Confederation to
Constitution
Chapter 8.1: The Confederation
Era

Moving West
In 1775, Daniel Boone and 30 woodsmen cut
a road over the Appalachian Mountains into
Kentucky
This trail, Wilderness Road, became the main
road to Kentucky
What drew settlers to Kentucky?
Describe the tensions that began to rise.
New State Governments

While settlers headed into the Western
territories and people in the East began to
create new state governments
…New State Governments
Each state began to create their own
government
 The framers did not want to destroy the
political systems they had had as colonies,
they simply wanted to make those
systems more democratic

Describe the kinds of governments the new
states created for themselves.
What is a republic?
The Articles of Confederation
While the states were setting up their
governments, Americans also discussed
the form of their national government.
 1776 – the Continental Congress began to
develop a plan for national government

What issues divided the Congress?
The Continental Congress eventually arrived at a
final plan, The Article of Confederation!
The Articles of Confederation

The National Government had few powers
Why??
Each state only had one vote in Congress
 The national government had the power
to wage war, make peace, sign treaties,
and issue money.

What powers under the Articles of
Confederation were left up to the state?
Articles of Confederation
Continental Congress passed the Articles
in November 1777
 They then sent it to the states to be
ratified
 In July 1778, eight states had ratified the
Articles
 Some of the small states refused to sign it

Why?
The U.S. Finally Has an Official
Government
What led to the Articles finally being ratified?

In 1781, Maryland became the 13th state
to accept the Article of Confederation
The Northwest Ordinance
The Land Ordinance of 1785 called for
surveyors to stake out six mile-square
plots, called townships, in the Western
lands
 The Northwest Territory included land that
formed the states Ohio, Indiana, Michigan,
Illinois, and Wisconsin (and part of
Minnesota)

What is a Township?
…Northwest Ordinance

The Northwest Ordinance described how the
Territory would be governed
Describe how the western territories were
governed under the Northwest Ordinance
Why was the Northwest Ordinance important
to the growth of the United States?
Weaknesses of the Articles
By the end of the Revolutionary War, the
United States faced serious problems, and
the Confederation Congress did not have
enough power to solve them
 Describe why debt was a critical problem
for the national government.

Shays’s Rebellion
People throughout the nation were facing
hard times
 Massachusetts, 1780’s – people had little
money, but the state continued to levy, or
collect, high taxes

…Shays’s Rebellion

The average family taxes - $200/year
This was more than most farmers made in a
year

Many farmers fell deeply
into debt and debt laws
at the time were strict
Describe the process for
anyone who could not pay
of their debt.
…Shays’s Rebellion
Farmers asked the
Massachusetts
legislature to provide
debt relief
 The legislature refused…
and the farmers rebelled
 Daniel Shays
commanded a group of
1500 men

Shays’s Rebellion
January 1787 – Shays and
his men marched on a
federal arsenal
 900 state militia defending
the arsenal quickly
defeated Shays’s men
 Even though the militia put
down the uprising, the
farmers won the sympathy
of many people

Danger For a Nation
How did Shays’s Rebellion point out the
weaknesses of government under the
Articles of Confederation?
 Describe how some leaders hoped that the
nation’s ills could be solved.

8.2 – Creating the Constitution
A Constitutional Convention is
Called
September 1786 – Five delegates met in
Annapolis, Maryland, to discuss ways to promote
trade among the states
 Delegates believed that creating national trade
laws would help the economies of all the states
 Alexander Hamilton called the states to send
representatives to Philadelphia

What would making these changes require?
What events encouraged leaders to call a
Constitutional Convention?
The Conventions Delegates

1787 – 12 States send delegates to the
Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia
Who were some of the key delegates?
Who was not at the Constitutional
Convention?
Constitutional Convention

The convention did not reflect the
diversity of the U.S. population
Which groups of Americans were not
represented at the convention?
The Delegates Assemble

Most delegates arrived at the Convention
without a clear idea of what to expect
– Some thought they would draft amendments
– Others thought they would design an entirely
new plan for government

It became clear that it was necessary
government was necessary to maintain
order
What challenges did the delegates face?
The Convention Begins

First order of business – elect a president
for the convention
Who did the delegates elect?
Why?
The Convention Begins
The delegates decided on the rules for the
convention
 They decided that their discussions would
remain secret…Shhhh!

Why?
The Virginia Plan
First Speaker – Edmund Randolph
 He offered a plan for a whole new
government – the Virginia Plan
 The plan was drawn up by Madison,
Randolph, and other Virginian delegates

The Virginia Plan
Virginia Plan
Legislature
Population
Population
Executive
Judiciary
New Jersey Plan

In response to the Virginia Plan, New
Jersey delegate, New
William
Paterson,
Jersey Plan
presented an alternative
– The New Jersey Plan
 Legislature with only one house
Judiciary
Legislature
Executive
 In it, each state would have one vote
What was the New Jersey Plan similar to?
1 Vote
The Great Compromise
•After more than a week of arguing,
Great compromise
the convention passed
the
Compromise on July 16, 1787
Legislature
Population
Executive
Equal
number
Of votes
Judiciary
Slavery and the Constitution
Because representation in the House of
Representative would be based on the
population of each state, the delegates had to
decide who would be counted in that population
 Southerners – wanted slaves to be counted in
population, but not for taxation
 Northerners – slaves were not citizens, should
not be counted as part of population, but for
taxation

Three-Fifths Compromise

Explain the compromise
– Three-fifths of slave population would be
counted when setting direct taxes on the
states
– Three-fifths would be used to determine
representation in the legislature
How did the states compromise over the issue
of slave trade?
Regulating Trade
Constitution placed few limits on
Congress’s power “to regulate commerce
with foreign nations, and among the
states, and with Indian tribes.”
 No tax on exports
 Ratification begins

8.3 Ratifying the Constitution
Federalists and Anti-federalists

The framers suspected that the people
might be afraid the Constitution would
take too much power away from the
states. The framers explained that the
Constitution was based on federalism
– What is federalism?
– What were people called that supported the
Constitution?
– What were people called that didn’t supported
the Constitution?
The Federalist Papers

The series of essays
written to defend the
Constitution were
called the Federalist
Papers
– Who wrote the
Federalist Papers?
Debate Over Ratification of the
Constitution
Anti-Federalist
Arguments
Federalist Response
1. The Constitution gives
1. Separation of powers divides the
the national government too powers of the national govt. into 3
much power
branches and a system of checks and
balances prevents any one branch from
being too powerful
2. The Constitution takes
too much power away from
the states
2. The Constitution is based on the
system of federalism
3. There is no bill of rights
to protect the individual
liberties of the people
3. Promised to add a bill of rights as
soon as the Constitution was ratified
The Battle for Ratification

Nine states had to ratify the Constitution for it to
go into effect
– Who was the first state to ratify?
– Who was the ninth state to ratify so the Constitution
went into effect?

Two very important states had no yet ratified
– Which two states?
– Why was it important that each state ratify the
Constitution?
The Battle for Ratification

Name two important Virginians who
opposed the Constitution
– Why did they opposed ratification of the
Constitution?
George Mason
Patrick Henry
The Bill of Rights
In 1791, ten amendments were added to
the Constitution. The first ten
amendments to the U.S. Constitution
became know as what?
 Who wrote them?

James Madison