Unit 3: Confederation, Compromise & Constitution (1783-1791)
Government terms to know:
• Executive: branch of government that carries out the law
– Ex. President, Governor, Mayor
• Legislative: branch of government that writes the law
– Ex. Congress, General Assembly, City Council
• Judicial: branch of government that interprets the law
– Ex. Federal courts, state Courts
• Federal: relating to the national government
States remain powerful
• After experiences with the British King & Parliament, Americans did not want a strong national government
• Early state governments were republican (representative democracy): people elected their representatives
States disagreed on how democratic they wanted to be
• More democratic states wanted a strong legislature, preferred a unicameral (one house) legislature of elected
members and a weak governor or no governor
• Ex. Pennsylvania & Georgia
• Most states were more conservative, with a bicameral legislature (two houses) and a strong governor.
• Ex. Massachusetts & New York
Democratic Gains
• Unlike colonial times, voters chose both houses of the legislatures & the governor
– Disagreed about who would vote: some wanted all free men to vote, but most allowed only property owners
to vote
• Freedom of Religion
– Most states guaranteed religious freedom and did not have an established religion (except Mass. & Conn.
which kept the Congregational [Puritan] church as the official religion)
Articles of Confederation
• The U.S.’ first plan for government
• A loose confederation of 13 states
• “Each state retains its sovereignty, freedom and independence”
• Ratified by 1781
Articles of Confederation: Structure
• One branch: Congress
• Congress of delegates chosen by the state legislatures, states could send up to 7
• States only had one vote each (no matter how many delegates they sent)
• There was no executive (no President)
Articles of Confederation: Powers
• Declare and conduct war, negotiate peace
• Regulate foreign and Indian affairs
• Could not tax
• 9 of 13 had to vote for approval
• To change the Articles all 13 had to approve
• States retained all other powers
Western Lands
• A positive accomplishment under the Articles was creating a plan to settle and govern new territory
• Northwest Territory: Congress planned to raise revenue and expand America.
• Congress was worried about:
– Unregulated settlement causing fights with Natives
– The settlers forming their own states or countries
• So they passed laws to control settlement
Where is the Northwest Territory?
• North of the Ohio River, west of Pennsylvania to the Mississippi River
Land Ordinance of 1785
• A system for distributing public lands
– Divided the land into townships: sections of 6 square miles
– Townships divided into 36 sections of 1 square mile to be sold for at least $1 an acre
• 1 square mile = 640 acres
– Land speculators (people who make risky purchases, then sell them to others) bought most of the land and
then sold it to farmers at a higher price
• Created “the Grid:” carefully measured square land distribution common in the mid-west and west
Northwest Ordinance of 1787
• Provided government for the territory
– Congress would appoint a governor, secretary and 3 judges
– When the territory had 5,000 men they could elect an assembly
– Would have rights like freedom of religion, trial by jury & habeas corpus
– Banned slavery from the territory
– At 60,000 men the people could request admission as a state
• Lands to the south were settled chaotically (land speculators, disputes over claims)
Foreign Relations
• Spanish thought American expansion threatened their colonies of Louisiana and Mexico
– Closed the port of New Orleans to American trade
• British trade restrictions:
– Britain resumed mercantilistic policy
– Meant if Americans wanted to sell (fish & lumber) to the British West Indies they had to go through British
merchants
• British kept forts on the American side of the border despite the Treaty of Paris & wouldn’t pay Americans for freed
slaves
– Said Americans weren’t honoring the Treaty—weren’t letting Loyalists have their land back or paying back
British merchants
Replacing the Articles
Weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation
• Poor foreign relations
– Spanish felt US threatened LA and MX, & closed New Orleans to American trade
– British restricted trade (mercantilist: had to go through British merchants to trade), kept forts on the
American soil despite the Treaty of Paris & wouldn’t pay for freed slaves
• Couldn’t establish common currency (money)
• Couldn’t regulate interstate trade (between states)
• Couldn’t levy taxes
• Without money, couldn’t pay off the war debt
• States only gave 1/6 of the money requested.
