This Lesson’s Essential
Question:
Why were the Articles of
Confederation unable to provide
an effective plan of government
for the United States?
Lesson 8.1a: The Articles
of Confederation
Today we will
analyze the
Articles of
Confederation.
Vocabulary
• republican – form of government in which
people elect the people who govern them
• bill – a written paper or list containing a
statement of details or facts
• constitution – a written outline of government
• establish – create or set up
• ordinance – a law
Check for Understanding
• What is today’s Essential Question?
• Do Democrats have republican beliefs?
• What does it mean if the city council
establishes an ordinance against raising
chickens in your backyard?
What We Already Know
The Enlightenment
spread the ideas that
people had rights that
came from God and that
governments should
exist to protect those
rights.
John Locke
What We Already Know
For eight years, the
United States fought a
bitter war against a
government that
threatened those rights.
What We Already Know
During the Revolutionary War, the
Continental Congress had served as the
government for the United States.
Read aloud with me:
Once the American colonies declared
independence, each of the states had to
create its own government.
New State Governments
• What is a constitution?
• Wanted political systems
to be more democratic
New State Governments
Separate branches
keep the government
from becoming too
powerful.
New State Governments
• Tried to weaken the
executive branch
(enforces the laws)
• Short terms of office
New State Governments
Some states abolished slavery.
New State Governments
• Some state constitutions had a bill of rights.
New State Governments
• All states had a
republican form of
government.
• Pattern for the U.S.
Constitution
Get your whiteboards
and markers ready!
1. What effect did state governments
have on national politics?
A. They provided a pattern for the U.S.
Constitution.
B. They abolished slavery everywhere.
C. They created constitutions that
contained bills of rights.
D. They demanded that Congress
repeal the Northwest Ordinance.
What form of government did all
the new states create?
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
republican
democratic
parliamentary
magisterial
bureaucratic
2. Why did most of the new state
constitutions create governments
with separate branches?
A. It was the way government had been
organized back in England.
B. Separate branches would make the
governments strong and effective.
C. Each branch could operate independently
of the other two.
D. They wanted to prevent those governments from becoming too powerful.
Track with me as I read:
During the Revolutionary War, each
state was independent, with a
republican form of government.
The war showed the need for the
states to work together.
This idea of “united we stand,
divided we fall” carried on after
independence was won.
In 1776, the Continental Congress began to
develop a plan for a national government.
• Government should be a republic
• Based on the British Parliament
The Articles of Confederation
Final plan called the Articles of Confederation
The first American government was
intentionally made weak by a people that had
fought a desperate war for freedom against a
powerful and abusive government.
The Articles of Confederation
• Government only had
a legislative branch,
the Congress.
• One vote in Congress
per state, regardless
of size
• No executive branch
to enforce its laws.
The most important powers were
left to the states.
• to set taxes
• to enforce
national laws
Congress could only . . .
•
•
•
•
wage war and make peace
sign treaties w/other countries
issue money
govern Western lands
Get your whiteboards
and markers ready!
3. Who had the
most powers under
the Articles of
Confederation?
A. the national
government
B. the state
governments
C. Federalists
D. republicans
4. What was the United States
Congress modeled after?
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
the German Reichstag
the British Parliament
the French Estates General
the Russian Duma
the Spanish Diet
The Problem of Western Land
Some of the
smaller states
refused to ratify
(approve) the
Articles of
Confederation.
The Problem of Western Lands
• Wanted the
national
government to
control the
western states
• Western lands
could be sold
to pay debts
left from the
Revolution.
The Problem of Western Lands
Larger states
agreed to give
up title to the
western lands.
The Land Ordinance of 1785
Set up the way
the Northwest
Territory would
be settled
The Land Ordinance of 1785
• Six-mile square
townships
• One square-mile
section of land
sold to provide
money for
schools
• First national
government
support for public
education
The Northwest Ordinance
• Described how the
Northwest Territory was
to be governed
• With 60,000 people, they
could apply to become a
new state.
• N.W.O. set a pattern for
the orderly growth of the
United States.
N.W.O. banned slavery in the Northwest
Territory.
N.W.O. guaranteed religious freedom.
Get your whiteboards
and markers ready!
5. What issues affected the Western
territories between 1775 and 1787?
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
Who would control the territories
How to divide western lands
Making peace with the Indians
How to settle the western lands
How to buy more land from
foreign countries
Choose all that are true!
6. What did the Land Ordinance
of 1785 do?
A. Townships were established in the
Northwest Territory.
B. Each township was a six-mile square (36 sq.
miles).
C. One square-mile section was set aside to
earn money for schools.
D. Slavery was banned in all townships.
Choose the one that is NOT true!
7. What did the Northwest
Ordinance do?
A. It outlined when the territories
could govern themselves.
B. It established settlers' rights to
religious freedom.
C. It set a pattern for the orderly
growth of the United States.
D. It allowed Congress to purchase
land from Mexico.
E. It banned slavery in the Northwest
Territory.
Choose the one that is NOT true!
Weaknesses of the Articles
• Revolutionary War debt
was a critical problem
for the government.
• Congress had borrowed
money to pay the
Continental soldiers.
Weaknesses of the Articles
• Several hundred unpaid
soldiers surrounded Congress
in June 1783.
• Threatened by the soldiers,
Congressmen were forced to
flee the city.
• Clear sign of Congress’s
weakness
Weaknesses of the Articles
• No power to tax under
the Articles
• Congress depended on
the states to send money,
but very little was sent.
Weaknesses of the Articles
• Ordinary people also
faced hard times.
• In Massachusetts, the
people rose up in arms
against the
government.
Get your whiteboards
and markers ready!
8. What were the strengths of the
Articles of Confederation?
A. They empowered Congress to make
treaties.
B. They empowered Congress to enforce laws.
C. They empowered Congress to levy and
collect taxes and regulate trade.
D. They left important powers to the states.
E. They created a powerful chief executive to
run the government.
Choose all that are true!
8. What were the weaknesses of the
Articles of Confederation?
A. Congress had no power to enforce laws,
collect taxes, or regulate trade.
B. They withheld important powers from the
states.
C. They lacked a chief executive to run the
government.
D. They contained a limited bill of rights.
E. They were difficult for the states to amend.
Choose all that are true!
The government’s weakness
led to violence.
• In Massachusetts, farmers who could not pay
their tax debts lost their land and were jailed.
• In 1787, about 1500 farmers rebelled.
This rebellion
was led by a
revolutionary war
veteran named
Daniel Shays.
Shays’ rebels kept judges from
ruling against debtors.
In January 1787,
the rebels attacked
a federal arsenal to
get weapons.
900 Massachusetts militia
defended the arsenal.
The militia defeated them, killing four
protesters, but they many Americans
sympathized with the rebels.
• Congress saw that an uprising of common
farmers was a serious national danger.
• Some hoped that strengthening the national
government might solve the problem.
Get your whiteboards
and markers ready!
Why was the Confederation
Congress not able to pay the
soldiers who fought during the
Revolutionary War?
A. It still owed too much money to
France and Spain.
B. The Constitution prohibited cash
payments to the military.
C. The government was bankrupt after
buying Louisiana from France.
D. It did not have the power to levy taxes.
9. What caused
Shays’
Rebellion?
A. A slave rebellion in
North Carolina
B. Seizure of land from
Massachusetts farmers
who couldn’t pay their
debts
C. Government failure to
provide Kentucky
settlers with protection
from Indian attacks
D. Rebellious Continental
soldiers who hadn't
been paid for their
service