Norton Media Library Founding a Nation, 1783–1789 Chapter 7 Eric Foner

I. Ratification Celebrations

II. America under the Articles of Confederation The first written constitution of the United States One-house Congress No president No judiciary The only powers granted to the national government were those for declaring war, conducting foreign affairs, and making treaties Congress established national control over land to the west of the thirteen states and devised rules for its settlement

II. America under the Articles of Confederation (con’t) Congress and the West In the immediate aftermath of independence, Congress took the position that by aiding the British, Indians had forfeited the right to their lands Congress was unsure how to regulate the settlement of western land

II. America under the Articles of Confederation (con’t) Settlers and the West Peace brought rapid settlement into frontier areas The Ordinance of 1784 established stages of self-government for the West The Ordinance of 1785 regulated land sales in the region north of the Ohio River Like the British before them, American officials found it difficult to regulate the thirst for new land The Northwest Ordinance of 1787 established policy that admitted the area’s population as equal members of the political system

II. America under the Articles of Confederation (con’t) The Confederation’s Weaknesses The war created an economic crisis that the government, under the Articles of Confederation, could not adequately address With Congress unable to act, the states adopted their own economic policies Shays’s Rebellion Facing seizure of their land, debt-ridden farmers closed the courts Invoked liberty trees and liberty poles Shays’s Rebellion demonstrated the need for a more central government to ensure private liberty

II. America under the Articles of Confederation (con’t) Nationalists of the 1780s Nation builders like James Madison and Alexander Hamilton called for increased national authority The concerns voiced by critics of the Articles found a sympathetic hearing among men who had developed a national consciousness during the Revolution It was decided that a new constitution was needed to avoid either anarchy or monarchy

III. A New Constitution The Structure of Government The most prominent men took part in the Constitutional Convention wealthy well educated The Constitution was to create a legislature, an executive, and a national judiciary The key to stable, effective republican government was finding a way to balance the competing claims of liberty and power A final compromise was agreed upon based on the Virginia and New Jersey plans

III. A New Constitution (con’t) The Limits of Democracy The Constitution did not set federal voting qualifications The new government was based upon a limited democracy, ensuring only prominent men holding office Neither the president nor federal judges were elected by popular vote The system was confusing

III. A New Constitution (con’t) The Division and Separation of Powers The Constitution embodies federalism and a system of “checks and balances” Federalism refers to the relationship between the national government and the states The “separation of powers” or the system of “checks and balances” refers to the way the Constitution seeds to prevent any branch of the national government from dominating the other two

III. A New Constitution (con’t) The Debate over Slavery Slavery divided the delegates The words “slave” and “slavery” did not appear in the Constitution but it did provide for slavery The South Carolinian delegates proved very influential in preserving slavery within the Constitution Congress prohibited the slave trade in 1808 The fugitive slave clause accorded slave laws “extraterritoriality” The federal government could not interfere with slavery in the states Slave states had more power due to the three-fifths clause

III. A New Constitution (con’t) The Final Document Delegates signed the final draft on September 17, 1787 The Constitution created a new framework for American development

IV. The Ratification Debate and the Origin of the Bill of Rights The Federalist Nine of the thirteen states had to ratify the document The Federalist was published to generate support for ratification Hamilton argued that government was an expression of freedom, not its enemy

IV. The Ratification Debate and the Origin of the Bill of Rights (con’t) “Extend the Sphere” Madison had a new vision of the relationship between government and society in Federalist Papers 10 and 51 Madison argued that the large size of the United States was a source of stability, not weakness Madison helped to popularize the “liberal” idea that men are generally motivated by self-interest, and that the good of society arises from the clash of these private interests

IV. The Ratification Debate and the Origin of the Bill of Rights (con’t) The Anti-Federalists Anti-Federalists opposed ratification They argued that the republic had to be small and warned that the Constitution would result in a government of oppression Liberty was the Anti-Federalists’ watchword Argued for a Bill of Rights Anti-Federalists did not have as much support as the Federalists did Madison promised a Bill of Rights Only Rhode Island and North Carolina voted against ratification

IV. The Ratification Debate and the Origin of the Bill of Rights (con’t) Madison initially believed a Bill of Rights was pointless Madison introduced a Bill of Rights to the first Congress They defined the “unalienable rights” of the Declaration of Independence Some amendments reflected English roots, while others were uniquely American Among the most important rights were freedom of speech and the press, vital building blocks of a democratic public sphere