Shays’ Rebellion (1786)
• As the economy slowed down, creditors tried to collect the money owed them
• Most farmers were in debt, couldn’t pay their debt in cash
• Lawsuits were brought against them—they could lose their crops, animals & farms
• Led by Daniel Shays, war veteran, 1,000 Massachusetts farmers gathered weapons from a local armory and shut
down the courts to block the lawsuits.
• MA raised an army to put down the rebellion.
• Solutions? Some states suspended the lawsuits, most printed extra paper money.
• Showed the weakness of the Articles of Confederation
Drafting the Constitution
• After Shays’ Rebellion Americans wanted to strengthen the federal government
• Congress called for a convention to revise the Articles of Confederation
• Instead of doing this, the delegates created an entirely new constitution
The Constitutional Convention
• Originally called the “Federal Convention,” they were just supposed to amend the Articles
• By 1787, many agreed that the Articles needed to give Congress more power to:
– Regulate interstate and international commerce (trade)
– Tax the people
The Convention Begins
• Held at the Pennsylvania State House in Philadelphia, now called Independence Hall
• Began May 25, 1787 with 29 delegates; others arrived later. End with 55 men in September
• Proceedings were kept secret; kept the doors & windows closed despite the hot summer, why?
– So delegates could speak freely
• Decided each state got 1 vote, simple majority ruled
The Delegates’ Backgrounds
• White males, mostly wealthy (land owners), over half were lawyers (educated)
• Youngish (Ben Franklin was 81)
• Many had helped write their state’s constitution
• 7 had been governors, 21 fought in the American Revolution & 8 signed the Declaration of Independence
• Elected George Washington as the president of the convention
Leaders
• Alexander Hamilton
– Conservative, liked British constitution, with King & House of Lords
– Thought a government like Britain’s would have real power over citizens & impress other countries
• James Madison
– Also wanted a stronger nation to save the states from their runaway democracies
– Wanted a large republic (representative democracy) with educated men to lead
– “Father of the Constitution:” created blueprint for the Constitution & took notes during the convention
Drafting the Constitution
The Virginia Plan
• Proposed by James Madison; introduced by VA Gov. Edmund Randolph
• Separation of Power between three branches: legislative, executive & judicial
• Legislature would be bicameral
– # of seats in the House of Representatives & Senate would be based on state population (more
people=more representatives)
– Senate would be elected by lower house
– Would be able to tax & regulate commerce
• President would be strong: chosen by the legislative
– Elected for 7 years, could not be elected again
– Command armed forces and manage foreign relations
– Appoint executive & judicial officers with approval from Senate
• Preferred by large states or those who thought they would soon grow
The New Jersey Plan
• Introduced by William Paterson
• Congress would be able to tax & regulate commerce
• Legislature would remain unicameral (one house)
– Each state would have equal representation no matter the population
• Had an executive committee (part of the Congress), not a President
– Congress elects multiple people to act as the executive
• States remained sovereign
• Preferred by small states or those focused on state sovereignty
• Rejected by Convention
The Great Compromise (Connecticut Compromise)
• Convention had reached deadlock & small states threatened to leave
• Franklin convinced delegates to form a committee and come up with a compromise
• Roger Sherman of Connecticut found a compromise between VA and NJ plans
– John Dickenson of Delaware helped get the small states on board
• Took the VA Plan but adjusted representation
– Each state had equal representation in the Senate
– Representation would be based on population in the House of Representatives
The Three-Fifths Compromise
• Northerners wanted slaves counted for tax purposes, but not representation
• Southerners did not want slaves counted for taxes, but did want them counted for representation
– Worried about being dominated by northern states that had more free people
– Said slave system was necessary to southern economy
– Delegates from SC and GA threatened to leave the convention without constitutional protection of slavery
• Constitution protected slavery
– Congress could not stop the importation of slaves for 20 years
– Each slave would count as 3/5 a free person for representation purposes
• Slaves couldn’t vote, considered property
• Gave southern states more power than they would have had
– All states had to return fugitive slaves to their owners
Ratifying the Constitution
• Ratify: to officially approve a document
• Under the articles, all 13 states had to approve any change to government
– Convention delegates knew the new Constitution wouldn’t get approved if all 13 had to agree
– Said the Constitution would go into effect when 9 states ratified it
• Instead of having the state legislatures vote for ratification, they required specially elected conventions
– Why? The new Constitution limited state’s power, so why would the state legislatures vote to take away
their own power?
