Bellwork: 2/14

Journal- If you were creating a new government,
what are the five most important rules that you
would include? List and explain.
Sample Essays #3

The quote refers to the winter times while the
Continental army was battling in Quebec. It also
can refer to the time the army spent the winter at
Valley Forge. The quote means that the times are
bad, and morale is low. The sunshine patriot refers
to the type of soldier who fights only when times
are good, but when times are bad, he will run for
his life and forget about serving his country. The
soldiers that stay and fight are the ones who
deserve the love and thanks of man and woman.
Sample Essays #3

This applies to the Patriots after the loss at Quebec
because the Patriots lost many key battles and were
low on supplies. Many soldiers ran away before
their service was over. These are the sunshine
patriots, who shrink from service of their country in
the time of a crisis. Those who stayed and fought,
even though they thought it was hopeless deserve
the love and thanks of man and woman. This quote
was used to help boost morale in the colonies and it
referred to the times in the winter when they had
lost many battles.
Sample Essays #4

This quote from the Declaration of Independence is
telling when people have the right to overthrow
their government. It says that when a government
abuses its peoples’ rights, and its own power, then it
is the people’s right and duty to overthrow it. It
refers to how King George III was abusing his
power over the colonies, and how the colonists had
the right to find a new government.
Sample Essays #4

It applies to America today in many ways. The first
way is that it is now a part of our government to
elect new leaders and representatives. This way, the
people can prevent the government from gaining
too much power. It also relates because it says that
we have the right to overthrow the government if
they are not providing us with the type of
government we want. This way, the people also
have control over the government.
Class work




Read pages 222-227 in your text book
Answer the 4 read to discover questions on page
222
Define the 5 key terms on page 227. Also define
the term Social Contract
Put in your NOTES section of your binder
Read to Discover
 What
ideas and documents shaped American beliefs
about government?
 How did state constitutions contribute to the
development of representative government?
 What powers did the central government have under
the Articles of Confederation?
 What did the Northwest Ordinance accomplish?
Read to Discover

What ideas and documents shaped American beliefs about
government?


How did state constitutions contribute to the development of
representative government?


They all believed in the idea of representation and limited
government power
What powers did the central government have under the Articles
of Confederation?




English Bill of Rights, Magna Carta, Enlightenment
Make coins/borrow money
Negotiate and make treaties
Settle conflicts between states
What did the Northwest Ordinance accomplish?


Helped to form a political system of the region north of the Ohio
River
Created the Northwest Territory


Included present day Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, and Wisconsin
Also created a system for bringing new states to the union

Define

Constitution


Republicanism


Voting Rights
Ratification


A political principle which holds that government should be bound by laws
that limit its power.
Suffrage


Support for a system of representative government known as a republic.
limited government


A set of basic principles that determines the powers and duties of a
government.
Formal approval
Social Contract

Agreement between the government and the people
Bellwork 2.15.10

Have a sheet of loose leaf paper on your desk
Pop Quiz 2/17/10





What two documents helped shape American
Government?
Define suffrage
Define Social Contract
Define Ratification
Name one power the government had under the
Articles of Confederation
Quiz Answers

What two documents helped shape American Government?


Suffrage


Agreement between the government and the people
Ratification


Voting Rights
Social Contract


English Bill of Rights and Magna Carta
Formal approval
Name one power the Government had under the Articles of
Confederation
Make coins/borrow money
 Negotiate and make treaties
 Settle conflicts between states

FORMATION OF
AMERICAN GOVERNMENT
Early Influences

English Influences

England limited the power of its king and queens in two
documents

Magna Carta: “Great Charter”


English Bill of Rights


Required king to follow the rule of law
Kept the king or queen from passing new taxes or laws without
Parliament’ approval
Enlightenment



People used reason to explain things logically
Belief in human goodness
John Locke- belief in social contract: the government had a duty to
protect the people’s rights
During the Enlightenment, philosophers often discussed
their ideas at elegant social gatherings.
 How does the painting suggest the interest that the
wealthy had in Enlightenment ideas?
State Constitutions

