THE CONFEDERATION AND
THE CONSTITUTION
Chapter 9
Changes In Society Caused By
Revolution
Exodus of loyalists/conservatives
 New Patriot elite
 Ethic of “democracy”
 Gains in separation of church and state
 Slavery started to be challenged
 More equality for women

 “Republican
Motherhood”
Early Emancipation in the North
Constitution Making In The States

1776, Continental Congress called on
colonies to draft new constitutions
 Why?

Common features of state constitutions
 Intended
to represent fundamental law
 All deliberately had weak executive and
judicial branches
 All legislatures had great powers
 Most legislatures elected annually
Economic Crosscurrents

Most Americans worse off economically
 Runaway
inflation
 Heavy state and national debt
Economic Democracy.
 Manufacturing stimulated. Why?
 New Markets

 Empress
of China
A Shaky Start Towards Union
America was much more a name than a
real country.
 Challenge—Bind the 13 states together
 Economy didn’t help
 Hopeful signs:

 Similar
governments
 Similar culture
 Great Leaders
Articles of Confederation




Nature of Second Continental Congress
Locus of Sovereignty.
in 1776, Congress appointed a committee to
draft a written constitution for the new nation
Articles of Confederation was the result



adopted by Congress in 1777
ratified by all 13 colonies in 1781
Western Land Dispute holds up ratification
Western Land Cessions
Defects in the Articles
Articles of Confederation destined for
failure.
 States no longer completely independent,
but central government had little power
over them.
 National government dealt only with
common affairs such as trade and foreign
relations.
 What are major defects?

Landmarks In Land Laws

Art. of Confed. Congress passed important
legislation that dealt with the Old
Northwest.
 Territory
of Ohio Valley ceded by the states to
Nat. government.

Land Ordinance of 1785
 Survey

and Sale
Northwest Ordinance of 1787
 governance
Land Ordinance of 1785

Old Northwest to be sold and the proceeds used to pay
off the national debt.

Land surveyed.
Land divided into townships 6 miles squared.




Each split into 36 sections of 1 square mile each (640
acres).
Land to be sold for not less than 1$ an acre.
Had to buy a minimum of 640 acres (1 section).
16th section of each township was set aside to
be sold with proceeds used for benefit of public
schools.
Surveying the Old Northwest
Northwest Ordinance of 1787





Divided the land into five areas (Ohio, Illinois,
Michigan, Wisconsin and Indiana).
Basic premise: Could become states equal to original
13.
Two evolutionary territorial stages
When territory had 60,000 inhabitants, it could draft state
Constitution and petition for admission as state by
Congress
Slavery prohibited
The World’s Ugly Duckling

England a thorn in US side. How?
 refused
to enter into a trade treaty,
 Refused to repeal the navigation Laws.
 shut off their West Indian trade from the U.S.
 refused to abandon its forts in NW along
border.
Reasons stated
 Real reasons


Why doesn’t Congress impose trade
restrictions?
Spain and France

Spain was also hostile
to United States.





New Orleans right to
deposit issue
Spain and South
Eastern Indians
Disputed Territory
France also getting
hostile over debt.
North African pirates
raid our shipping
The Horrid Specter Of Anarchy

During the mid-1780’s, the economic situation in
America was in dire straits. Examples
Nation’s credit was going bad.
 Interest on debt accumulating.
 States not paying their share of taxes.
 Fed. Gov’t broke.



Other problems?
States try two things to raise money.


Create inflation by printing more dollars
Raise property taxes
Shay’s Rebellion
Shay’s Rebellion
 Who is most freightened by Shay’s
Rebellion and other outbreaks?
 What are their concerns?

