The Founding Of
Our Government
From a “Firm League of Friendship” to
one nation
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Articles of Confederation
• What was were the
former colonies like
after the Revolution?
• What was the point of
the Articles of
Confederation?
• What were its
problems?
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What Were the Former Colonies
Like After the Revolution?
• The former colonies
considered
themselves 13
individual “countries.”
• Interestingly, they
used the word
“states” to mean
“countries.”
The surrender at Yorktown.
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What Were the Former Colonies
Like After the Revolution?
• The 13 “countries” realized
that they were weak, and
needed each other’s
support.
– After all, England could return
at anytime to crush them.
• They decided to create an
“emergency” government to
help all of the 13 countries.
Patrick Henry addressing the 2nd Continental
Congress.
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now/images/1770.0021.jpg
• They still considered
themselves as independent,
although they now were
part of a “Firm League of
Friendship.”
What Was This “Emergency
Government?”
• As part of this “Firm League of
Friendship,” the 13 “countries”
decided to use the 2nd Continental
Congress as a starting point.
• This government could not have too
much power over each “country.”
• All the former colonies were so afraid
of a government with too much
power that they decided to set up
some guidelines and rules.
• These “guidelines” became known
as the Articles of Confederation
(November, 1777).
Delegates leaving Congress.
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features/see_it_now/images/1770.0066.jpg
What Could Congress Do Under
the Articles of Confederation?
Almost
NOTHING!
The Few Things Congress Could
Do Under the Articles of
Confederation
• Congress could make treaties with other
countries outside of the U.S.
• Congress could declare war.
• Congress could keep an army and navy.
• Congress could make money.
• Congress could set up a postal service.
• Congress could pass laws after 9 out of
13 states agree.
The Things Congress Could Not
Do Under the Articles of
Confederation
• Congress could not raise money by
collecting taxes.
• Congress could not control how states
did business with other countries.
• While Congress could pass laws, they
could not force the states to agree and
enforce them.
So basically . . .
Our Congress could declare war, but it could
not raise taxes to pay for it, right?
“AYE!”
So basically . . .
Our Congress could pass laws, but it could
not force the states to follow them, right?
“AYE!”
So basically . . .
Our Congress could make a treaty saying
that the 13 “countries” would only buy hats
from France, but if Rhode Island wanted to
buy hats from Spain, it could do it
anyways, right?
“AYE!”
So basically . . .
This was an efficient government that could
get things done effectively, right?
“Nay!”
So it’s pretty clear
• The Articles of
Confederation was
NOT effective.
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Constitutional
Convention
In 1787, delegates from each “country”
decided to meet in Philadelphia to fix
and revise the Articles of
Confederation.
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Constitutional Convention (1787)
• After arguing about what fixes
to make, the delegates slowly
started thinking that the
“emergency government” just
might need to have more
power.
• Instead of calling it a “National”
government (because that
simply caused people to think
back to the terrible days under
King George and the
Parliament) they started calling
this a “Federal” Government.
• They soon also realized that
the Articles of Confederation
should just be tossed.
• They would just start over.
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Federal? NO WAY!
• While many delegates
increasingly felt like we needed a
Federal government, not just an
emergency government, others
wanted to keep most of the
powers with the states.
• There were many arguments, but
the “Federalists” eventually won.
• One of the Revolution’s most
famous heroes became an
famous anti-federalist, a man
who hated the idea of all the
states united into one nation . . .
Who was he?
A drawing of Federalists and Anti-Federalists
Debating The future of our country.
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http://library.thinkquest.org/11572/media/meeting.jpeg
Famous Anti-Federalist
• Patrick Henry was an anti-Federalist and did not want to see a
“united” set of states form one country. He did not want to see too
much power in the national government. He felt that the
government might one day abuse its powers to take advantage of
Americans.
Patrick Henry
Constitutional Convention (1787)
•
George Mason wrote the VA Declaration
of Rights to list the basic rights of people.
Thomas Jefferson summarized these
rights in the Declaration of Independence.
Mason’s work was also used in the
Constitution to clearly describe American
freedoms and rights.
Image courtesy of
http://www.vahistorical.org/sva2003/mason01b.jpg
In addition to the Declaration of Independence,
Thomas Jefferson also wrote the Virginia Statute
of Religious Freedom, which basically claimed
that people should have the right to worship
whichever religion they choose. This idea also
influenced the Constitutional Convention as
they discussed the basic rights of Americans.
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http://www.uoregon.edu/~lslaught/tjefferson/
pageone_files/image005.jpg
TWO Virginian
documents influenced
the thinking of our
American leaders as they
planned the Constitution.
– Virginia
Declaration of
Rights, written by
George Mason
– Statute of
Religious
Freedom, written
by Thomas
Jefferson
Constitutional Convention (1787)
• In the end, after all
the anger and
arguments, it was
agreed that there
would be a federal
government.
• BUT, that was not
even the worst
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argument they all had
to handle . . .
What was the worst argument over?
• How would states be represented?
• How many representatives would each
state be able to send?
The VIRGINIA Plan
• Virginia submitted the
Virginia Plan that
suggested having states
with more populations
send more
representatives.
• Smaller states knew that
this wouldn’t be fair to
them.
A copy of the Virginia Plan that gave states with
more people more representatives.
– After all, if big Virginia got
to vote 20 times to pick on
of tiny Rhode Island,
Rhode Island’s 1 vote
would be unable to stop
this unfair action.
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The NEW JERSEY Plan
• The smaller states came
up with their own plan
called the New Jersey
Plan.
• The New Jersey Plan
suggested having each
state send equal numbers
of representatives
– For example: If they
decided that everybody
would send 2
representatives, then
Virginia and Rhode Island
would both send 2, no
matter who had more
people living in their state.
Smaller states got together to fight the Virginia Plan
by proposing the New Jersey Plan
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The Arguments lasted for what
seemed like F-O-R-E-V-E-R!
• They argued to the point many delegates
began considering the convention a total
failure.
• Many of our founding fathers wanted to
quit designing our new country over this
issue.
• UNBELIEVABLE!
James Madison
• Luckily, James
Madison sat quietly
on the side taking
notes of this whole
argument.
• He slowly designed a
compromise.
James Madison
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The Great Compromise
• The Great Compromise saved
the country.
• Madison suggested using
BOTH the Virginia Plan AND
the New Jersey Plan.
• The government could have
TWO houses, 1) The House
of Representatives would be
like the Virginia Plan, based on
population. 2) The Senate
would be like the New Jersey
Plan. There would only be 2
senators elected to represent
each state.
James Madison
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assets/aa/madison/aa_madison_subj_e.jpg
The Great Compromise
• Any bill that is
passed by the
House of
Representatives
must then be
passed by the
Senate.
• Only AFTER both
houses have
passed a bill will
the president have
the chance to look
at it.
House of Representatives.
Started with the Virginia Plan.
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http://www.politicalinformation.net/
encyclopedia/US_House_
Committee.jpg
U.S. Senate. Started with the
New Jersey Plan.
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http://www.senate.gov/artand
history/art/resources/graphic/
xlarge/38_00004.jpg