
Review: In what ways were the Articles an
example of good government?

Activator: In what ways were the Articles of
Confederation an insufficient structure of
government?

Watch the C9 review lecture:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Van6Tfsd
vpk

Complete part III of your ID’s and
Descriptions

Quiz on Wednesday; Test next Tuesday!
Daniel Shays’s Rebellion

“Clumsy” Congress/Legislative
 Single vote system disadvantaged more populous
states
 9/13 votes needed to pass a law (nearly impossible)
 Unanimous decision to ratify (impossible)

No executive
 Could not command, coerce, control; only advise,
advocate, appeal

Limited judiciary (left to states)

No power to regulate commerce
 Left states to freely establish different and
conflicting laws r.e. tariffs and navigation
“Easy” states lowered tariff to draw foreign trade

Could not enforce taxes
 Established tax “quota” and asked states to
contribute on voluntary basis

Nobody likes U.S.
 Britain’s Lord Sheffield says, let them come to us; enforced Navigation
Laws, restricted trade w/W. Indies
 Spain challenged Americans on Southern, Western frontier
 France demanded repayment of debts and restricted trade w/ W.
Indies

Pirates!
 Dey of Algiers attacked, enslaved American traders in Mediterranean

Broke as a… Shays’
 States refused to enact taxes and pay revenues
 States levied taxes on neighbors
 States issued “rag money,” causing inflation

Read textbook account of Shays’ rebellion
(from Brinkley, rival of Pageant).

Close reading:
 What happened in Shays’ Rebellion?
 How is Shays’ rebellion connected to the Articles?
 According to Brinkley, how did Americans
respond?


Read Jefferson’s letter
Close reading:
 Why might Jefferson oppose having a strong central




government?
Why would the idea of poor farmers rebelling be scary to
many of the people at the Constitutional Convention?
Do you find Jefferson’s metaphor of the “tree of liberty”
convincing? Explain.
How does the letter challenge or expand the textbook
account?
Why might many textbooks make it seem like everyone
wanted a strong central government after Shays’
Rebellion?

Exposed the Articles of Confederation as
weak for establishing a central government
that could not respond to economic and
social crises.

Influenced the “framers,” or delegates who
attended the Constitutional Convention in
Philadelphia, 1787.