 Fear
of Mobocracy.
 Need stronger federal government.
 Perception that civic virtue not working
 Perception that civil authority not sufficient to
control the people.
 Perception that government too closely
controlled by the people is ineffective.
Prelude to Constitution


What power did conservatives
most want national government
to have?
Annapolis Convention 1786


Only 5 states showed up
Alexander Hamilton saves with his
report calling for a Constitutional
Convention the next year to amend
the Articles.
Constitutional Convention




Congress not eager to call a constitutional
convention
Finally called a convention “for the sole and
express purpose of revising” the Articles of
Confederation
Every state but Rhode Island chose a
representative
55 delegates from 12 states met in Philadelphia
on May 25, 1787


All selected by the state legislatures who themselves
were chosen only by landowners
Sessions held in complete secrecy. Why?
Constitutional Convention




Nature of the Delegates
George Washington was
unanimously elected
chairman
Ben Franklin was the
elder statesman and the
oldest at 81
James Madison dubbed
“Father of Constitution” —
because of his
contributions to the
constitution.
Characteristics of Delegates
Delegates were conservative and well off
 Young but experienced statesmen
 Nationalists
 Wanted a strong government so that could
have unified trade laws
 Wanted to stop unrestrained democracy

Hammering Out A Bundle Of
Compromises


Decided to completely scrap Articles and start
fresh
Most significant issue?
Large State’s Plan (Virginia Plan)
 Small State’s Plan (New Jersey Plan)
 Great Compromise (Connecticut Plan)





Revenue Bills
Presidency
3/5 Compromise
Slave Trade Compromise
Safeguards For Conservatism


Delegates agreed that unbridled democracy
should be limited.
Constitution was designed to be a bulwark
against Mobocracy. Examples:




Federal judges were to be appointed for life
President elected indirectly by Electoral College
Senators to be chosen indirectly by state legislatures
House the only part of federal government chosen
directly by the people
Check’s On The Power Of Government
People voted
 Powers of National Government were
limited.

 It
could only exercise power in those areas
that the constitution specified.
 All
*
other governmental functions reserved to
states.
Signers of the Constitution
Federalists And Anti-federalists




Framers knew that would be difficult to get
national acceptance of the Constitution.
Number of states necessary to ratify?
Ratification through state conventions. States
themselves decided how delegates to
convention selected.
Why were many people against the
Constitution?
Federalists And Anti-federalists
Federalists support the Constitution
 Anti-Federalists oppose the Constitution
 Characteristics of Federalists:

 supported
a strong central govt. and, thus, the
Constitution.
 more respectable, mostly propertied people,
educated
 lived in settled areas along seaboard —
mostly conservative
 George Washington, James Madison, John
Marshall.
Anti-federalists

Characteristic of Anti-Federalists
Advocates of states’ rights
 Believed that strong central
government was a threat to individual
liberty
 Back country people, less educated,
and illiterate.
 Wanted a bill of rights to protect the
few individual freedoms they had.
 believed that state sovereignty was
being submerged—It was!!

The Struggle
over
Ratification
Great Debate In The States
Four states accepted right away—
Delaware (first), Pennsylvania, New
Jersey, Georgia, then Connecticut
 Massachusetts was 6th but VIP. Why?
 Maryland, South Carolina, New Hampshire
next
 New Hampshire made it official with nine

Four Laggard States

Even though Nine had ratified, two most
populous states, New York and Virginia,
had not.
 These
states were critical to the new nation
New York the toughest battle. Convention
had an anti-federalist majority.
 Federalist papers written to try to turn the
tide in New York

Federalist Papers



Written by John Jay,
Alexander Hamilton,
James Madison.
Written anonymously
85 Federalist papers
give lasting insights into
the meaning of the
constitution by those
who drafted it.
Ratification
New York Ratified in part because of
federalist papers, in part because Va. and
New York Recognized that it couldn’t go it
alone.
 North Carolina and Rhode Island, the two
cantankerous states, are the last to ratify.

A Conservative Triumph




Sovereignty still with people, but now checks on
mobocracy
Moved power from the states, where embodied
in one strong branch of government, to the
national government were embodied equally in
three branches of government
All 3 branches represent the people, and the
system of checks and balances protects them.
Constitution as peaceful counter-revolution.