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Essential QuestionEssential Question:
–What were the long-term problems with the Articles of Confederation?
Warm-Up Question:Warm-Up Question:
–Now that the Americans have won the Revolutionary War, what major decisions must now be answered?
The Articles of Confederation
When Americans declared independence in 1776, they needed to form a new government:
–They wanted to form a republicrepublic where citizens vote for elected leaders to represent them
–They wanted to protect citizens & individual states from a powerful national government
A pure democracy would put too much power in the hands of the “uneducated mob”
The American republic would
be a more “enlightened” version of the
Roman Senate
Thirteen Independent StatesWhen independence was declared, the 13 colonies
became independent states
Each state had its own constitution, legislature, & an elected governor;
8 states had Bills of Rights
But, the USA needed a national gov’t to do things
that states could not, like sign treaties & form a military
The Articles of Confederation
America’s 1st national gov’t was the Articles
of Confederation (1777-1789)
This “confederation” style gov’t loosely connected the states under a weak national government
Government Structure Government Structure
Each state could send between 2-7 representatives to the national congress,
but each state had only 1 vote
To pass a law, 9 of the 13 states had to agree
Government Powers Government Powers
The national congress could make laws, settle disputes between states, negotiate treaties,
handle Indian affairs, oversee a military
But all other powers were left up to the states
Government Powers Government Powers
Americans did not want to re-create a powerful gov’t like the one they just fought the Revolutionary War to break away from
So, the national gov’t had no president & could not tax the states or citizens
The United States, 1783Areas of Settlement, 1783
The Articles established a good system of settling
western lands
Western Land
Claims
Ceded by the States
First, states had cede (give up) their claims to lands in the west to the
national gov’t
Congress passed the Land Ordinance of 1785 to create an orderly way to divide the west into
townships & farms
Selling western lands was the only way the national gov’t
could generate money since it did not have the power to tax
The Northwest OrdinanceThe Northwest Ordinance of 1787Northwest Ordinance of 1787
gave government to the territories:
–When a territory had 5,000 residents, it could create a self-governing legislature
–When a territory had 60,000 residents, it could apply to become a U.S. state
–Slavery was outlawed in the NW
Essential QuestionEssential Question:
–What were the long-term problems with the Articles of Confederation?
Warm-Up Question:Warm-Up Question:
–Why did U.S. leaders create such a weak national gov’t when they made the Articles of Confederation?
The Weaknesses of the ArticlesThe Articles of Confederation was
America’s 1st form of gov’t:
–The weakness the national gov’t was originally seen as good because it eliminated tyranny
–Later, these same weaknesses kept the gov’t from solving serious national problems
Economic ProblemsThe inability of the government to
collect taxes led to problems:
–America could not pay off debts from the Revolutionary War
–Property foreclosures led an uprising among Massachusetts farmers called Shays’ RebellionShays’ Rebellion in 1787 but the gov’t could not pay for an army to stop it
Shay’s Rebellion in western
MassachusettsPoor farmers in
western MA were angered over high taxes & prospect of debtors jail
Daniel Shays led an uprising & closed debt courts & threatened a federal arsenal
Shays’ Rebellion proved to be thethe convincing event that led to the
Constitutional Convention of 1787
Weaknesses of the ArticlesAfter Shays’ Rebellion, people like
Hamilton & Madison began calling
for a stronger national gov’tIn 1787, delegates met in
Philadelphia to discuss ways to improve the Articles
Instead of revising the Articles of Confederation, the delegates replaced it with the Constitution