Creating the Constitution
The Articles of Confederation
• During the Revolution, the
new United States needed a
functioning government
• Modeled after colonial
governments
• States would retain
sovereignty
• Founders were fearful of
concentrated power due to
past experience with the
British
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A Limited Government
• Articles established a “firm
league of friendship” among
the states
• Bills were passed on nine of
thirteen votes
• Amending the Articles took
unanimous consent of the
states
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Structure of Government
• Unicameral (single house)
legislative body
• Each state had one vote
regardless of population size
• Congress given sole
authority to govern the
country
• An executive committee
oversaw government when
Congress was not in session
• Congress would establish
temporary courts to hear
disputes among the states
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Powers Granted to Government
under the Articles of Confederation
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Declare war and make peace
Make treaties with foreign countries
Establish an army and navy
Appoint high-ranking military officials
Requisition, print, and borrow money
Establish weights and measures
Hear disputes among the states related to trade or boundaries
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Powers Denied to Government
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No power to raise funds for an army or navy
No power to tax, impose tariffs, or collect duties
No executive branch to enforce laws
No power to control trade among the states
No power to force states to honor obligations
No power to regulate the value of currency
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Accomplishments of the Articles
of Confederation
• Administered the seven-year
war effort
• Negotiated the Treaty of
Paris with Britain in 1783
• Established the Northwest
Ordinance of 1787
Map of the land settled in the
Northwest Ordinance of 1787
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Problems Facing the New Nation
• Trade with
foreign nations
• Financing the
nation
• Foreign
relations
• Interstate
relations
A 1783 cartoon satirizing relations
between Britain and America
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Problems Facing the New Nation:
You Decide
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Trade with foreign nations
Financing the nation
Foreign relations
Interstate relations
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Problems with Trade
• U.S. no longer the favorite trading partner of Great Britain
– U.S. exports to British ports had to be on British ships
– Many U.S.-produced goods were barred from British ports
– Britain sent vast amounts of cheap goods to U.S.
• Potential Remedy
– Establish a tariff on British goods
• Weakness in Articles of Confederation preventing this solution
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Problems Financing the Nation
• Post-war debt owed to U.S. citizens and foreign nations
• Printing of Continental Dollars caused inflation
• Economic depression due to loss of trade, decreased value of
the dollar, and increased state taxes
• Potential Remedies
– Pass a tax law to raise revenue to pay debt
– Force states to stop printing paper money
• Weakness in Articles of Confederation preventing these
solutions
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Problems in Foreign Relations
• British passed Navigation Acts to destroy American shipping
industry
• Spain restricted access to Mississippi River and New Orleans
• British troops occupied portions of the NW Territory
• Barbary Pirates freely preyed on U.S. shipping
• Potential Remedies
– Raise an army to force foreign governments to comply with
treaty
– Raise a navy to protect American merchant ships
• Weakness in Articles of Confederation preventing these
solutions
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Problems with Interstate Relations
• States placed trade restrictions on neighboring states
• State legislatures were not meeting their financial obligations
to the nation or treaty obligations to British citizens
• States didn’t honor court decisions regarding territory disputes
• Potential Remedies
– Pass laws to control interstate trade
– Force states to comply with financial and treaty obligations
• Weakness in Articles of Confederation preventing these
solutions
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1781–1789: The Critical Period
• Postwar breakdown in social
and economic systems made
problems worse
• Lack of power made the
national government
ineffective
• The creators of the Articles
had emphasized state
sovereignty, not national
unity
1786 American coat of arms
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Trouble in Massachusetts
• Debt problems hit Massachusetts farmers
• Economic depression and lack of remedy from state
legislatures increases frustration
Boston in
1787
Shays’s Rebellion
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Daniel Shays led a band of farmers to stop farm
foreclosures
Rebellion quickly broken up but became a wake-up
call to many leaders
Caricatures of
Daniel Shays and
Job Shattuck, leaders
of the rebellion
A Need for Change
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Many felt the problems were local and required local
solutions
Several leaders saw problems were national in scope
They met at Annapolis to discuss problems of interstate trade
Pushed for a convention to address the weaknesses of the
Articles
Congress agreed to call a convention with a mandate to
“revise” the Articles
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The Constitution’s Origins
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Ancient Greece and Rome
The theories of the Enlightenment
Evolution of English government
The colonial experience
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Historical Influences on the
Constitution
Classical learning of the Greeks and Romans
The Greeks
• Value of citizenship
• Role of the people in government
• Divided functions of government
The Romans
• Laws based on equity
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and justice
The Enlightenment
• Locke, Montesquieu,
Rousseau
• Political ideas
– The people are sovereign
– Government is a contract
between the people and
the government
– People possess natural
rights of life, liberty and
property
– If government abuses its
power, the people can take
it back
Rousseau
Locke
Montesquieu
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English Influences
Magna Carta (1215)
Petition of Right
(1628)
English Bill of
Rights (1689)
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The Magna Carta—1215
• English barons meet with
King John at Runnymede
• No taxation without consent
• Respect property rights
• Follow due process in legal
matters
• No unjust punishment
• Abide by the rule of law
King John places his seal on Magna Carta
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Petition of Right—1628
• Origins of Parliament
• Similar provisions as found
in Magna Carta
• Also includes
– No quartering of troops
in people’s homes
– No martial law in peace
time
King Charles I
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The English Bill of Rights
• William and Mary became the monarchs of England under the
English Bill of Rights
• Agreed to respect the rights of citizens and rule by the laws of
Parliament
– Supremacy of Parliament
– The king could not suspend laws without Parliament’s
consent
– Citizens had the right to petition the government
– Members of Parliament were to be elected by the people
– Sessions of Parliament were to be held frequently
– Parliament would regulate the army in times of peace
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Colonial Influences
• 1619: Virginia establishes the first representative Government
• 1630: Mayflower Compact sets down the principle of majority
rule and voluntarily agreeing to be governed
• 1639: Fundamental Orders of Connecticut establishes that
political agreements are written down
• Colonial charters limited
the power of the government
to preserve people’s rights
• Cases like that of John
Peter Zenger established
precedents for freedom
and liberty
The Mayflower Compact
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The Declaration of Independence
A. The people are sovereign
B. Government is a contract
between the people and the
government
C. People possess natural rights
of life, liberty and property
D. If government abuses its
power, the people can
take it back
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The Philadelphia Convention
Delegates at the Federal Convention—1787
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The Delegates
• Delegates who attended
• Qualifications and experience
• Occupations
George Washington
Benjamin Franklin
James Madison
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The Delegates (continued)
• Collective beliefs and philosophies of the delegates
• Importance of those who weren’t there
Not in attendance
Thomas Jefferson
Patrick Henry
Samuel Adams
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The Convention Begins
• Delayed beginning
• Proceedings conducted in secret
• Delegates decide to discuss all matters of government, not just
revisions to the Articles
Philadelphia in
1787
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The Virginia Plan
• Proposed a strong
national government
• Three active branches
of government
– Legislative
– Executive
– Judicial
• Two-house Congress
with proportional
representation
Edmund Randolph
Gouverneur Morris
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Central Questions
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What powers should the government have?
