A NEW NATION
8th Grade
A NEW NATION….
From May 25 until September 17, 1787, 55 delegates from
different states met in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, at the
Constitutional Convention.
The delegates had wanted to improve the Articles of
Confederation, under which the central government of the U.S.
did not have enough power to govern effectively.
 Instead of improving the Articles, the delegates ended up
creating the U.S. Constitution as a new framework of
government to replace the Articles.
DELEGATES SIGNING THE
CONSTITUTION…
THE GREAT COMPROMISE…. VA
 When discussing how the new government should be run,
delegates from the states began a series of debates
regarding the establishment and organization of the
legislature.
 The Virginia Plan called for a strong bicameral (twobody) legislative branch, with each state's representation
based on its population. It also planned to create executive
and judicial branches..
 The smaller states, however, felt that a population-based
legislature would not give them any real representation, so
New Jersey offered an alternative.
THE GREAT COMPROMISE…NJ AND CONN.
Under the New Jersey Plan, there would be a
unicameral (one-body) legislative branch with equal
representation among every state.
The disagreement was resolved by the
Connecticut Compromise, often called the
Great Compromise.
 This plan called for a bicameral legislative branch in which the
House of Representatives had state representation based on
population (to satisfy the large states) while the Senate had equal
state representation (to satisfy the small states).
THREE-FIFTHS COMPROMISE
The Three-fifths Compromise dealt with the
differences of opinions over representation.
 It also answered the question of whether slaves would be
counted as part of a state's population in the House of
Representatives.

 Delegates from the North and South disagreed as to whether slaves should be
counted in a state's population, since slaves did not have the rights of citizens.
 Northern delegates believed that slaves should not be counted as part of the
state's population because it would hugely increase the representation of
southern states in the House.
 The delegates compromised and determined that 3/5 of a state's slave
population would count toward its actual population.
COMMERCE COMPROMISE

The Commerce Compromise responded to the conflict between
Northerners—who wanted tariffs on imported goods in order to limit
foreign competition—and Southerners—who did not want tariffs, since
they depended on selling their cash crops overseas.
 The compromise determined that the government would be able to tax
imports but not exports, satisfying both parties.
SLAVE TRADE COMPROMISE

The northern and southern states were divided over the issue of
slavery.
 In the Slave Trade Ban Compromise, delegates agreed to prohibit
Congress from passing any laws banning the slave trade before 1808.
REPUBLICANISM

The concept of republicanism was important to the creation of the
new government in the United States.
 Republicanism can be defined as a concept of limited government in
which elected representatives serve at the will of the people.
 The basis for this idea is that the only legitimate government is one
based on the consent of the governed.
FEDERALISTS AND ANTI-FEDERALISTS
With the new Constitution increasing
power in the central government, many
felt that state governments and individuals
would not have any power themselves.
 Two political groups formed based on
whether the Constitution should be
ratified.
 The Federalists supported the
Constitution because it would create a
stronger federal government.
 The Anti-Federalists, on the other hand,
wanted states to have more power; they
opposed the Constitution because they
thought the federal government had too
much power.

FEDERALIST PAPERS….
 Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay supported the
Federalist viewpoint and anonymously wrote a set of 85 essays called
the Federalist Papers.
 These essays were published between October 1787 and August 1788
with the goal of explaining how the new government would work and
to convince Americans to ratify the Constitution.
 Federalists felt that the rights of individuals would be protected by the
constitutional provision of the separation of powers, which divided
the governmental power into three branches and gave each branch the
ability to check the other branches.
 This ability, known as checks and balances, would keep any one
branch from obtaining total power.
TOO MUCH POWER…

Anti-federalists did not support the Constitution because
they believed it gave the central government too much
power over states and individuals.
 They pointed out that, by making a federal government more
powerful than the state governments, any federal decision
would automatically cancel any state decision, meaning that the
states would have no real authority.
 In order to address these concerns, the Anti-Federalists
supported the addition of a bill of rights to the
Constitution, which would guarantee the rights and liberties of
individuals.
THE DIFFERENCE…
ELECTORAL COLLEGE
One way of resolving
concerns was by instituting
the Electoral College, in
which state electors chose the
president instead of having the
president elected directly.
 Through this process,
individual states would still
have influence, but most of the
delegates hoped that having
educated electors would
prevent a popular tyrant from
being elected by just gaining
votes from the masses.

http://www.archives.gov/federalregister/electoral-college/about.html
The United
States Electoral
College is the
institution that
officially elects the
President and Vice
President of the
United States every
four years. The
President and Vice
President are not
elected directly by
the voters.
BILL OF RIGHTS
Most concerns about a too-powerful central
government were addressed by the 1789
proposal to add a bill of rights to the
Constitution.
Made up of the first ten amendments to the
Constitution, the Bill of Rights limits the
powers of the U.S. government by guaranteeing
certain rights to individuals.
BP_BILL of Rights.

