Essential Question Essential Question: –What were the long-term problems with the Articles of Confederation? Warm-Up Question: Warm-Up Question: –Now that the Americans have won the Revolutionary War, what major decisions must now be answered?

The Articles of Confederation

When Americans declared independence in 1776, they needed to form a new government: republic –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 A pure democracy would put too much power in the hands of the “uneducated mob” 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 Each state had its own constitution, legislature, & an elected governor; 8 states had Bills of Rights But, the USA needed a national gov’t to do things that states could not, like sign treaties & form a military

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

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

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

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

Successes of the Articles of Confederation

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 cede (give up) their claims to lands in the west to the national gov’t

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

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

The Northwest Ordinance Northwest Ordinance of 1787 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

Essential Question Essential Question: –What were the long-term problems with the Articles of Confederation? Warm-Up Question: Warm-Up Question: –Why did U.S. leaders create such a weak national gov’t when they made the Articles of Confederation?

Weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation Activity

The Weaknesses of the Articles The Articles of Confederation was America’s 1 st form of gov’t: –The weakness 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 Shays’ Rebellion –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

U.S. Trade with Britain, Debt

Shay’s Rebellion in western Massachusetts 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 the Shays’ Rebellion proved to be the convincing event that led to the Constitutional Convention of 1787

America’s First National Government: The Articles of Confederation

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