What were the long-term problems with the Articles of Confederation? Essential Question: What were the long-term problems with the Articles of Confederation? Warm-Up Question: Now that the Americans won the Revolutionary War & are now a free and independent country, what questions are still left to be answered? Lesson plan for Thursday, September 10, 2009: Warm-up, Notes, Closure Activity

The Articles of Confederation

The Articles of Confederation A pure democracy would put too much power in the hands of the “uneducated mob” When Americans declared independence in 1776, they needed to form a new government: They wanted to form a republic where citizens vote for elected leaders to represent them They wanted to protect citizens & individual states from a powerful national government The American republic would be a more “enlightened” version of the Roman Senate

Thirteen Independent States When independence was declared, the 13 colonies became independent states But, the USA needed a national gov’t to do things that states could not, like sign treaties & form a military Each state had its own constitution, legislature, & an elected governor; 8 states had Bills of Rights

The Articles of Confederation America’s 1st national gov’t was the Articles of Confederation (1777-1789) This “confederation” style gov’t loosely connected the states under a weak national government

To pass a law, 9 of the 13 states had to agree Each state could send between 2-7 representatives to the national congress, but each state had only 1 vote Government Structure To pass a law, 9 of the 13 states had to agree

But all other powers were left up to the states The national congress could make laws, settle disputes between states, negotiate treaties, handle Indian affairs, oversee a military Government Powers But all other powers were left up to the states

Americans did not want to re-create a powerful gov’t like the one they just fought the Revolutionary War to break away from Government Powers So, the national gov’t had no president & could not tax the states or citizens

Western Land Claims, 1783 Western Lands, 1783 The lands between the Appalachian Mountains & Mississippi River that were acquired from the British in 1783 were claimed by numerous states. Many of these land claims overlap. How should we solve this problem?

Successes of the Articles of Confederation

The Articles established a good system of settling western lands The United States, 1783 Areas of Settlement, 1783 The Articles established a good system of settling western lands

Western Land Claims Ceded by the States First, states had to cede (give up) their claims to lands in the west to the national gov’t The “West” presented a problem: Many states had overlapping land claims in the West Some “landless” states (MD, NJ, DE) wanted part of West & refused to ratify the Articles without this issue resolved The US gov’t negotiated treaties with Indians to gain land in Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky

Congress passed the Land Ordinance of 1785 to create an orderly way to divide the west into townships & farms Selling western lands was the only way the national gov’t could generate money since it did not have the power to tax

Section 16 of the each township was set aside for a public school Land Ordinance of 1785 Section 16 of the each township was set aside for a public school

The Northwest Ordinance The Northwest Ordinance of 1787 gave government to the territories: When a territory had 5,000 residents, it could create a self-governing legislature When a territory had 60,000 residents, it could apply to become a U.S. state Slavery was outlawed in the NW 13

Closure Questions The Articles of Confederation were created intentionally weak What powers does the national government have? What powers do the individual state governments have? What problems do you predict will occur because of these political weaknesses?

What were the long-term problems with the Articles of Confederation? Essential Question: What were the long-term problems with the Articles of Confederation? Warm-Up Question: Why did the early American leaders develop a national government as weak as the Articles of Confederation? Lesson plan for Friday, September 11, 2009: Warm-up, HA! Weaknesses of Articles activity, Notes, Closure Activity

Weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation Activity

The Weaknesses of the Articles The Articles of Confederation was America’s 1st form of gov’t: The weakness of the national gov’t was originally seen as good because it eliminated tyranny Later, these same weaknesses kept the gov’t from solving serious national problems

Economic Problems The inability of the government to collect taxes led to problems: America could not pay off debts from the Revolutionary War Property foreclosures led an uprising among Massachusetts farmers called Shays’ Rebellion in 1787 but the gov’t could not pay for an army to stop it 15

U.S. Trade with Britain, 1783-1789 Debt

Shay’s Rebellion in western Massachusetts Shays’ Rebellion proved to be the convincing event that led to the Constitutional Convention of 1787 Poor farmers in western MA were angered over high taxes & prospect of debtors jail Daniel Shays led an uprising & closed debt courts & threatened a federal arsenal In 1786, nearly 2,000 debtor farmers in western Massachusetts were threatened with foreclosure of their mortgaged property. The state legislature had voted to pay off the state's Revolutionary War debt in three years; between 1783 and 1786, taxes on land rose more than 60 percent. Desperate farmers demanded a cut in property taxes and adoption of state laws to postpone farm foreclosures. The lower house of the state legislature passed relief measures in 1786, but creditors persuaded the upper house to reject the package. When lower courts started to seize the property of farmers such as Daniel Shays, a Revolutionary War veteran, western Massachusetts farmers temporarily closed the courts and threatened a federal arsenal. Although the rebels were defeated by the state militia, they were victorious at the polls. A new legislature elected early in 1787 enacted debt relief. By the spring of 1787, many national leaders believed that the new republic's survival was at risk. The threat of national bankruptcy, commercial conflicts among the states, Britain's refusal to evacuate military posts, Spanish intrigues on the western frontier, and armed rebellion in western Massachusetts underscored the weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation. The only solution, many prominent figures were convinced, was to create an effective central government led by a strong chief executive.

America’s First National Government: The Articles of Confederation 34a - explain how weaknesses in the Articles of Confederation and Daniel Shays' Rebellion led to a call for a stronger central government

Weaknesses of the Articles After Shays’ Rebellion, people like Hamilton & Madison began calling for a stronger national gov’t In 1787, delegates met in Philadelphia to discuss ways to improve the Articles Instead of revising the Articles of Confederation, the delegates replaced it with the Constitution 15

Closure Activity In his speech to the students of America, President Obama reminded us that failure isn’t necessarily a bad thing, as long as we learn from our mistakes What lessons did Americans need to learn from the failures of the Articles of Confederation? How might this early failure have been a good thing?