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Chapter 5- Shaping a New
Nation
Bennett 2018-2019
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Main Idea
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Americans adopted the Articles of Confederation but soon
found that it was too weak to solve the nation’s problem.

Articles of Confederation= our first government
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Debate over the new government
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No true central government
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The states had previously operated like independent
countries.

Only ties were winning the war
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States had all the power. Now they would be asked to give up
power.
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NO ONE WILLINGLY GIVES UP POWER!
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Continental Congress was successful at managing the war effort
but now what?
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Had no experience running a country
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Debates at the Continental
Congress
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How would representation in the new government be determined?

Representation: # of reps = votes. Votes = power

What powers would the national government have and what powers
would the states retain?

How to settle newly acquired lands west of the Appalachian Mts.
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States were very different at the time and still are today:
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Big states vs. little states
Populated states vs. non-populated states
Wealthy states vs. poor states
Slave states vs. free states.
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Articles of Confederation
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The document that set up the new government.

Confederation = an alliance of the states.
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National government under the AOC
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Powers:
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Declare war
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Make peace
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Sign treaties
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Borrow money
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Set standards for coins and measures
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Establish post offices
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Deal with Native Americans
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National government under the AOC

No power to:
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Create or collect taxes
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Coin money
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Fund an army or navy
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Enforce laws (no executive branch)
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Interpret laws (no judicial branch)
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Regulate interstate or foreign trade
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Northwest Ordinance of 1787
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A way to decide how to govern lands west of the
Appalachian mts.
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Congress would appoint governors and judges
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When 5,000 voting residents settled, they could write a
temporary constitution.
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When they reached 60,000 they could write their own state
constitution, which if approved by Congress would grant
them statehood.
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*Provided a way for the country to expand.
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Shay’s Rebellion- 1786
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Daniel Shays- veteran of the Revolutionary War
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Farmer, in debt (faced debtor’s prison)
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1,200 indebted farmers marched towards a federal arsenal in
Springfield, Mass.

State officials called out militia
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4 people killed.
Showed that the government LACKED POWER TO
ENFORCE LAWS
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Shay’s Rebellion
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George Washington saw this an example of why we
needed a stronger and more powerful national
government.
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George Washington- Shay’s Rebellion Primary Source

