A New Type
of Government
A Virtuous Republic
CHAPTER 5, SECTION 1
Republican Virtues
 George Mason’s VA Declaration
of Rights (1776) argued that a
virtuous citizenry could only
operate a government of liberty
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Public education in states began to
spread for both primary and higher
Women were included
 Churches began to lose state support
 Washington foreswore a dictatorship after victory
 Resigned after the war and pledged to go back to farming
Changing Society
 By the 1777 VA, ML, NJ, DE and PA had
constitutions
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PA abolished property as a qualification for voting and office
GA, PA, DE, SC, VT abolished religious tests
 Primary education systems were created along with
protections from debtor’s prison

1790s MA gave young girls access to education
 Loyalists fled en mass—some property confiscated
 Cities saw great change as patriots took power from
tories
A New Western Nation
 The end of the war brought recession (economic
slump)
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Trade disrupted, ships destroyed, flood of low-priced goods
State governments in debt
Representatives from western lands less affluent and wealthy
Inflation soared—colonial paper worth 150th its original value
 Farmers pressed against back taxes
 Farm conventions protested taxes, land seizures and
debtor’s prison
Martial Challenges
 New nation had to handle a string of conflicts:
 Piracy, impressment and the seizure of goods/vessels in the
Med.
 British troops still garrisoned in along borders
 Indians resisted western encroachment
 Creeks named Georgians as “Ecunnaunuxulgee” or “people
greedily grasping after the lands of red people”
 Spanish claims to the Gulf blocked Miss. Trade
 Rational solution to many of these problems was a
plan for western settlement
I Read the Constitution for the Articles
 All 13 states ratified the Articles of Confederation
1781

Existed until Constitution adopted 1789
 Limited central government:
 Make treaties, declare war, resolve state disputes, borrow and
print money, call for monies for defense
 Central legislature Congress, was most powerful
 Each state had 1 vote
 New laws need 9/13 approval, changes must be unanimous
 No permanent executive
Land and Money
 Congress couldn’t tax and lacked funds
 Bank of North America was chartered to stabilize
economy
 Congress looked to western lands to raise funds

AL, MS created allowing slavery, north of OH river slavery
banned
 NW Ordinance 1784 divided region
 Land Ordinance 1785 created surveyed grids
 In, IL, OH, MI, WI
Expansion and Settlement
 Jefferson developed several plans, finally one was
approved by Congress
 NW Ordinance 1787 made 13 disparate colonies a
semi-cohesive republic
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When new terr. had enough people, could apply to be a state
Appointed Governors would rule territories
Ensured orderly settlement and expansion of nation
 Also ensured sharp regional division on slavery
A New Constitution
SECTION 1
Shay’s Rebellion
 Former Continental officer Capt. Daniel Shays led groups
resisting the authority of a distant gov’t
 Shut down local courts, prevented judges from entering
courts

Barrington, MA dispatched militia which
even joined rebellion
 Towns across the state had courts shut
 MA passed the Riot Act outlawing
illegal assembly
 Shayites defeated 1787
 Represented the weakness of the AOC and
its decentralized gov’t
A New Government
 String of problems led many Patriots to call for a
stronger central gov’t.
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Shay’s was hard to control
States asserted right to control tariffs
 1786 Madison invited states to a convention on taxes
and tariffs
 2nd convention in Philly was called to review AOC
 1787 Philadelphia Constitutional Convention hosted
all colonies but RI

Most delegates were propertied, slaveholders
Dueling Proposals
 Many known patriots were absent:
 J Adams, Jefferson, S Adams, P Henry “Smelled a rat”
 Madison proposed the VA Plan
 Central gov’t can overturn state law
 National electorate creates gov’t above states based on
population
 Multi-tier election system reducing popular influence
 NJ proposed
 Ability to raise revenue
 control commerce,
 states maintain sovereignty
 Equal representation of states in legislature
Many Compromises
 CT delegates proposed upper chamber of 2 reps for
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each state, lower house decided by population
National court created, lower courts left to states
No property qualifications for national voting
President decided by electoral college, Senate
approved by state legislatures
Allowing slavery to continue maintain compromise
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Fugitive slave clause
Slavery not mentioned directly in Constitution
3/5 compromise
Road to Ratification
 National government given power of taxation,
defense, external commerce, supreme law, necessary
and proper laws as needed
 Nation must honor debt, but forbids states to print
money