How much power should the government be given?
Equal representation seen as undemocratic
Proportional representation thought to favor only large states
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The New Jersey Plan
• Single-house legislature
• Equal representation
• Plural executive elected by
Congress
• Supreme Court chosen by
executive
• Acts by Congress and
treaties superior to state law
William Paterson
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The Debate Rages On
• Battle over
representation and
apportionment
continues
• Other matters debated
and decided
Illustration of
Benjamin
Franklin
speaking at
the
convention
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The Great Compromise
• The House would have proportional representation
• The Senate would have equal representation
The hall of the House of
Representatives
The Senate building
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Compromises between Northern
and Southern States
• Three-fifths of slave populations would be included in
determining House representation
• The South agreed to allow Congress to have the power to pass
tariffs
• The North agreed not to
interfere with slave
importation for 20 years
• Compromises avoided making
slavery an issue for debate
• Framers ended up merely
postponing a national calamity
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Limits on Democracy
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Delegates wanted to limit democracy
Plan to indirectly elect the president
Federal judiciary made an appellate court
Power to declare any law unconstitutional not stated, but
implied
The Philadelphia
state house around
the time of the
Constitutional
Convention
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Major Features and Innovations
• Separation of powers
• Checks and balances
• Limits on direct
democracy
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Major Features and
Innovations (continued)
• Supremacy clause
• Federalism
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Major Features and
Innovations (continued)
• Amendments
• Ratification process
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Signing the Constitution
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Review Questions
• Why was the Constitutional Convention called?
• Why did the delegates decide not to amend the Articles of
Confederation?
• What was the basic organization for government proposed in
the Virginia Plan?
• Why was the New Jersey plan rejected by the majority of the
delegates?
• Why did the delegates spend so much time and energy on the
apportionment for representation in the Congress?
• What were the delegates’ general views on democracy for the
people, and how were they reflected in some of the provisions
of the Constitution?
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The Struggle for Ratification
• Congress agrees to send the Constitution to the states
• Ratification procedure called for direct input from the people
and not the state legislatures or Congress
• Two distinct views emerged:
– The Federalists
– The Anti-Federalists
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Federalists
• Who were the Federalists?
• Central government essential
• Believed the Constitution addressed all the shortcomings of
the Articles
• Provisions in place to check government’s power
Alexander Hamilton
James Madison
John Jay
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Anti-Federalists
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Who were the Anti-Federalists?
Central government had too much power
The “distant” government would neglect their needs
The Constitution favored the wealthy and commercial classes
No protection of individual liberties
Richard Henry Lee
Patrick Henry
Samuel Adams
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The Federalists’ “Hard Sell”
• Argued that the
Constitution adequately
addressed the country’s
problems
• The Federalist Papers
provided sound, reasoned
arguments
• Portrayed the
Constitution as the
best—and only—plan
available
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Early Battles for Ratification
• Delaware, New Jersey, Georgia, and Connecticut
• Battles in Pennsylvania and Massachusetts
Cartoon satirizing
events in
Connecticut at the
time of the state’s
ratification
convention
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The Ratification Battle
in Virginia
• Famous figures on both sides of the debate
• Maryland, South Carolina ratify by the time the Virginia
convention opens
• New Hampshire ratifies
while the convention
is going on
• Virginia ratifies the
Constitution by a slim
margin soon afterward
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Pro-Constitution cartoon
The Final States Ratify
• New York
• North Carolina ratifies in November of 1789
• Rhode Island ratifies in May of 1790
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Creation of a Bill of Rights
• Initially, the Constitution had no bill of rights
• Briefly mentioned during the federal convention but rejected
• During the ratification conventions, it became clear a bill of
rights was desired
• Federalists agreed to include a bill of rights
• Bill of Rights drafted and approved in the first Congress in
1789
• Approved by the people through the amendment process in
1791
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The Promise in the Bill of Rights
• Written rights don’t guarantee rights
• The Bill of Rights continued the dialogue on liberty and
freedom discussed at the Federal convention
• 14th amendment: Federal and
state governments are held
accountable to not violate
people’s rights
• Democracy is best practiced
by people defending their rights
• The Supreme Court serves as the
forum for continued dialogue over
people’s rights and freedoms
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