages1. When there was still almost no one in a territory, it would have a

governor, a secretary, and three judges named by Congress2. As soon as there were 5000 adult free men, there could be a

legislature where the people of the territory could make laws for themselves.

3. When there was a free population numbered 60,000, the people could apply for admission to the union as a state.


Northwest Ordinance of 1787: Add-a-State Plan

-Northwest Ordinance would eventually become the states of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, and Wisconsin,

Success and failures of Confederation• Domestic: Planning for Empire for Liberty – charting the

settlement of the vast western public domain – was the greatest single achievement for the Confederation.

• Militarily: Bringing the War to a successful end.

• Foreign: Greatest achievement was signing a peace treaty w/ Great Britain. Foreign problems w. GB in forts in Western Territory and Spain closing the Mississippi.

Chapter 5: From Confederation to NationThe Great Depression: End of the war = Financial Depression

– War kept everyone busy from farms to business– After war, people want the products they could not get during the war.– Did not have the cash flow to buy items from Great Britain. Paper

Money worthless, only accepting gold and silver as currency– 5 year business depression 1784 – 1789

Shay’s Rebellion – Brought on by Great Depression– Farmers had gone into debt, did not have ways of paying off debt, – Crops were being sold for less profit,– Could not pay bills, had to go into indenture servitude to payoff debt or

jail until paid off.– Created upheaval.– Shay’s Rebellion: Former Army Captain Daniel Shays led a rebellion

in Western MA.– Demanded more paper money, tax relief, relieve for debtors, and end

imprisonment for debt.


Shay’s Rebellion – Brought on by Great Depression– Farmers had gone into debt, did not have ways of paying off debt,

– Crops were being sold for less profit,

– Could not pay bills, had to go into indenture servitude to payoff debt

– Created upheaval.

– Shay’s Rebellion: Former Army Captain Daniel Shay led a rebellion in Western MA.

– Demanded more paper money, tax relief, relieve for debtors, and end imprisonment for debt.

– Shaysites traveled from town to town preventing debt collections or the sale of property for debt.

– Shaysites went to Springfield armory to gather munitions and ammo, met by state militia, paid for by merchants.

– Driven off and eventually captured in February 1787.


Shay’s Rebellion – Effect of Rebellion, demands change– Need to change the national government

– Articles of Confederation was weakened by the jealousy and ambition of states, and poor economic condition

– Worthless currency was just as bad as taxation without representation.

– States still had right to throw off any gov’t that was not working, and establish one that would.


How is a strong central government a lot like women?

You can’t live with it, but you can’t live without it!• Many of the 13 “sovereign” states were finding it difficult to

“manage” without some kind of focal point of government.

• Risking replacing the old British tyranny with a new American tyranny.

• Would they sink into an expansion of European countries fighting over land, politics and religion?

• Or would they take advantage of the fact of a weak Articles of Confederation, and take the chance to do it right, where the future of America can live in peace in the vast, untapped New World.


• Annapolis Meeting (Jan. 1786) – The only thing that came out of this meeting of 12 men was Alexander Hamilton.

– He saw that the 13 states would never prosper until they(13 States) formed a strong union.

– Demanded the 13 states send delegates at once to a larger meeting to see what could be done.

Philadelphia Convention (Summer of 1787): 12 states, 55 delegates (no Rhode Island), met in Independence Hall, Philadelphia. (Not in Carpenter’s Hall where the 1st Continental Congress met in 1774).

– Somehow remodel the Articles of Confederation & to take into consideration the situation of the United States.

– Make life better in all of the colonies by redesigning the government.


Philadelphia Convention (Summer of 1787)

There was no precedent in history for what the 55 delegates were about to do!

Federal vs. National

Starting Point: “Sovereign states” had all of the powers to run their own affairs. (Am. Rev. fought to prove this.)

Annapolis = Regulation of Commerce; Philadelphia = International Relations (“Federal” Union – international union held together by fully sovereign states that made treaties with one another. Federal => Latin word foedus, which means “treaty”)

13 weak, loose international association of new states could not do the job, like Great Britain or France.

