Unit Six: Creating a Nation The First National Government

The Land Ordinances The Confederation Congress had the job after the peace treaty to handle the organization, sell, and settlement of new lands acquired after the war. The territory gained was claimed by all the states bordering the Appalachians, but the states gave up their claims and the territory became national (public) domain to be dealt with and run by Congress. Congress first passed the Land Ordinance of 1785 for the surveying and selling of land North of the Ohio River called the Northwest Territory. (the money collected was used to run the government, because it could not tax)

The Land Ordinances The Ordinance of 1785 divided the lands up into six square mile blocks called a township with each township divided into 36 one mile square blocks. –The one mile square blocks could then be divided up further into acre sections The money made from the sell of section 16 of each township had to be used for the funding of public schools in each township. Thomas Jefferson said “If a nation expects to be ignorant and free in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be.” The community of Marietta (Ohio) was the first settlement and starting point for Western expansion.

Land Ordinance of 1785

The Land Ordinances Congress then passed the Land Ordinance of 1787 (Northwest Ordinance) which lumped the public domain north of the Ohio River into one large territory called the Northwest Territory. The Northwest territory was run by Congress who appointed a governor and three judges to enforce the laws. In the Northwest Territory slavery was not allowed, there was freedom of religion, and many more civil liberties.

The Land Ordinances The Northwest Ordinance also established the rules for statehood: –1.) Population reaches 5,000 voters a legislature can be formed. –2.) Population reaches 60,000 voters a constitutional convention can be held. –3.) Due to the Enabling Act of 1802, Congress then votes on the constitution and admits the territory as a new state or not. Each new state had to be a republican form of government and became a state equal to all the others. (Ohio was first in 1803 to be created out of the area)

The Critical Period In 1784 a Depression hit the new nation hard with many creditors (people who loan money) calling in the debts of debtors (people who owe money). The Confederation Congress also had many other problems to deal with. The first was trade problems with the British. The British refused to allow any exports from America, allow it to trade with any of its colonies, and also sold its product really cheap in America (called dumping) hurting American manufacturing.

The Critical Period The next problem was diplomatic problems abroad with foreign nations. The British refused to evacuate the forts along the Canadian border on U.S. soil. –John Adams was sent to deal with the issue, but the British were not moved. The Spanish refused American use of the Mississippi and the port of New Orleans, disputed the boundary of Florida, and also tried to get the Western settlers to join the Spanish Empire. –John Jay made an agreement with Don Diego de Gardoqui (Jay-Gardoqui Agreement) to get favorable trading if claims on Florida were giving up. (Congress did not pass it)

Disputed lands

The Critical Period Another was currency problems due to too many forms of currency in the market causing high inflation (Prices go up, value of money goes down). The different forms of currency included: –Continental Dollars – paper money issued by the Confederation Congress –Specie or hard money – coins made of gold or silver. –Independent currencies – paper money issued by each state, banks, businesses, and people.

The Critical Period In Rhode Island the government offered people a low interest rate who borrowed money, but printed too much money (making it worthless) This led to the court case Trevett v. Weeden, because Weeden refused to take the RI paper money from Trevett. The Supreme Court of RI agreed with Weeden stating that the law was unconstitutional. (first time in America)

The Critical Period In Massachusetts the state government placed a high property tax and said it could only be paid in specie, no paper money. Helped bankers, hurt farmers The farmers in the western part of the state did not have the money to pay, so courts began to seize farms, evict the farmers, and sell the land at auction. In response, all across the state farmers threaten tax collectors and judges not to convene their courts to keep the seizure of land from happening.

The Critical Period The protests came to a head when a small militia headed by Daniel Shays (Shay’s Rebellion) marched on the Supreme Court and shut the doors. The Governor of Mass., James Bowdoin sent a militia force that met Shay’s outside the Springfield arsenal and dispersed the mob. Most were pardoned even Shay, but some were hung for their “crime”.

Shay’s Rebellion Thomas Jefferson made the statement about it, “"The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.” Washington on the other hand said “Let us have a government by which our lives, liberties, and properties will be secured, or let us know the worst at once."

The Critical Period The domestic problems, foreign affairs, and fear of anarchy (no government at all) were seen as a need for a new stronger form of government to take the place of the A.O.C. The people who favored a stronger central government were called Nationalists and were made up of many of the founding fathers including, Washington, John Adams, James Madison, and Alexander Hamilton. The Nationalists held a meeting in Annapolis, Maryland called the Annapolis Convention in 1786 to rally support, but few delegates showed up.

The Critical Period The delegates at the Annapolis convention did agree to meet again in a year at Philadelphia in now Independence Hall to discuss the matter further. After Shay’s Rebellion and all the other problems affecting the nation, support for this meeting was better. The state governments sent delegates with the purpose of fixing the A.O.C., but they went one step further and created a new government based on the U.S. Constitution.