Constitution- set of basic principles and laws that
state the powers and duties of the government
 During/After
the American Revolution, almost every
colony wrote a new state constitution

Constitutions showed belief in republicanism
 Republicanism-
support for a system of gov’t called a
republic, where citizens elect representatives

Limited Government- kept leaders from gaining
too much power, all leaders have to obey the law
and no one has total control.
State Constitutions Cont’d


Most state constitutions protected the individual
rights of citizens
Some rights included
 Trial
by jury, freedom of the press, private ownership of
property
 Separation of church and state
 Suffrage – voting rights
 Varied
from state to state
Articles of Confederation



For some colonial leaders, individual state governments
were not enough
Other leaders feared that a central government would
gain too much power, like in Britain
The Second Continental Congress appointed a
Committee of Thirteen, one from each colony



This group was to create a national constitution
Met for a month and created the Articles of
Confederation
Ratification – official approval
Under the Articles of Confederation




A new Confederation Congress would become the
central national government
Each state would have one vote in the congress
No president or court system
Confederation had limited powers
 Make
coins/borrow money
 Negotiate and make treaties
 Settle conflicts between states
 Could ASK for money and troops from states
Northwest Territory

Northwest Ordinance of 1787
Helped to form a political system of the region north of the
Ohio River
 Created the Northwest Territory




Included present day Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, and
Wisconsin
Also created a system for bringing new states to the union
Also included a bill of rights
Required public education for all citizens of the region
 Outlawed slavery in the territory

Bellwork 2.16.11

What makes a government weak? List as many
things as possible.
Problems in the New Nation

Congress could do little to protect citizens against
foreign threats
 Could
not force states to provide soldiers for an army
 No controlled army = difficulty enforcing treaties
 Britain and Spain took advantage of the weakness of
the U.S.; didn’t follow all the rules and agreements
Economic Problems

U.S. faced problems with G.B.
 Britain
closed many of its ports to American ships
 U.S. merchants had to pay high duties on U.S. exports
 British goods flowed freely into the U.S.
 British
merchants could sell products cheaper than locally
made goods
 Loss
of trade with the British shook the U.S. economy



Continental Congress could not fix the problem
because they did not have the power to pass
tariffs-taxes on imports/exports
If one state passed a tariff, British could sell to
another state who didn’t have any
No strong government hurt the U.S. economically
Economic Problems at home




Interstate commerce – trade between states
Congress had no power to regulate this trade
Trade laws differed between states, made trade
difficult
Printing Money
States printed their own money
 In order to pay off debts after the Revolution, states printed
large amounts of money, resulting in inflation


Inflation - increased prices for goods and services combined with
the reduced value of money
Inflation continues




Debtors- people who owe money
Creditors- people who lend money
Depression- period of low economic activity combined with
a rise in unemployment
Each state handled its problems differently


some refused to print paper $
Some taxed land to raise money



When people could not pay the tax, courts began selling their
property.
Some had to spend time in debtors’ prison
Some sold themselves as indentured servants
Shays’ Rebellion


September 1786, farmers in 3 Massachusetts counties
began a revolt
Angry citizens w/pitchforks and other tools closed down
courts in the western part of the state
With the courts shut down, no one’s property could be taken
 Known as Shays’ Rebellion



Farmer and war veteran Daniel Shays was the main leader
At a later uprising , the rebels were eventually defeated
and arrested
14 leaders were sentenced to death
 State freed most of the rebels, including Shays due to popular
opinion

Results of the rebellion





The rebellion helped to reveal the weakness of the
Confederation government
Drew attention to the Articles of Confederationthey weren’t working
The national government could offer little help to
the states when they asked
Citizens were calling for a stronger central gov’t
Many felt a change was needed
Weaknesses of the Articles of
Confederation
 No
President or court system
 Could not FORCE the states to provide money or
troops
 Couldn’t
 Could
create an army
not protect citizens from foreign threats
 Difficult to enforce terms of international treaties