SSUSH5
The student will explain specific events
and key ideas that brought about the
adoption and implementation of the
United States Constitution
5.a- Explain how the weaknesses in the Articles of Confederation
and Daniel Shays’ Rebellion led to a call for a stronger national
government
• The Articles of Confederation was the first constitutional government of
the United States. It was formed in the midst of the Revolution, (proposed
in 1777, and formally adopted in 1781.)
• The Articles created a “confederation” style government, which means
that the constituent states were essentially sovereign and independent.
The designers of the Articles purposefully established a weak national
authority, because they believed that most matters were best left to the
governments of each state. The national government, under the articles,
consisted of a single branch- a unicameral Congress, and would only
handle matters that affected the 13 states as a whole- national defense,
diplomacy with foreign nations, etc.
• Through the 1780s, however, the weaknesses of the Articles began to
seriously hamper the effectiveness of the national government. Two
detrimental weakness came to produce serious problems for the young
nation, 1) Congress under the articles had no power to tax, and 2) no
power to regulate trade between the states.
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Shays’ Rebellion and
interstate commerce
In 1786, an event in western Massachusetts put the weaknesses of the national
government under the Articles into sharp relief. Daniel Shays was an army captain
during the Revolutionary War.
Like many veterans, Shays ran into hard times in the post-Revolution years of
inflation, and a corresponding lack of currency. When the Massachusetts
government refused to print more paper money and lenders began foreclosing on
farmsteads for non-payment, Shays gathered a group of farmers who took up arms
and led a full-scale rebellion.
Fearing that the unrest might spread, leaders from various states began to take
seriously the idea of altering the Articles to address the fact that the National
Congress had no way of raising revenue through taxation.
Other events around the same time also convinced various state leaders to
address amendments to the Articles. Many states had developed prohibitive trade
regulations against other states to try and strengthen their own economies. The
effect was contentious inter-state relations, and economic inefficiency in national
trade as a whole. Leaders from several states met in 1785 and 1786 to discuss the
problem of interstate trade.
These ongoing issues, with the addition of Shays Rebellion, convinced all but
Rhode Island to elect delegates to attend yet another meeting in 1787. The
meeting was held in Philadelphia, and shortly after it began the 55 delegates in
attendance agreed that simply revising the Articles would not be enough. Rather,
an entirely new constitution needed to be drafted. The Philadelphia Convention
then turned into the Constitutional Convention.
5.c- Explain the key features of the Constitution, specifically the
Great Compromise, separation of powers, limited government, and the
issue of slavery
• Once the delegates (now known as the “Framers”) gathered at
Philadelphia determined to scrap the Articles and draft a new
Constitution, they had to decide how the new government would
be structured, and how much power would be given to the national
government.
• Several key decisions and compromises were made between the
delegates of the 13 states.
• The idea of “limited government” was an important consideration
of the Framers as well. Simply put, this is the idea that government
is not all powerful, and that no one, not even the government itself
, is above the rule of law established in the Constitution. A related
concept is that of “popular sovereignty,” meaning that under our
Constitution, the people hold the ultimate authority of
government. The first three words of the Preamble to the
Constitution, “We the people,” indicates this principle.
Great Compromise
• One of the most important compromises achieved at the Constitutional
Convention, later known as the “Great Compromise” (also sometimes
referred to as the Connecticut Compromise) had to do with how the states
would be represented in the national government.
• There was a fear, especially among smaller states, that they would have
too little say in the newly formed Congress, when compared to the larger
states. A solution was reached by creating a bicameral Congress, where
the membership of one house would be determined by population
(House of Representatives), while in the other house (Senate) states
would be represented equally.
• A state’s population determines how many members it has in the House
of Representatives. States with large populations have more members in
the House. For example, California, the most populous state, has 53.
Georgia has 13 House members, and a state like Wyoming, the least
populous state in the union, only gets one. In the Senate, all states,
regardless of size, have two Senators.
Separation of Powers
• The Framers also agreed to create a government based on
the principle of separation of powers. To activate this
principle (inspired in part by the French political
philosopher Montesquieu) the Framers created three
separate and independent branches of governmentlegislative, executive and judicial.
• Furthermore, the Framers devised a system of “checks and
balances, ” so that no one branch could exercise too much
power independently. One example of checks and balances
is the process of nominating federal judges. The president
nominates judges, but the Senate must approve that
choice. The legislative branch (Senate) can “check and
balance” the power of the executive branch (president) to
nominate judges serving in the judicial branch.
Limited Government
• The idea of “limited government” was an important
consideration of the Framers as well. Simply put, this is the
idea that government is not all powerful, and that no one,
not even the government itself , is above the rule of law
established in the Constitution. A related concept is that of
“popular sovereignty,” meaning that under our
Constitution, the people hold the ultimate authority of
government. The first three words of the Preamble to the
Constitution, “We the people,” indicates this principle.
• The idea of limited government in the Anglo-American
tradition goes back to 1215, when King John of England
signed the Magna Carta, agreeing to abide by certain
limitations in the exercise of his power.
The Constitution and Slavery
• Another major compromise reached at the 1787 Constitutional
Convention dealt with the divisive issue of slavery. Some delegates
from northern states, all of which had abolished slavery by that
point, argued that the slave populations in the South should not be
counted for representation in the federal Congress. The southern
states thought they should and a compromise was reached to count
3 out of every 5 slaves for representation and taxation purposes.