Alex Hamilton, Jim Madison, and Gov. Morris did not feel that a “Federal” Union was enough to do the job.


Philadelphia Convention (Summer of 1787)• Would require that the government would have to be “National”. A

GOVERNMENT LIKE Great Britain or France! Oh! No!

• Do not need a government with a collection of different states with its own government, but a government that would actually:

1. Make Laws

2. Have its own courts.

3. Levy its own taxes

4. Control commerce

5. Exercise Supreme power.

– Sovereign states would have to give up some of its “sovereign power”. Oh! No!

• Time for a Compromise – Take powers away from existing sovereign states, and give the powers to a new nation that doesn’t exist.


Philadelphia Convention (Summer of 1787)• Time for a Compromise – Take powers away from existing

sovereign states, and give the powers to a new nation that doesn’t exist. • Fear a gov’t outside your state (King George and Parliament)

• Small States vs. Large States (What was good for one state is not necessarily good for another state.)

• States had to be equal, but how to do that when Small States could lord over Large Rich states.

• Leaders such as George Washington, Chairman of the Convention, Benjamin Franklin were able to keep delegates talking instead of fighting throughout the summer of 1787.

• The Great Compromise• Virginia Plan ( Edmund Randolph of VA) – provided that their

would be a two house (bicameral) Congress and that in each one representation would be based on population.



• The Great Compromise• Virginia Plan ( Edmund Randolph of VA) – provided that their

would be a two house (bicameral) Congress and that in each one representation would be based on population.

• New Jersey Plan (William Patterson of NJ) – provide only one house (unicameral) and each state would only have one vote.

• Connecticut Plan or The Great Compromise (Roger Sherman, William Samuel Johnson, and Oliver Ellsworth of CT)

– Divide the Congress into 2 houses: In the Senate, each state would have the same # of representatives regardless of size of state and population. In the House, each member would represent nearly the same number of people in the state.

• 3/5 Compromise– Question of slavery comes into factor during the calculation of

population. Slaves are considered property, but the Southern states wanted them to be counted as people for the purpose of representation.



• 3/5 Compromise– Question of slavery comes into factor during the calculation of

population. Slaves are considered property, but the Southern states wanted them to be counted as people of the purpose of representation.

– Congress would raise money by taxation based on population.

– If slaves were to be counted for the purpose of representation, then all slaves would be counted for taxation.

– Southerners compromised by only counting 3/5 of the number of slaves both for representation and taxation.

– Slavery could destroy the nation. Northern states wanted to abolish, and give the central gov’t the power to regulate commerce (trade)

– Southern States were expecting export duties to be placed on crops. Compromise led to continued slave trade for another 20 years, and no duties on exports.


A nation that is partly “National” and partly “Federal”

• A new nation with a government that has the power to tax, to control commerce, to make war, to raise an army and a navy, and to conduct foreign relations. Truly “National”

• A new nation with a government that has a Constitution that gives each state the power to make the laws controlling its daily life and all the powers not expressly given to the new central government. – Truly “Federal”.

• Some points about the Constitution– Instructions to change or amend Constitution.

– Repaired the holes left by the Articles of Confederation (power to tax, raise and maintain national army and navy)

– Three separate branches (Executive, Legislative, Judicial) with the ability to check and balance each other.

Chapter 5: From Confederation to Nation Some points about the Constitution

– President was named Commander-in-Chief of all of the nation’s armed forces

– Senate given the power to approve Presidential appointees, justices, Executive branch officials, ambassadors, and treaties (treaties require 2/3 majority vote from the Senate, the rest require only a majority.)

– House given power to initiate bills to raise money.– Congress could enact taxes to provide defense, raise a military, declare

war, set tariffs, coin a national currency, set up post offices.– Constitution gave the Congress the power to pass all laws “necessary

and proper” to “carry out its specifically assigned function”. This became known as the “Elastic Clause” b/c it could be stretched in so many ways.

– Supreme Court was created to interpret the laws created for the United States by the Constitution.