EARLY POLITICAL PARTIES….
The Federalist Period spans roughly the years from
1789 to 1801.
This time period was marked by the dominance of the
Federalist Party in American politics.
Though George Washington warned against the
divisiveness of political parties, the two-party system
would become a mainstay of the United States
government.
EARLY POLITICAL PARTIES- FEDERALISTS
The Federalists emerged in the 1790s
under Alexander Hamilton. Federalists
supported a strong central government
and believed in a broad interpretation of
the Constitution through the elastic
clause.
 Federalists also supported Hamilton in his creation of a
national bank and his desire for the U.S. to pay back its
debts from the Revolutionary War.
Federalists were supported by merchants
and traders who were encouraged by the
strong principles of the centralized
government.
DEMOCRATIC-REPULICANS
 The Democratic-Republicans, led by Thomas
Jefferson, were started as an opposition to the
Federalists.
 Supporting the needs and aspirations of yeoman
farmers, Democratic Republicans supported
farmers rather than merchants.
 Democratic-Republicans supported a weak
national government that left the states to make
major decisions, and they believed in a narrow
interpretation of the Constitution.
 They opposed the creation of a national bank and
many other issues that Alexander Hamilton
supported.
IMPORTANT EVENTS AND ISSUESJUDICIARY ACT OF 1789
 This act set up the
national court system, which is
made up of circuit courts,
district courts, and the Supreme
Court, according to the
Constitution.
 In establishing a federal court
system, there was a way for
federal laws to be enforced at
the state level.
 Also, the act asserted that
federal judicial power was
http://www2.maxwell.syr.edu/plegal/scales/cour
superior to that of the states. t.html
PRESIDENT WASHINGTON'S
PROCLAMATION OF NEUTRALITY,
1793
 With the breakout of war
between France and Great
Britain in 1793, the United States
found itself in a difficult diplomatic
position because it had signed the
Treaty of Alliance with France in
1778.
 Even though the U.S. had signed this
agreement, the U.S. chose not to
participate in the war.
 George Washington issued the
Proclamation of Neutrality, and the
United States did not help either side.
JAY'S TREATY, 1794
 Tensions between the U.S. and Great Britain increased in
the mid-1790s due to the continuing conflict between
France and Great Britain.
 The British had started pursuing a policy known
as impressments, which mean they would capture
American ships and make the sailors fight in
their navy.
 To keep the peace, President Washington sent
Chief
Justice John Jay to London in order to negotiate
with the British.
JAY’S TREATY CONTINUED…
 During the negotiations, the
British agreed to withdraw
their troops from the
Northwest Territory, which
would reinforce the boundaries
agreed upon in the Treaty
of Paris at the end of the
Revolution.
 In return, the U.S. would have
to pay debts that were owed
to British merchants from
before the American
Revolution.
PINCKNEY'S TREATY, 1895
Jay's Treaty was incredibly unpopular with the American
people.
It also upset other countries, such as Spain, who thought
that it meant a U.S.-British alliance was on the horizon.
As a result, Spain made their own treaty with United
States.
In Pinckney's Treaty, Spain gave the U.S. the right to sail
the Mississippi River and to use the port at New
Orleans.
They also agreed to give the U.S. lands in
western Florida.
WHISKEY REBELLION, 1794
 In 1791, Congress passed a tax on whiskey made in the
United States.
 Many farmers in western Pennsylvania grew grain that
was used to make whiskey and also distilled it.
 They thought the tax was unfair and refused to pay
it. In 1794, riots broke out.
 The federal government sent militia to Pennsylvania to
stop the riots.
 This was the first time that the federal government had
to use force in order to make sure that its laws were
being followed.
PRESIDENT WASHINGTON'S FAREWELL
ADDRESS, 1796
 Before George Washington retired
from the presidency in 1797, he wrote
a letter to the American people
detailing how he believed the country
should run.
 One of Washington's main arguments
was that the country should not enter
into extended treaties or
agreements with other countries.
 This could be done by avoiding foreign
wars that did not directly impact the
United States.
FARWELL ADDRESS… CONTINUED
Another important point that
Washington made in his address was
that the two major political
parties in the U.S. should try to get
along better.
He knew the parties did not agree
on many issues, and he believed this
