Origins of
American
Government
Our Political Heritage

English colonists brought with them the idea of limited government.

Concept that a government’s power was not absolute

Colonists believed that they, too, enjoyed the rights guaranteed in
the English Bill of Rights.

The Founders followed the English system of law as described by Sir
William Blackstone.

Believed that the source of all human law was derived from the “law of
nature and the law of revelation (Bible)” and that “no human laws
should be suffered to contradict these”
Our Political Heritage

The colonists believed in representative government such as Britain’s
Parliament.

Government in which people elect delegates to make laws and
conduct government

Enlightenment ideas of government as a social contract and of
people’s natural rights influenced colonial thinking.

Magna Carter – greatly influenced the American colonies as a
guarantee of limited government, protection from unjust
punishment and levying of taxes without popular consent
Colonial Governments

Each colony had its own government, with a governor, a legislature,
and a court system.

The colonies operated under written constitutions, or charters, which
established the colony’s government.

Written “constitution” from the authorities of a society granting rights or
privileges

Although the structure of legislatures varied from colony to colony,
they played a major role in each colony.

Democratic ideals were incorporated into colonial governments
through written constitutions, elected officials, and representative
government
The Colonies on Their Own

The American colonies were able to grow and expand without
much interference.

Following the costly French and Indian War, Britain tightened control
over the colonies.


Left Britain in extreme debt; King George III imposed taxes on tea, sugar,
glass, paper and other products
King George III and Parliament imposed taxes to generate revenue,
which led to protests.

Money a government collects from taxes and other sources
The Colonies on Their Own

Opposition to British policies united the colonists and developed an
American sense of community.

Committees of correspondence developed a communication
network among colonies.
Independence


The First Continental Congress imposed an embargo on Britain and
agreed to boycott British goods.

Embargo – an agreement prohibiting trade

Boycott – Refusal to buy
The Second Continental Congress prepared for war and drafted a
document of independence.

Complaints against Britain included: levying unfair taxes, deprived
colonists trial by jury, suspended legislatures in colonies
Independence

The Declaration of Independence drew on Enlightenment ideals to
justify the colonies’ separation from Great Britain.


Colonists demanded the freedom to life, liberty, and the pursuit of
happiness; freedom to institute their own governments
The colonies began operating as independent and self - governing
states, and most wrote constitutions containing a bill of rights.
Government Under the Articles

Delegates to the Second Continental Congress debated the
distribution of power between the national and state governments.

The Articles of Confederation established a loose union among
independent states with only a simple central government.
Government Under the Articles

The central government had no court system, no executive, and a
unicameral legislature with only the powers named in the Articles.


Single chamber legislature
Each state had one vote in Congress and all other powers not
named in the Articles.
Problems in the Confederation
Period

The new states operated independently, issuing individual
currencies and imposing tariffs on one another.


The weak national government could not force states to give it
money and had to rely on state courts to enforce and interpret
national laws.


Tax on imported goods
Could not pay off creditors – people to whom money was owed
Key achievements of the Confederation were the treaty with Britain,
laws for organizing western land, approving money for a navy, and
creating cabinet departments.

Formal agreement between countries
Weaknesses of the Articles
One vote for each state, regardless of size
 Congress powerless to collect taxes
 Congress powerless to regulate foreign and
interstate commerce
 No executive branch to enforce laws
 No national court system
 Amendment only with consent of all states
 A 9/13 majority required to pass laws

Need for a Stronger National
Government

Shays’s Rebellion spread unrest to other states, and American
leaders believed the national government was vulnerable to
anarchy.

Following Shays’s Rebellion, delegates proposed changes to the
Articles of Confederation to make the national government more
effective.

Congress consented to a convention with the sole purpose of
revising the Articles of Confederation.
The Constitutional Convention:
Agreements and Compromises

The delegates abandoned the Articles of Confederation,
established a bicameral legislature with limited and representative
government, and divided government powers among three
branches.

Two house legislative body (House of Reps, Senate)

The Virginia Plan, supported by populous states, proposed legislative
representation based on state population.

The New Jersey Plan, supported by less populous states, proposed
equal representation for each state
The Constitutional Convention:
Agreements and Compromises

The Connecticut Compromise had a two-part legislature with
representation according to population in one part and two
members from each state in the other.

The Electoral College system resolved disagreement over how the
president would be elected.
Disputes over Slavery

Compromises over slavery enabled the delegates to create a new
government but did not resolve the issue.

Under the Three-Fifths Compromise, three-fifths of the enslaved
African Americans were counted for both representation and tax
purposes.
Disputes over Slavery

A third compromise gave Congress the power to regulate foreign
and interstate commerce and prevented banning of the slave
trade before 1808.


Trade between the states
The South’s exports were protected by prohibiting Congress from
imposing export taxes.
Ratifying the Constitution

Federalists favored the Constitution while Anti-Federalists, who
feared a strong national government, opposed it.


Wrote a series of essays entitles the Federalists Papers
Anti-Federalists demanded a bill of rights to guarantee the citizens’
freedoms.
Ratifying the Constitution

The Federalist Papers were written to defend the new Constitution in
the ratification battle in New York.

One of the new government’s first actions was approval of the
amendments which became known as the Bill of Rights.