V. We the People National Identity The Constitution identifies three populations inhabiting the United States Indians “other persons” “people” Only “people” were entitled to American freedom American nationality combined both civic and ethnic definitions

V. We the People (con’t) Indians in the New Nation Indian tribes had no representation in the new government Treaty system was used with Indians and Congress forbade the transfer of Indian land without federal approval Battle of Fallen Timbers led to the Treaty of Greenville in 1795 Some prominent Americans believed that Indians could assimilate into society Assimilation meant transforming traditional Indian life

V. We the People (con’t) Blacks and the Republic The status of citizenship for free blacks was left to individual states Crèvecoeur’s Letters from an American Farmer described America as a melting pot of Europeans Like Crèvecoeur, many white Americans excluded blacks from their conception of the American people The Naturalization Act of 1790 was limited to “free white persons”

V. We the People (con’t) Jefferson, Slavery, and Race John Locke and others maintained “reason” was essential to having liberty Blacks were not rational beings Jefferson’s Notes on the State of Virginia Jefferson did not think any group was fixed permanently in a status of inferiority He did not believe black Americans would stay in America Freeing the slaves without removing them from the country would endanger the nation’s freedom

V. We the People (con’t) Principles of Freedom The Revolution widened the divide between free Americans and those who remained in slavery “We the people” increasingly meant white Americans

Western Lands, 1782–1802 • pg. 240 Western Lands, 1782–1802

The Northwest Ordinance of 1787 • pg. 243

Ratification of the Constitution • pg. 256

Indian Tribes, 1790 • pg. 262 Indian Tribes, 1790

Table 7.1 • pg. 265 top

Table 7.1 • pg. 265 bottom

fig07_01.jpg Pages 234–35: The Signing of the Constitution, by the mid-nineteenth century American artist Thomas Pritchard Rossiter, depicts the conclusion of the Constitutional Convention of 1787. Among the founding fathers depicted are James Wilson, signing the document at the table in the center, and George Washington, presiding from the dais with an image of the sun behind him. Credit: Independence National Historical Park.

fig07_03.jpg Page 238: A map of the newly independent United States, engraved in London five months after the signing of the Treaty of Paris in 1783. The map indicates the location of Indian tribes, as well as the indeterminate western boundaries of some of the seaboard states. The decoration depicts, beneath the American flag, George Washington alongside Liberty with her liberty cap. On the right is Benjamin Franklin, assisted by Justice and Wisdom, drafting the treaty. Credit: I.N. Stokes Collection, Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints, and Photographs, The New York Public Library; Astor, Lenox, and Tilden Foundations.

fig07_05.jpg Page 244: A Bankruptcy Scene. Creditors repossess the belongings of a family unable to pay its debts,while a woman weeks in the background. Popular fears of bankruptcy led several states during the 1780s to pass laws postponing the collection of debts. Credit: Print Collection, Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints, and Photographs, The New York Public Library; Astor, Lenox, and Tilden Foundations.

fig07_06.jpg Page 245 (top): James Madison, "father of the Constitution," a miniature portrait by Charles Willson Peale, painted in 1783. Madison was only thirty-six when the Constitutional Convention met. Credit: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, LC-USZC4-4098.

fig07_07.jpg Page 245 (bottom): Alexander Hamilton, another youthful leader of the nationalists of the 1780s, was born in the West Indies in 1755. This portrait was painted by Charles Willson Peale in the early 1790s. Credit: Independence National Historical Park.

fig07_08.jpg Page 246: A fifty-dollar note issued by the Continental Congress during the War of Independence. Congress's inability to raise funds to repay such paper money in gold or silver was a major reason why nationalists desired a stronger federal government. Credit: New York Public Library.

fig07_09.jpg Page 247: The Philadelphia State House (now called Independence Hall), where the Declaration of Independence was signed in 1776 and the Constitutional Convention took place in 1787. Credit: Library of Congress Rare Book & Special Collections Division.

fig07_13.jpg Page 260: An engraving and poem, published in 1788 in an American newspaper, after New York became the eleventh state to ratify the new Constitution. North Carolina would ratify in 1789 and Rhode Island in 1790. Credit: Library of Congress.

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Give Me Liberty! An American History End chap. 7 W. W. Norton & Company Independent and Employee-Owned This concludes the Norton Media Library Slide Set for Chapter 7 Give Me Liberty! An American History by Eric Foner