– The Constitution is the Supreme Law of the Land, and the Supreme Court would be able to wield its power to shape the new government.


• The Constitution was not enough in its written draft form, the Constitution had to be approved or ratified by the 13 states to become effective.

• The convention sub-committee asked Congress that the Constitution be submitted to the state constitutional conventions for approval, b/c state legislatures may not be impartial due to the fact that they would have to give up powers.

• This would assure that the Constitution was ratified by the people themselves.

• Make sure the Constitution was superior to state laws.

• Only 9 states had to approve the Constitution for it to go into effect. Keep the few from ruining the plan.


Federalist vs. Anti-Federalists: The fight for approval

• The American public had an eager interest in what the new Constitution said and what it really meant.

• Those that supported the Constitution were called Federalists.

• Those that opposed the Constitution were called Anti-Federalists.

– Anti-Feds feared that the new Constitution would create a super government that might destroy the very liberty that the Revolution was fought to win.

– Constitution did not “reserve the rights for the citizens” to protect them from this new government.

– Could a president become a king?

The Ratification process begins

December 7, 1787 – By unanimous vote Delaware becomes the first state to give the new Constitution approval.


The Ratification process begins: Federalists go to Work!

December 7, 1787 – By unanimous vote Delaware becomes the first state to give the new Constitution approval.

December 12, 1787 – Pennsylvania Federalist prevent the Anti-Federalist from gaining the momentum to defeat the Constitution, and vote for approval.

New Jersey (12/18/1787), Georgia (1/2/1788), and Connecticut (1/9/1788) follow suit with their ratification.

Massachusetts was a key state b/c the Anti-Feds seemed to be in the majority. Enter anti-fed John Hancock. He was persuaded that he would become governor of MA, and be in the running for VP. He proposed that a series of amendments be added to the Constitution to guard citizens rights. February 6, 1788, MA ratifies the Constitution.



MA suggested to the other states that they can approve the Constitution as it is, or propose amendment to remove any objections and relieve some of the fears of the citizens.

April 26, 1788 – Maryland ratifies the Constitution.

May 23, 1788 – South Carolina ratifies the Constitution with proposed amendments.

June 21, 1788 – New Hampshire becomes the ninth state to ratify the Constitution. Technically the government could go into operation. But it still need the approval of the big boys – Virginia and New York.

– VA had some of the Unions best-known and ablest leaders – George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison in support.

– Also had Patrick Henry and George Mason in opposition.


The Ratification process begins: Federalists go to Work!– George Washington’s support for the Constitution carries the most

weight.

• June 25, 1788 – Virginia ratifies the Constitution.– Alexander Hamilton led the fight in New York to win ratification by a

margin of only 2 votes. Two votes the other way and all of the work that was done at the Constitution Convention may have been for nothing.

• July 26, 1788 – New York ratifies the Constitution.

With the “large” states support, the new government could go into effect.

November 21, 1789 – North Carolina ratifies the Constitution.

May 29, 1790 – Rhode Island become the final of 13 to ratify the Constitution.



• In the final compromise the Federalist promised that they would add to the Constitution a bill of rights – a series of amendments guaranteeing certain rights and liberties to the people.

• If the bill of right had been included before the approval process was started, the process may have been a lot easier.

Government in Skeleton

• The bones of the new government had been set in place, now the meat of the new government would be the new President, new Congress, and new Supreme Court.

How has this federal Constitution lasted over 200 years?

• It was a short document compared to the previous Constitutions of the likes of Great Britain.



How has this federal Constitution lasted over 200 years?

• It was a short document compared to the previous Constitutions of the likes of Great Britain. (It contained all of the laws ever written in Great Britain, and could not be held in the hands of one man!)

• It did not go into details.

• It gives the future generations the right and opportunity to apply the laws and allow it to adapt and grow in unpredictable ways.

• Our Constitution is the oldest living written constitution ever adopted by a nation.

Documents

Chapter 5: From Confederation to Nation Following the approval of Declaration of Independence, each state called itself sovereign, self-governing or independent