The Confederation Era The Articles of Confederation were too weak to govern the nation after the war ended

Key Vocabulary Wilderness Road Republic Articles of Confederation Land Ordinance of 1785 Northwest Territory Northwest Ordinance Shays’s Rebellion

I am here for the Horse Race  The Wilderness Road was the main road into Kentucky  Kentucky was rich in natural resources and had few Native Americans  By ,000 settlers had moved to Kentucky and further west

Going public…again  After the war, people wanted to keep the governments that ran the colonies  Some state governments turned to democracy and separate branches of government  Some States created a bill of rights for their government patterned after the English Bill of Rights  All state Governments Became republics with a representative form of Government

A True Article  The continental congress looked to set up a national government after the war  Debates about representation and control of the western Appalachian territory divided the congress  The Articles of Confederation created a weak national government run by a confederation congress where each state had one vote  The Government could wage war, make peace, sign treaties and issue money

I smell a RAT…ifying  The states controlled taxes and controlled the land around the Appalachian mountains  The Articles were passed in 1777 but smaller states would not ratify them  Smaller states were at a disadvantage because they could not use the Appalachian territory to settle war debts  After the Appalachian issue was settled the Articles of Confederation gave the United States a National Government

Laws of the Lands Land Ordinance of 1785  Divided land into 6 square mile townships  The lands would be known as the Northwest Territory  NW Territory included Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin, and parts of Minnesota Northwest Ordinance  Described how the NW Territory would be governed and Self- governed  When a territory had 5000 men they could create a government selected by men who owned 50 acres of land  When a Territory had 60,000 men they could become a state

More Laws of the Land  NW Ordinance set laws for settlers rights and outlawed slavery in the territory  Rivers in the Territory were free to navigate and freedom of religion and trial by jury were guaranteed  The NW Ordinance set the United States up for Orderly controlled growth

Volunteer Amries??  The confederation Congress could not govern all the post-revolutionary problems in the country  After the war The government was in debt and could not pay the soldiers of the war  In Pennsylvania, Soldiers stormed the state congress forcing its members to flee

State of Confusion  The confederation congress was shown to be extremely weak  The National Congress could not pay the soldiers because states did not contribute taxes  People in Individual states also became upset with the weak governments in the states

MORE…MORE…MORE**  High Taxes in Massachusetts forced many farmers into debt  People in debt had property auctioned off or were jailed  When farmers were refused Debt Relief they rebelled against the Government  When the 1,500 rebels stormed the state arsenal, 900 soldiers fought them off  Shays’s Rebellion was unsuccessful but forced the national Government to change to prevent future rebellions

This has been another World Famous Mr. Green PowerPoint Presentation Welcome to 2011!!