How Shall We Govern

Ourselves?

The Articles of Confederation

America’s First Constitution

• What kind of government would the FREEDOM loving Americans create to balance LIBERTY with enough AUTHORITY to get things done for the common good?

Shifting The Balance of Power

Monarchy- 1607 – 1776

British Constitution is unwritten.

Monarchy

Colonies

Shifting The Balance of PowerConfederation Government 1781-1788

Articles of Confederation

States

Congress

No Federal (National) Government

• The new Americans said “NO WAY”

• Afraid that it would limit their liberties

• Keep the power with the states

• The closer the power is to the people the less of a chance it can be abused.

• Each State decided to keep its sovereignty (supreme power), freedom and independence, while cooperating with the other states in a CONFEDERATION.

The Great Achievement

• The American

Revolution

succeeded where all

others were to fail…

• Established a stable

government in the 13

colonies as well as

one for all 13 states.

Confederation

“A perpetual

league of

friendship”

The Confederation Government

• Document in charge is the Articles of Confederation

• Single-House Congress (Missing an Executive and a Judicial Branch)

• Each state could send from 2 to 7 delegates who would vote as a unit.

• One vote only per state

• Votes of two-thirds of states were required to pass laws, and amendments to the Articles required a unanimous votes.

The Articles of Confederation

• At the same time the Declaration committee was meeting another committee was formed to write a new constitution.

• Constitution-plan or blue print of the government.

• John Dickinson wrote the Articles of Confederation and it was amended and approved by 1777.

Weak Confederation Congress• Powers(Can do…)

• Declare War

• Make Treaties

• Manage Indian Affairs

• Maintain an Army and Navy

• Coin and Borrow Money

• Regulate Weights and Measures

• Instead of using pounds and pence, Americans use dollars and cents.

• Establish a Postal Service

What two powers

did Congress

lack?

Raise TAXES

Regulate COMMERCE

(trade)

Other Powers Denied

• No Executive Branch

• Could not stop a state from issuing its own

money

• No Judicial (Courts) Branch

States Under the Articles of

Confederation

• The 13 States followed the GOLDEN RULE!

• “He who has the gold makes the rules.”

• Controlled their own purse strings….

• Tax

• Regulate Trade

America’s Western Lands

• Two Important Laws

• The Confederation Congress passed two laws

stating how the lands would be divided and

governed.

Western Lands

• The western lands consist of the area west of the

Appalachians Mountains to the Mississippi

River.

• The 13 states gave up all rights to their western

land claims.

• Congress is going to sell the land to pay off

Revolutionary war debt.

• Indians on the western land?

• Move them west or north to Canada to make room

for the settlers.

Northwest Territory

Land Ordinance

of 1785This gave the government a way

to divide the land for sale.

• Survey the land

• Divided into townships

• Six miles square

• Subdivided into 36 sections-1 mile square (640 acres)

• Sections would be sold at public auction for a minimum of $1.00 per acre.

• Section 16 of each town would be used to support education

The Northwest Ordinance of 1787

• Forbade slavery

• Divided the Northwest Territory into not less than three, not more than five territories.

Development of Territorial

Governments• Provided a way for territories to become

states.

• Three Stage Process to Become a State

• A Congressionally appointed governor and three judges at the first stage.

• An elected legislature and a non-voting delegate to Congress when the population reached 5,000 free, white males.

• A state constitution and admission to statehood when the above population reached 60,000.

Problems of the Confederation

• No TAXING Power- No $$$$

Problems of the Confederation

• Inflation-

• Continental Congress issued $40,000,000 in paper

money to pay war debt.

• They had no silver or gold to back the 40 million

continentals. Their value was inflated. 40

continentals to 1 silver dollar

• Worthless $-Creditors would not take them!

Problems With the Confederation

• Trade

• Unfavorable Balance of Trade

• America imported goods valued at over 7,500,000

pounds sterling from Great Britain, while exporting

products valued at 2,500,000 pounds sterling.

– Drained America of nearly every ounce of gold and

silver.

• Wrecked hopes of stabilizing the currency

• Depressed prices

• Caused Bankruptcies

• Sent the US into a major commercial depression

Problems With the Confederation

• Foreign Affairs

• The Confederation Congress could not enforce the

terms of its own peace treaty.

• Promised to pay our debts to British before the war.

• States promised to pay the Loyalists for property seized.

– Slow pays, and legislation to prevent payment

– Britain refused to remove troops from the Northwest Territory

• Spain refused to accept the southern boundary of the United

States.

– Spain closes the Mississippi River and the port of New Orleans to

the United States.

Daniel Shays’ Rebellion• Who is involved?

• Daniel Shays (leader), State of Massachusetts, Farmers from Massachusetts (former Rev. soldiers or veterans) Banks and Militia in Mass.

• What happened?

• Veterans come back from the war. Most have built up a great amount of debt during the war to finance their farms. Banks took on the farmers debt. Banks call in the farmers debt. The farmers having been paid in Continentals try to pay off their debt, but the currency is refused. Banks foreclose on the farmers property. The banks go in and sell all farm equipment, homes, barns and livestock. The banks have to get approval from the courts.