would cause problems in the future.
He said in his letter that Americans
should try to unite for the good of
the country.
CREATION OF THE NAVY
DEPARTMENT, 1797
 In the late 1790s, tensions grew between the
United States and France because the French began
seizing U.S. ships.
 In 1797, the U.S. sent diplomats to France in order
to negotiate continued peace between the two
countries.
 The French, however, were upset following antiFrench remarks made by U.S. President John
Adams.
The French Minister of
Foreign Affairs,
demanded millions
RESULT OF XYZ…
The French demanded that Adams apologize
and that the U.S. pay a bribe of $250,000.
This event, known as the XYZ Affair, angered
the American government.
As a result, the United States began to increase
its defense spending, creating the Navy
Department and building up the army.
 Though there was never a formal declaration of war, the U.S.
armed forces increased as a result of the tensions.
ALIEN AND SEDITION ACTS, 1798
In 1798, Congress passed four laws known as the Alien
and Sedition Acts, which were directed at the
Democratic-Republican party and its supporters.
The Alien Act increased the number of years required
to live in the U.S. before becoming a U.S. citizen from five
years to 14.
The Sedition Act made it illegal for U.S. citizens to say
or write critical remarks about the government.
http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h463.html
ALIEN AND SEDATION
ACT…CONTINUED….
 Thomas Jefferson and James Madison wrote papers that
protested these acts.They argued that states had a right to
declare them null and void. In response, the state legislatures
of Kentucky and Virginia passed resolutions saying they
could declare federal laws null and void.
 The Federalists did not agree with the Kentucky and Virginia
Resolutions because they thought only the Supreme Court
could declare a law unconstitutional.
 This issue of state power vs. national power was not
resolved until later.
ELECTION OF 1800….
 Before 1804, the president was elected by having the most
electoral votes, and the person with the second-most
votes became vice president. I
 n 1800, Thomas Jefferson and his running mate Aaron
Burr received the same number of votes, with current
President John Adams coming in third and losing the
election.
 The Federalist-dominated House of Representatives, which
then had the right to select the president, almost elected
Aaron Burr in order to deny the presidency to Thomas
Jefferson.
 They eventually voted to elect Jefferson after Alexander
Hamilton convinced them that Burr was a worse choice.
 In 1804, the 12th Amendment was passed, separating
the voting for president and vice president.
MARBURY V. MADISON, 1803
 At the end of John Adams' term, he appointed his supporters to positions as
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judges and court officers.They were called "Midnight Judges."
They did not receive their documentation to begin their positions before Adams
left office, however.
Newly elected President Jefferson instructed Secretary of State James
Madison not to give the appointees their papers.
One appointee, William Marbury, sued Madison for his papers.
The case, Marbury v. Madison, made it to the Supreme Court in 1803.There,
Chief Justice John Marshall stated the opinion that the Court did not have the
power to make Madison give Marbury his papers.
The Court ruled that the part of the Judiciary Act of 1789 that granted the
Court the power to do so was unconstitutional. It was the first time the
Supreme Court declared an act of Congress unconstitutional.
LOUISIANA PURCHASE, 1803
In 1803, the United States acquired the Louisiana
Territory from France.
This territorial acquisition more than doubled the
size of the U.S. Because the Constitution did not
specifically give the president the power to purchase
territory, there were doubts about whether the
Louisiana Purchase was legal.
Jefferson decided, however, that it was in the nation's
best interest to buy the territory.
EMBARGO ACT, 1807
 At the time of the Embargo Act of 1807, Great Britain and France
were fighting in a war, and both countries wanted to restrict trade
with the other country.
 Both countries said they would attack ships heading to their enemy's
ports.
 The United States, which had been exporting goods to both
countries, passed the Embargo Act, prohibiting American exports to
all foreign ports.
 The U.S. hoped this act would keep them out of the war between
Great Britain and France.The act hurt American businesses, however,
and was lifted in favor of the Non-Intercourse Act, which allowed
American exports to all countries except Great Britain and France.