Understanding the Articles of
Confederation
The “Critical Period” in American governing.
Barrack Obama
and the U.S
Legislature
Central
government
Mayor Oscar
Lesser and E.P’s
city council
Greg Abbott and
the Texas
Legislature
Continental
Congress
The name of the
government created
by the Articles of
Confederation
Parliament
Land that makes up
present stats of Oregon,
Washington
Northwest
Territory
Land that makes up the
present day states of
Ohio, Indiana, Illinois,
Michigan, and Wisconsin
Land that makes up the
present day states of
New Mexico, California,
Arizona, and Utah
Confederation
Congress
Structure of
Government
The way a nations
divides its powers and
responsibilities among
its various agencies or
branches
Functions of
government
Rights and
Responsibilities
of government
Could not collect taxes, therefore, the
government was broke.
Relied on states to enforce their
laws, this didn’t always happen.
Strengths &
Weaknesses
Accomplishments
Est. ideas that Americans had
privileges and immunities
rights
Citizens could do things w/o the
fear of being punished by the
government.
Passed two important laws dealing
with western expansion, they were
the Land and Northwest Ordinance.
Articles of Confederation
1776-1787
The nation’s
economy
suffered
Shays’ Rebellion
Could not regulate trade
between states, so states
often fought, and the
government couldn’t stop
them from doing so.
Problems caused by the
Articles of Confederation
Because the central
government could not collect
taxes, they could not repay the
War debt.
State Governments
National Governments
When the Articles of Confederation were created, the memory of British Rule was still fresh
In the minds of many colonist. Therefore, they purposefully made the National
government weak in comparison to their State governments. States leaders where happy
with this arrangement because it meant that the national government could not tell states
what to do.
The National government needed the support from the state governments in order to
survive, state governments did not need the National government.
Structure of Government
Articles of Confederation
One Branch - Legislative
•
•
•
•
U.S Constitution
Three Branches – Legislative, Judicial, Executive
One Branch – One
house legislature
One vote per state
No executive –
President
No national
courts
•
•
•
•
Three Branches
Legislative – two
houses
Executive –
President
Judicial – Supreme
Court
The Northwest Territory and Western Expansion
• The Northwest Territory was the unsettled lands the
United States controlled after the American Revolution.
This land makes up the present day states of Minnesota,
Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio.
• The problem that was created by these lands is that
many of the states were fighting over who would control
these lands.
• The solution came from the Confederation Congress,
they passed the Land Ordinance of 1785, and the
Northwest Ordinance of 1787.
• The Land Ordinance allowed the National government to
take control of the land, they then measured it into
sellable plots of land.
• The Northwest Ordinance was a law that described the
type of government a territory could have based on its
population, and established basic rights for all people in
the Northwest Territory. Among those rights were
freedom of religion, a trial by jury, and a ban on slavery.
Factors that led to Shay’s Rebellion
Cause
Effect
National currency was worthless
Economy suffered, there was not a lot of
money circulating, times were hard for
everyone.
The Confederation Congress did not have the
power to collect taxes from the states.
The National Government was broke, they
could not repay the war debt.
The Confederation Congress could not collect Each state then became responsible for
taxes from the states.
paying their share of the war debt.
Massachusetts passed high taxes so they
could pay their portion of the debt quickly.
Many people, mostly western farmers, were
unable to pay their taxes.
Massachusetts passed a law allowing the
government to seize property of people who
could not pay their taxes. Their property
would be sold at auction, if the money raised
could not cover the cost, then that person
was set to jail.
• Many western farmers lost their land, and
property and were placed in jail.
• Some farmers organized and rallied
against the government
• Tensions rose between western farmers
and the Massachusetts state government.