• Daniel Shays leads a rebellion and causes the courts to close. The State of Massachusetts calls in the state militia to stop the rebellion.

Problems of the Confederation

• Tariff Wars

• Each state, exercising its sovereignty, charged

rival states a tariff.

Shifting The Balance of Power

Republic 1788-Present

United States Constitution

A More Perfect Union

National Sovereignty

& States Rights

States Rights

The Constitutional Convention• Delegates met with on May 25th, 1787

• Held all meetings in secret.

• Free discussion without the fear of reprisal

• Tempers would flare between the following:

• Sections

• Large and Small States (population)

• Agrarian and Commercial Interests

• Nationalists and Confederationalists (states rights)

• All delegates agreed that the Articles of Confederation needed to be revised(changed).

• Create a central government weak enough to please the states yet strong enough to handle national affairs.

Two Plans of Government

• The Virginia Plan

• Three Branch Government

• Legislative

– Bicameral

• Representation was based on the population of each state.

• Judicial

• Executive

• The New Jersey Plan

• One Branch Government

• Legislative

– Granted additional powers to the legislature.

• Levy taxes

• Regulate commerce

The Executive

Branch

• Elected by the Electoral College

• Group of people called electors, chosen by their state to meet and elect the President and Vice President

• Members of the House of Representatives + Members of the Senate = Total number of electors a state could send.

• Vote on a given day. The person with the highest number of votes would become President and the person with the second highest votes would become Vice-President.

Elections by the Electoral College

• Democrats are not in office – Sept. 2002-Jan.

2003 Some 8 to 9 people declare they want to be

the Democratic choice for President

• 2003-G.Bush (Rep.) incumbent-already in power

• A year before the election, the US will hold

Democratic primary elections in all the states.

• Start with 8-9, all but 1 or 2 will drop out of the race

by the Convention time.

• Conventions are held June and July of 2004.

• Nominate a Presidential hopeful, name their

running mate.

• Party Platform

– How they feel and plan take care of different

issues

• November 2004 (Second Tuesday)

• Election- The people vote

– The electoral college vote is determined by

how the state (people) votes.

• Texas has 35 Electoral College votes

(33 + 2 =35)

• Total Votes of the Electoral Votes

• 435 – House of Representatives (Texas has 33.)

• 100 – Senate (Texas has 2)

• One more than half of the total number of Electoral Votes

• Total Electoral Votes- 535 (Texas gets 35 votes)

• Half of that 267.5 We think– 269

• The people of Texas will determine what happens to those 35 votes.

• G. W. Bush won Texas - Texas will send 35 electors to Washington to vote for G.W. Bush in December of 2004.

The Executive Branch

• Term of Office

• Four year term

• No limit on the amount of terms a person could

serve

• Constitution is broken into Seven Articles

• Article One ? Legislative Branch

• Article Two? Executive Branch

• Article Three? Judicial Branch

• Amend means to

add or change.

• So Amendments

are changes or

additions to the

Constitution.

• The first 10

amendments are

called the Bill of

Rights.

George Mason

Powers

• Right to veto any

law passed by

Congress

• Right to nominate

Federal Judges

The Executive Branch

Slavery

• South vs. the North

• South wanted slaves counted for purposes of

proportional representation.

• Increase the South’s representation in House of

Representatives.

• The North wanted slaves counted for purposes of

taxation.

• Ben Franklin committee decided to use the “three-

fifths” rule.

• For purposes of taxation and representation all free persons

would be counted along with “three-fifth’s” of all other

persons.

Slave Trade & Runaways

• Slave Trade

• Northerners and

Southerners agreed that

Congress would wait for 20

years before interfering with

the importation of slaves.

• Runaway Slaves

• Northerners also agreed that

states could not stop a

fugitive slave from being

returned to the owner.

Signing the Constitution

• Signed on September 17th , 1787

• Each state would hold a

convention to approve or reject

the Constitution.

• Once nine states approved it, the

Constitution would go into effect.

• First State to sign was

Delaware in 1787.

• Ninth state to sign was New

Hampshire in 1788.

• Last State to sign was Rhode

Island in 1790.

RatificationTwo sides debated

• Federalists-Supporters of the Constitution

• The Federalist Papers -Series of essays written by Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and James Madison

– Arguments for the Constitution

• Stronger National Government

• Better working government

• Anti-Federalists- People opposed to the Constitution

• Sam Adams (Sons of Liberty), Patrick Henry, George Mason

– Arguments against the Constitution

• Federal Govt. had too much power.

• No document of Civil Liberties (Rights)

Bill of Rights

• Even though the Anti-Federalists failed to stop

the Constitution from being ratified, they did

win approval for the addition of a Bill of Rights.

• James Madison submitted a list of rights to the new

Congress on June 8, 1789.

• Ten Amendments were approved on December 15,

1791 and they became known as the Bill of Rights.

• Remember that the Bill of Rights protects citizens

basic freedoms (Civil Liberties).