This is known as the 3/5 Compromise.
• Interestingly, the words slavery or slave never appear in the
Constitution. Instead, in the clause establishing the 3/5 provision,
slave populations are referred to as “other persons.”
• The Framers also reached a compromise to place a 20 year
moratorium on any laws that would prohibit the slave trade. When
the moratorium was satisfied in 1809, Congress passed laws that
banned the foreign slave trade, but left the domestic trade intact
where it existed.
5.b- Evaluate the arguments of the anti-Federalists and Federalists
during the debate on ratification of the Constitution as put forth in the
Federalist Papers, concerning form of government, factions, checks
and balances, and the power of the executive, including the roles of
Alexander Hamilton and James Madison
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Once the Constitution was finished, it was sent to the 13 state legislatures to be
ratified. 9 of the 13 states had to ratify the new Constitution for it to take effect.
As the document made its way through the various state houses and among the
public, a great debate emerged about whether to support ratification. Two sides
emerged: The Federalists supported ratification, while the Anti-Federalists did not.
The Federalists, led by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and others, supported
the Constitution because they believed that for the United States to be truly
“united,” the central (national) government must be given more power- as the
Constitution did by allowing the federal government to tax, regulate trade, and
enforce its laws with a powerful chief executive (president).
The Anti-Federalists, led by old-school Patriots like Patrick Henry, were opposed
the Constitution because they thought the government it created was too
powerful. They believed that most powers of government should reside with the
states.
Federalist Papers
• The Federalist Papers were a series of 89 essays written by
leading Federalists Madison, Hamilton, and John Jay. They
were intended to convince (especially) New York to ratify
the Constitution.
• In these essays, the authors made a forceful and eloquent
case for ratification, extolling the numerous advantages of
the republican form of federal government created by the
Constitution, as well as the virtues of a strong executive.
• The Anti-Federalists continued to argue that the
government created by the Constitution was too powerful
and might lead to tyranny. They insisted that a Bill of Rights
be amended to the Constitution, and its guarantee proved
to be the last major hurdle to get the Constitution ratified,
which it finally was on 17 September 1789.
5.d- Analyze how the Bill of Rights serves as a protector of
individual and states’ rights
• The Bill of Rights, the first ten amendments to the
Constitution, were ratified in 1791. Whereas the
original Constitution consists almost solely of how the
government CAN exercise its power, the Bill of Rights
are mostly guarantees of what the government
CANNOT do to the states and their citizens.
• The Bill of Rights protects the rights of citizens to free
speech, religious freedom, free assembly, protections
from government search and seizure, protections and
rights for people accused of crimes,protections from
cruel punishments, and provisions that any powers not
given to the national government are “reserved” for
the states.
5.e- Explain the importance of the presidencies of George
Washington and John Adams; include the Whiskey Rebellion, nonintervention in Europe, and the development of political parties
• Global and domestic events during the first
two presidencies provided a real test of the
responsibilities and authority given the
national government and the office of the
president under the new Constitution.
Whiskey Rebellion
• George Washington, hero of the Revolution, was the near unanimous
choice to be the first person to grace the office of president. He served
two terms, choosing not to run in 1796 so as to establish a principle of a
willful and peaceful transition of power in the nation’s highest office.
• During his second term, he was faced with enforcing the federal
government’s right to tax. In western Pennsylvania, an uprising had
occurred over a federal tax on whiskey. The Whiskey Tax was imposed
ostensibly as a source of revenue for the national government, but it had
as much to do with the principle of a federal tax as it did with actually
raising funds.
• Western farmers argued it was an undue burden on their prosperity and
periodically protested the tax and harassed federal tax collectors after its
initial passage in 1791. In 1794, resistance to the tax climaxed with a full
scale rebellion among farmers near Pittsburgh. The federal government
intervened with military force to quell the rebellion- reinforcing the
principle of federal tax enforcement, and marking the one and only time a
Commander-in-Chief (president) led American forces in the field.
Non-Intervention in Europe
• John Adams, Washington’s vice-president, was elected president in 1796,
after GW decided not to seek a third term. A major issue facing Adams
during his presidency was the increasingly nasty situation among
European powers, especially the long-standing bitterness between the
English and the French.
• Both of these European superpowers were vying for military and
commercial dominance, leaving the young and not-yet-powerful United
States in the middle of the feud.
• Following Washington’s advice to “avoid entangling alliances” Adams
pursued a policy of non-intervention in European affairs. This isolationism
became a driving force in US foreign policy for the next century and a half.
• Events during the Adams administration tested the policy of neutrality. For
example, a scandal involving the bribery of French diplomats (XYZ Affair)
aroused public outcry and eventually led to a series of naval skirmishes
known as the Quasi-War.
Development of Political Parties
• Another important development during the Adams administration
was the full emergence of political parties. Washington was not a
member of any party, and was strongly opposed to what he saw as
the “baneful effect” of political factions. Strong sentiments about
the nature of federal power still lingered however, and parties
coalesced around these two opposing viewpoints. The central
tenets of each party were quite similar to the Federalist /Antifederalist arguments during the ratification debate.
• Hamilton, Madison, along with President Adams led what became
the Federalist Party, while Thomas Jefferson became the lead voice
in the opposition party, called the Democratic-Republicans, or
Jeffersonian Democrats or in their own day, Republicans. The twoparty system that emerged in this early phase of American political
history profoundly shaped our political structures, and continues to
have a great impact to the present.