Federalists & Anti-Federalists
• Two groups emerged to debate whether to approve the new Constitution
• Federalists supported the Constitution & a strong, centralized government
– James Madison & Alexander Hamilton
– Believed the Articles had been too weak
• Antifederalists opposed the Constitution
– Believed they were defenders of the principles of the Revolution
– Samuel Adams & Patrick Henry
– Believed Constitution increased the central government’s power by too much
• Constitution lacked protection for people’s rights
• Would increase taxes & favor the wealthy
• Distant, far away leaders making all of the choices instead of local state governments
Federalists gain support
• Most Americans were farmers who didn’t want their state’s debt-relief laws to end (could lose farms)
– Distrusted lawyers, merchants & wealthy promoting the Constitution
– George Washington & Benjamin Franklin convinced some farmers to change their minds
– Western farmers supported the Constitution: strong national government to protect them from Native
Americans
• Federalists popular in cities: merchants & artisans thought the Constitution would expand commerce & get them out
of depression
– Newspapers printed in these cities also endorsed the Constitution
• Federalists coordinated their campaign to convince Americans, while Anti-Federalists struggled to make alliances
across state lines
The Federalist Papers
• Collection of 85 essays printed in NY newspapers
• Written anonymously by James Madison, Alexander Hamilton & John Jay (pen name Publius)
• Explained why the new Constitution should be approved as it was the best form of government
• Topics included a strong central government with separation of power into 3 branches and checks & balances to
keep any one branch from being too powerful
Ratifying the Constitution
Federalists make promises
• Constitution was ratified in 5 states (DE, PA, NJ GA & CT)
• To persuade moderate Anti-Federalists to ratify, Federalists promise to amend the Constitution
– Promise to add a Bill of Rights convinced 4 more states to ratify (MA, MD, SC & NH)
• VA and NY were the hardest to convince, but with their support the Constitution went into effect in 1789 (NC & RI
hadn’t signed)
• NYC was picked as the temporary capital, where the new Congress met
Bill of Rights (1791)
• The first 10 amendments to the Constitution
• Drafted by James Madison based off of state’s versions
• They guaranteed certain rights to individual people and states
– 1-9 protect civil & legal rights of individuals
– 10 protects state’s rights
Principles of the Constitution
Republicanism
• This meant representative democracy to the founding fathers
• The people express their will through elected representatives
• People voted for their state representatives & their Congressmen
• State representatives voted for US Senators and electors in the Electoral College
• Electoral College elects the President
Popular Sovereignty
• The people have the right to rule
• All government power comes from the people
• People elect their leaders & can reject/replace ones that serve poorly
Limited Government & Rule of Law
• The government can only do what the people allow (Const. lists what they may/may not do)
• Law applies to everyone, even the leaders
Separation of Power
• The division of authority into 3 branches: legislative, executive & judicial
• Idea from philosophe, Montesquieu
Checks & Balances
• To keep any one branch from becoming too powerful, each has ways to check (limit) and balance (even out) the
powers of the others.
Federalism
• Power is shared by the levels of government: federal & state
Enumerated / Expressed Powers
Concurrent Powers
Reserved Powers
Specifically given to the
Shared by both the federal and
Powers not given to the Federal government
Federal/National Government
state government
are kept by the states
Ex. Coin money, declare war
Ex. Taxing, enforcing laws
Ex. Elections, provide education
Supremacy Clause
• Found in Article VI (6) of the Constitution
• Says that the Constitution is the supreme law of the land
• Means that the federal government has a higher authority than state governments
Necessary & Proper Clause
• Also called the “elastic clause”
• Found in Article 1, Section 8, clause 18 of the Constitution
• Grants Congress power to pass laws on issues not stated in Constitution
• Creates “implied powers:” powers of the federal government not specifically listed in the Constitution