Do Now
 Brainstorm what type of government you would
want to put in place in 1776
 Imagine you’re from that time
 Strong or weak government?
 Democracy? Monarchy? Oligarchy?
 Who gets to vote? What powers should the states
have?
Main Ideas
 Fear of monarchy and tyranny
 Limit central government
 Emphasis on state sovereignty
 Unicameral Legislature (One House Congress)
 Each state gets 1 vote
 Written in 1777, ratified in 1781
 Was used even before ratification
 Government was needed to fight Revolutionary War
 Needed 9 out of 13 states to pass a bill
(Supermajority)
 Unanimous vote to change the Articles
 “firm league of friendship” among states
Strengths
 Treaty of Paris 1863 signed
 Had the power to declare war and peace
 Print money (not standard throughout colonies)
 Make treaties
 Settle state disputes
 (no way to enforce them)
How should the US add
more states?
 Once again, think about how new states should be
added to the United States.
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Should they be added?
What are the requirements?
Slave or free?
Make existing states bigger?
Western Lands
 Land
Ordinance of
1785
 Land in west
set up into 6
mile blocks
Northwest Ordinance
 How could a territory become a state?
 5,000 males
 Own 50 acres
 Can start a government
 Population of 60,000 could become a state
 Promised
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No slavery
Education
Freedom of religion
Trial by jury
What was the Northwest?
Weaknesses
 Congress couldn’t collect taxes
 Depended on states
 Couldn’t pay war debts
 Couldn’t pay Continental soldiers
 Congress couldn’t regulate foreign or state trade
 Could print money but so could the states
 No common currency: trade down in federal, state and
foreign money
 Merchants were able to decided which currency they’d
accept
 Laws needed a supermajority (9 out of 13 states) to pass
 Hard to get
 No court system
 Could establish military – but was not allowed to raise
money
 States acted as countries
 Looked out for their own best interests
 Congress could not enforce laws
 One vote per state gave smaller states more power
Shays’ Rebellion
 Western Massachusetts
 Economic depression
 Daniel Shays – Revolutionary War veteran
 Farmers must pay debt in gold
 Not paid during war
 Farmers are poor
 Don’t own land, rent land
 No say in Massachusetts legislature
Acts of Rebellion
 Farmers free debtors from prison
 Close courts that are hearing cases against farmers
 Mass militia called to stop
Legacy of Shays’
 Maybe the United States needs a stronger central
government?
 If you were a politician at the time, what would your
reaction to Shays’ Rebellion be?
 Think, write,
 Discuss as a class
Reactions to Shay’s
 Sam Adams
 “Rebellion against a king may be pardoned, or
lightly punished, but the man who dares to rebel
against the laws of a republic ought to suffer death”
 Riot Laws – prohibits more than 12 people from
gathering
 Gives government power to shoot rioters
 Same guy from Boston Massacre?
 Thomas Jefferson
 "A little rebellion now and then is a good thing. It is
a medicine necessary for the sound health of
government. God forbid that we should ever be
twenty years without such a rebellion."
 George Washington
 “if three years ago any person had told me that at this
day, I should see such a formidable rebellion against
the laws & constitutions of our own making as now
appears I should have thought him a bedlamite - a fit
subject for a mad house.” He wrote that if the
government “shrinks, or is unable to enforce its laws . .
. anarchy & confusion must prevail.”
Issues that had to be addressed
after Revolutionary War
 Shay’s Rebellion
 Trade with foreign countries
 Foreign relations
 Countries that had been established and had allies for
hundreds of years, America was brand new
 Relationship between states
 Competition
 No central government to enforce anything