What does Washington say will happen if the government is
unable to enforce its laws?
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Why a new government?
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Articles Of Confederation were weak- could not raise an army,
could not tax citizens.
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Britain and other European nations were still a threat.
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Government could not raise money
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States had all the power.
Washington and Hamilton thought a stronger national government
was necessary to protect itself. Remember, Britain and France are at
this point much stronger countries than we were in the late 1700s.
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Creating the Constitution
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Constitutional Convention
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Philadelphia, Pennsylvania- 1787- original goal to make changes to
the AOC
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Objective- to have a government that would protect life, liberty,
and property.
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Problems from history- Madison studied other governments and
concluded that no one government was perfect. They felt that
Confederations of states were too weak to govern and collapsed from
internal dissention. And stronger governments trampled on
individual liberties.
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The Constitutional Convention:
Agreements and Compromises
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States sent 55 delegates to Philadelphia.
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Chose George Washington to preside over the meetings.
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Each state would have one vote on all decisions.
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Public and press were prohibited from attending.
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Agreed on representative government with 3 branches and to limit
power of the states to coin money. (Separation of Powers)
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The Virginia Plan
Strong national legislature with two houses, upper and lower.
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Number of legislators per state would vary based on population.
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Strong executive, chosen by national legislature.
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National judiciary, chosen by the legislature.
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Smaller states opposed this plan because they wanted a less powerful
government with more independence for the states.
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The New Jersey Plan
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Small state counterproposal to Virginia Plan.
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Wanted a unicameral legislature with one vote for each state.
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Nation would continue as a confederation of states.
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Bitter debate between big states and small states almost brought an end to
the convention.
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The Great Compromise
Bicameral legislature.
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House would be based on population
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Senate equal representation.
Electoral college would determine the Presidency.
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Disputes over Slavery
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Many Northern states wanted to abolish slavery
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Southern states would not accept the new government if it
interfered with slavery.
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Resolution- no mention of slavery in the Constitution.
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How to count enslaved persons in matters of taxation and
representation in congress.
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3/5 Compromise- only 3/5 were to be counted for tax purposes
and representation. Would last until 1868.
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Convention part II
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Did not revise the articles, created an entire new government unlike
any before it.
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Key questions facing the framers:
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What powers do the states retain?
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What powers should the federal government get?
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What about slavery?
All these questions would be solved the way politics is still conducted
today------Compromise!
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Did the constitution set up a
democracy?
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In short, no, they created a Republic or a government in
which elected representatives make the decisions.
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Created some democracy (House of Representatives), left
many issues to the states (federalism).
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Federalism- government authority shared by national
and state governments.
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Who’s got the POWER? And how is it
restricted? Article 1-Section 8
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Enumerated powers- powers given to the national/federal
government alone.
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Reserved powers- powers given to the states alone.
Protected by the 10th Amendment.
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Concurrent powers- powers shared by the national and
state governments.
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State Governments
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States’ Rights
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Anti-federalists were concerned the new federal government
under the constitution would have too much power. They pushed
a bill of rights and more state control over laws.
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So the Constitution established a system called federalism
where the power is shared between the national government
and the states governments.
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All of the federal government’s powers are listed in Article 1,
Section 8 of the Constitution. These are called the enumerated
powers.
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Anything not listed here is a power that is left to the individual
states to decide. These are called the reserved powers.
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Reserved Powers
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Checks and Balances
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Separation of powers- constitutional authority is shared by
three different branches of government.
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Theory proposed by the political philosopher Montesquieu.
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Each branch would keep the other from becoming too
powerful.
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This would be a response to factions- a group with a distinct
political interest.
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Can ____________
Presidents
_______
Can ______
laws
Can declare _______
unconstitutional
Appoints
________
Can declare act (laws) _______________________
Can _______________ and remove ____________
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Legislative Branch
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Article I describes the legislative branch, aka the Congress.
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Includes:
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separation of powers,
checks and balances,
the election of representatives and senators,
the process by which laws are made, and
the powers that Congress has.
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Section 8
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Enumerated Powers- All the powers Congress has.
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Elastic Clause- stretches the power of Congress to make all
laws “necessary and proper.”
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Federalism
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Power in the governments rests in both the national and state
governments.
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Citizen of both the United States and New York State.
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National government is supposed to be limited in scope to
certain “Enumerated Powers.”
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Why?
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States needed to retain powers or they would never accept or
ratify the new Constitution.
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Why Federalism?
 The
Framers were dedicated to the concept of
limited government. They were convinced…
 The governmental power poses a threat to
individual liberty
 That therefore the exercise of governmental
power must be restrained, and
 That to divide governmental power, as
federalism does, is to curb it and prevent its
abuse.
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Federalism Defined
 Federalism
is a system of government in which a
written constitution divides the powers of
government on a territorial basis between a central,
or national, government and several regional
governments, usually called states or provinces.
 The Constitution provides for
a division of powers,
assigning certain powers to the National
Government and certain powers to the States.
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Powers
of the National
Government
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The National Government is a government of delegated powers,
meaning that it only has those powers delegated (granted) to it in the
Constitution. There are three types of delegated powers:
1.
The expressed powers are those found directly within the
Constitution.
2.
The implied powers are not expressly stated in the Constitution, but
are reasonably suggested, or implied by, the expressed powers.
3.
The inherent powers belong to the National Government because it
is the government of a sovereign state within the world community.
There are few inherent powers, with an example being the National
Government’s ability to regulate immigration.
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Powers Denied to the
National Government
Powers are denied to the National Government in three
distinct ways:
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Some powers, such as the power to levy duties on exports or
prohibit the freedom of religion, speech, press, or assembly, are
expressly denied to the National Government in the
Constitution.
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Also, some powers are denied to the National Government
because the Constitution is silent on the issue.
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Finally, some powers are denied to the National Government
because the federal system does not intend the National
Government to carry out those functions.
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The States
Powers Reserved to the
States
• The 10th Amendment
declares that the States are
governments of reserved
powers.
• The reserved powers are
those powers that the
Constitution does not grant
to the National Government
and does not, at the same
time, deny to the States.
Powers Denied to the
States
• Just as the Constitution
denies many powers the
National Government, it
also denies many powers
to the States.
• Powers denied to the
States are denied in much
the same way that powers
are denied to the National
Government; both
expressly and inherently.
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The Exclusive and
Concurrent Powers
Exclusive Powers
• Powers that can be exercised
by the National Government
alone are known as the
exclusive powers.
• Examples of the exclusive
powers are the National
Government’s power to coin
money, to make treaties with
foreign states, and to lay
duties (taxes) on imports.
Concurrent Powers
• The concurrent powers
are those powers that both
the National Government
and the States possess
and exercise.
• Some of the concurrent
powers include the power
to levy and collect taxes,
to define crimes and set
punishments for them,
and to claim private
property for public use.
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The Federal System and
Local Governments
 There
are more than 87,000 units of local government in
the United States today.
 Each of these
local units is located within on the 50
States. Each State has created these units through its
constitution and laws.
 Local
governments, since they are created by States, are
exercising State law through their own means.
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The Division of Powers
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The federal system
determines the way that
powers are divided and
shared between the
National and State
governments.
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The Supreme Law of the Land
The Supremacy Clause in the Constitution establishes the Constitution
and United States laws as the “supreme Law of the Land.”