Successes under the Articles
Ratifying the Treaty of Paris, only after states gave up claims to western lands
Land Ordinance of 1785
- Grid system of surveying the northwest territory meant to encourage settlement and raise funds for Congress
- Divided the land into 36 sq mile townships
- Further divided in order to make it cheaper
- Plots of land sold for $1 per acre
- Encouraged people from all classes to move into this land
- One section per township is dedicated to public education
Northwest ordinance of 1787
- Created territories that will eventually become Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, MIchigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota
- Created a pathway to statehood
- 5,000 needed to elect a local government
- 60,000 needed to apply for statehood
- Bans slavery in northwest, making the Ohio River the boundary between free and slave states
- Private land ownership
Shay’s Rebellion
- Post-war economic conditions were not good
- Revolution crippled American shipping
- Flood of British goods
- States in debt from revolution
- Under pressure to repay
- In Massachusetts, eastern mercantile elite control governmental power and much of the funds
- Legislature increases taxes and creates a burden on farmers
- Daniel Shay has a War Bond from Congress, and plans to use it to repay his debt
- Government does not have any money, so cannot pay back bonds
- Tax was created based on how much land you owned
- Targets farmers instead of the richer bankers
- These measures grew into a full-scale revolt against bankers
- Go into courthouses and stop foreclosure proceedings on farmers in debt
- Congress does not have an army to fight back against the revolution
- Private army must be hired in order to stop the rebellion
Riot Act
- Allowed sheriffs to kill rioters who resisted capture
- Breaking point for support of the Articles of Confederation
Constitutional Convention
Philadelphia 1787
- 55 delegates, mostly merchants and slaveholding planters
- John Adams, Sam Adams, and Jefferson do not attend
- Met behind closed doors
- Dominated by nationalists who advocated for a stronger national government
Virginia Plan
- Developed by James Madison
- Rejected state sovereignty in favor of national authority
- Called for a national government established by the people, not the states
- 3 branches of government: legislative, executive, and judicial
- Called for a bicameral legislature
- Main dilemma: How to structure the amount of representatives per state
- Voters elect only the lower house while the lower house elects the upper house
- Executive and judiciary would be chosen by both houses of the legislature
New Jersey Plan
- Developed by William Paterson
- Keep the confederation, give Congress more power to regulate interstate activities, while leaving the states to control their own laws.
- 3 branches of government: legislative, executive, and judicial
- Each state has one vote in a unicameral Congress
- Executive of multiple people, elected by Congress
- Judiciary chosen by executive branch
The Great Compromise
- Developed by Roger Sherman of Connecticut
- 3 branches of government: legislative, executive, and judicial
- Bicameral legislature, with Senate and House of Representatives
- Senate has 2 legislators per state, elected by the state legislature
- House of Representatives has a number of legislators proportionate to its population
- Executive chosen by the electoral college
- Judiciary supreme court
- National government has more powers to regulate interstate laws
The Issue of Slavery
- Compromises on the issue of slavery
- Slave Trade Compromise: Congress does not have the immediate power to regulate slave trade for 20 years (until 1808)
- Fugitive Slave Clause: Allowed slave masters to reclaim slaves or indentured servants who fled to other states
- 3/5 Compromise: Southern states demanded that slaves be counted towards the population count for boosting amount of representatives in Congress
- Northern states refused, compromise made that 1 slave = 3/5 white person
Constitutional Principles
Separation of Powers
- 3 branches of government: legislative, executive, and judicial
- Makes sure that no single branch has too much power
Checks and Balances
- Each branch is empowered to limit the power of the other branches and share power
Federalism
- Governmental power is divided between federal and state governments
- Designed to ensure that the federal government does not become too powerful
Limited Government
- Governmental power is limited by law
- Cannot infringe on the rights of the people
Popular Sovereignty
- Government gets its power from the consent of the people
Republicanism
- Political philosophy that stresses inalienable rights and a rejection of monarchy
- Expectation is that citizens will be virtuous in performing their civic duties
- Corruption is shunned