9 states must ratify
through special
conventions
 Debate on ratification
broke into 2 categories:
Federalists and
Anti-federalists
—
Ratification Debate
Federalists
Anti-federalists
 Better organized
 Diverse opposition
 Published The
 Feared gov’t by wealthy
Federalist Papers
 Strong gov’t could
conduct foreign affairs
 Separation of powers
prevents tyranny
 Interests would
compete
 State politicians feared
reduction in state
influence
 Educated cited
philosophy or small
governing republics
CT, PA, NH Ratification by Profession
Federalist
Anti-federalist
Merchants,
manufacturers,
doctors,
lawyers,
ministers, large
landholders
84%
16%
Artisans,
surveyors,
innkeepers
64%
36%
Farmers
46%
54%
Political Alignments of
State Senators by Wealth
Federalist
Anti-federalist
Wealthy
82%
18%
Well-to-do
65%
35%
Moderate
Means
42%
58%
Ratification
 10 amendments offered
to placate skeptics
about rights, freedoms
and liberties
 Constitution viewed at
times as a civic and
secular religion
 By 1788 9 states had
ratified, 1790 RI was
the last
New Government Emerges
 1788 election federalists held sway in the House
 Electoral college chose Washington as president,
Adams received less votes—became VP
 Judiciary Act (1789) created a federal district county
in every state as Constitution only created Supreme
Court
 Hamilton as Treas. Sec. pushed modernization of
economy for stable government

1790 “Report on Public Credit”
Hamiltonian Reforms
 Congress would buy up Confederation securities to
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ease credit
Creation of a national debt
Assume war debts of states
New financial capital along the
Potomac
Bank of the United States to
stabilize economy through loans
Jefferson was skeptical
The New Nation
 90% of government income came from customs
 New taxes proposed for revenue (whiskey)
 Hamilton’s controversial ideas split the Federalists
 In the north led by Hamilton
 In the south (Democratic Republicans) led by Jefferson and
Madison
 Jefferson decried the progress of the new country
 Lamented paper sellers, factory conditions, and social
divisions
Whiskey and Discontent
 1793 Washington issued neutrality in trade
agreement as Britain and the post-revolutionary
French went to war
 Wheat prices rose sharply
 Sugar trade worth $20m annually
 Western farmers attacked tax collectors and decried
distant governments (a la the Stamp Act)
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Whiskey rebellion proclaimed the motto of the French
Revolution
Eventually dispersed by a 12,000+ man army composed of
state militias led by Washington
Opposing Perspectives
Jefferson
Hamilton
 Limited central gov’t—
 Additional powers for
protect states
 Agrarian republic
 Broad constitutional
interpretation
 Pro-French
Nat’l gov’t
 Commercial republic
 Strict Constitutional
Interpretation
 Pro-British
New Challenges
 French Revolution brought British seizure of American
vessels

Canadians also made war speeches to frontier Indians
 1794 Jay’s Treaty reaffirmed British ability to collect debt
but removed NW garrisons

Conceded UK right to remove property from ships
 1795 Pinckney Treaty—SPN recognized US right to Miss.
Navigation, while fixing FL border
 Political divisions sharpened

Dem. Repub. were a loose coalition of farmers, planters, Scots & Irish
 Federalists took elections 1796 with J. Adams as
president
Frontier Problems
 Western settlers continued to exacerbate Indian
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tensions
1794 war with Ohio natives left 900 soldiers dead
2nd campaign dealt natives a blow—1795 Grenville
Treaty
Ohio tribes ceded land to US
Rather than appear weak, combined with
suppression of Whiskey Rebellion, Washington’s
administration was centrally capable
Learning & Fashion
 Republican Americans read and debated
more often
 Books, pamphlets, magazines and
libraries proliferated
 Female education and rights became a
hearty theme

Murray, Rowson, Moore , Wollstonecraft
 Americans toasted to politics, argued
over other revolutions and supported
foreign policy with fashion
Adam’s Presidency
 Washington didn’t seek a third term
 Election of 1796 Adams won against Jefferson
 Jefferson became VP
 Federalists had plotted to include a VP
on “the ticket” to draw votes away
 Washington offered a “Farewell
address” warning of:
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foreign entanglements, partisan rancor
and regionalism
Quasi-French War
 France recalled its diplomat from America and began
seizing ships
 Adams dispatched officials to France who weer
snubbed
 Unnamed French officials X, Y and Z apparently
demanded bribes to start negotiations
 Americans rallied” millions for defense, but not one
cent for tribute”
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Naval war broke out and a massive army was raised
Alien & Sedition
 To handle the quasi war federalists enacted
 Expanded bureaucracy—Department of Navy
 Property taxes
 New legislation
 Naturalization Acts—residency requirements
 Alien Act—deport foreigners
 Sedition Act—prohibited publication of insults
 1st amendment violations?
 Acts seemed geared to Republican sympathizers
VA and KY Resolutions
 1798 Jefferson and Madison articulated a strategy to
be rid of the acts
 VA Resolution (Madison) & KY Resolution
(Jefferson) argued that states have right to
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judge constitutionality of federal laws
Protect citizens if necessary
 Northern states weren’t interested
 2nd KY Resolution (1799) introduced idea of
nullification
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Rather than opt to take concerns to federalist controlled
Supreme Court, Republicans went to states
Election of 1800
 Federalists had become split because of Hamilton’s
increasing influence
 Hamiltonians resented Adams’ peace treaty with
Napoleon
 Jefferson as VP tied Republican candidate Burr
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Tie-breaking done constitutionally by House
 Hamilton told Federalist-controlled House to side
with Jefferson
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Hamilton couldn’t stand Burr
With VA and ML militias ready, the “revolution of 1800”
proved peaceful transition was possible