Consider: What were some of the major causes
(real or perceived) of the American Revolution?
 Homework: Read Wilson (28-39)
 Read ahead? Federalist Essays, Woll for Monday
Independence, Confederation,
Convention
THE ARTICLES OF
CONFEDERATION AND THE
FRAMERS’ DILEMMA
AP GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS:
CHAPTER 2
HOMEWORK: WILSON (28-39)
Steps to the Constitution
 Declaration of Independence
 The Articles of Confederation
 The Mt. Vernon meeting
 The Annapolis Convention – the Lee Resolution
The Declaration of Independence
 Section 2: Declaration of Natural Rights
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they
are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among
these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights,
governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the
consent of the governed.
That whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends, it is
the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new
government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its
powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety
and happiness.
Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established should not be
changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath
shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable,
than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are
accustomed.
But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same
object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their
right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new
guards for their future security. –
 What elements of Locke’s philosophy are evident in this section?
The Articles of Confederation
- A plan for national government drafted in 1777to bring order to the nation
- Fully went into effect in 1781
 Describe the type of government
that existed under the AoC.
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Branches of government
 Why/how did each of these aspects
weaken the AoC?
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No ability to levy taxes or regulate
commerce
One vote in Congress for each state
9/13 votes needed for any measure,
unanimity needed for amendments
Delegates picked by state legislatures
No national executive or judiciary
All sovereignty and independence
retained by states
A Return to the Articles
 For these reasons, it has become accepted knowledge
that the Articles of Confederation failed, and led to the
adoption of a constitution which created a stronger
central government…
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but some today contend that a return to this document might solve
some of our current problems…
The Dilemma
 At this point, what did many people in the United States
realize?
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What was the dilemma that the Framers faced in trying to correct this
problem?
 Madison, in Federalist 37…
“It has been shown in these papers, …the existing Confederation is
founded on principles which are fallacious; … It has been shown, that the
other confederacies which could be consulted as precedents have been
vitiated (reduced in value) by the same erroneous principles, and can
therefore furnish no other light than that of beacons, which give warning
of the course to be shunned, without pointing out that which ought to be
pursued. The most that the convention could do in such a situation, was
to avoid the errors suggested by the past experience of other countries, as
well as of our own; and to provide a convenient mode of rectifying their
own errors, …
Among the difficulties encountered by the convention, a very important one
must have lain in combining the requisite stability and energy in
government, with the inviolable attention due to liberty and to the
republican form.”
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Mindset of the Framers
 What was the mandate given to the delegates sent to
Philadelphia in 1787?
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Why did they choose to exceed that mandate?
Was this necessary? How might we have responded to the
nature of the convention in today’s society?
 Did the Convention exceed its authority?
 How do you begin to answer such a question?
 If the Convention did exceed its authority, should it
have anyway?
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Does it matter whether the Convention acted beyond the
powers given to it?