ORIGINS OF AMERICAN
GOVERNMENT
Chapter 2 Notes and Review
OUR POLITICAL BEGINNINGS (2.1)
 Our
nation’s original English
colonists brought with them a rich
history of political experiences and
ideas
 Those experiences and ideas would
help to shape the political landscape
of our nation, both then and now
THREE BIG IDEAS
 1.

 2.


 3.


Ordered Government
An orderly regulation of the relationship
between themselves and their
government
Limited Government
Govt. should not be all powerful
Protection of rights
Representative Govt.
Govt. should “represent” the will of the
people
People should have a voice in what their
govt. does
LANDMARK ENGLISH DOCUMENTS

Magna Carta (1215)
First documents outlining basic individual rights
 Trial by jury
 Due process of law
 Protection of life, liberty and property


Petition of Right
Freedom to criticize the king; could not be
imprisoned without jury trial
 No martial law during peacetime
 No quartering of soldiers


English Bill of Rights
No army during peacetime
 Free elections
 Fair and speedy trial
 Excessive bail / cruel punishment

UNICAMERAL AND BICAMERAL
 Unicameral
– a one house legislature
(law making body)
 Bicameral
– a two house legislature
WHAT WAS ACCOMPLISHED AT THE FIRST
CONTINENTAL CONGRESS (1774)
 Sent
a declaration of rights to King
George III
 Urged all colonies to boycott English
goods
 Local committees to enforce the
boycott
WHAT WAS ACCOMPLISHED AT THE
SECOND CONTINENTAL CONGRESS
(1775)
 First
real National Government
 Continental army and navy was formed
 Adopted the Declaration of
Independence
 Fought a war
 Created a Monetary system
 Made treaties with foreign powers
THE ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION
 Our
Nation’s first constitution
 Very weak document and was not
effective
 Had no strong central government to
enforce policies between the states
 A new constitution would be
necessary
A NEW CONSTITUTION WAS
NECESSARY!
Problem:
How should the States
be represented in Congress?
Some States were large with
many people and some were small
with few people
What about slaves?
THE VIRGINIA PLAN
 States
would be represented in
Congress based upon their
population or the amount of money
sent in support of the Central Govt.
(Taxes)
 Virginia loves the plan, they are a
big state
 Small states hate the plan
THE NEW JERSEY PLAN
 All
States were to be equally
represented without regard to
population or availability of money
 New Jersey was a small state &
loved the plan
 Large States like Virginia, New York
and Pennsylvania hated the plan
THE CONNECTICUT COMPROMISE
(AKA “THE GREAT COMPROMISE”)
A
bicameral legislature
 The smaller Senate would be
represented equally
 The larger House of
Representatives, representation
would be based on population
 Oh NO!!! What about slaves? Are
they to be counted as population?
Another major battle!
THE THREE-FIFTHS COMPROMISE
Southern slave states wanted slaves to be
counted as population (even they had no rights)
 Northern non-slave states objected

Compromise
 “All free persons are to counted, and so should
three-fifths of all other persons”
 Reality: A slave only counted as 3/5 of a person
 An ugly part of our history to be sure, but it
settled the dispute
 3/5 Comp. was abolished along with slavery later
on.

THE NEW CONSTITUTION
COMPLETED!
WAS
Now it had to be sold to the
people for approval!
FEDERALISTS AND THEIR MAIN
ARGUMENT
 Federalists
– favored ratification
(formal adoption) of the new
constitution
 Stressed the weakness of the
Articles of Confed.
 All of those problems could be fixed
by the new constitution
ANTI-FEDERALISTS AND THEIR
ARGUMENT
Objected
to the ratification
(formal adoption) process
Objected to the absence of the
word God
Denial of some previously held
states rights
TWO MAIN ISSUES BEING ARGUED
OVER THE NEW CONSTITUTION
 1.
The greatly increased powers of the
central government
 2. The lack of a Bill of Rights
 Solutions:
 The
“Federalist Papers” were distributed
to help explain the limited power of the
new central government
 The adoption of the first ten
amendments; the Bill of Rights
FINALLY A NEW CONSTITUTION WAS
WON AND HAS LASTED FOR OVER 200
YEARS!!!