The Founding Of Our Government From a “Firm League of Friendship” to one nation Image Courtesy of

Articles of Confederation What was were the former colonies like after the Revolution? What was the point of the Articles of Confederation? What were its problems? Image Courtesy of

What Were the Former Colonies Like After the Revolution? The former colonies considered themselves 13 individual “countries.” Interestingly, they used the word “states” to mean “countries.” The surrender at Yorktown. Image Courtesy of

What Were the Former Colonies Like After the Revolution? The 13 “countries” realized that they were weak, and needed each other’s support. –After all, England could return at anytime to crush them. They decided to create an “emergency” government to help all of the 13 countries. They still considered themselves as independent, although they now were part of a “Firm League of Friendship.” Patrick Henry addressing the 2 nd Continental Congress. Image Courtesy of now/images/ jpg

What Was This “Emergency Government?” As part of this “Firm League of Friendship,” the 13 “countries” decided to use the 2 nd Continental Congress as a starting point. This government could not have too much power over each “country.” All the former colonies were so afraid of a government with too much power that they decided to set up some guidelines and rules. These “guidelines” became known as the Articles of Confederation (November, 1777). Delegates leaving Congress. Image Courtesy of features/see_it_now/images/ jpg

What Could Congress Do Under the Articles of Confederation? Almost NOTHING!

The Few Things Congress Could Do Under the Articles of Confederation Congress could make treaties with other countries outside of the U.S. Congress could declare war. Congress could keep an army and navy. Congress could make money. Congress could set up a postal service. Congress could pass laws after 9 out of 13 states agree.

The Things Congress Could Not Do Under the Articles of Confederation Congress could not raise money by collecting taxes. Congress could not control how states did business with other countries. While Congress could pass laws, they could not force the states to agree and enforce them.

So basically... Our Congress could declare war, but it could not raise taxes to pay for it, right? “AYE!”

So basically... Our Congress could pass laws, but it could not force the states to follow them, right? “AYE!”

So basically... Our Congress could make a treaty saying that the 13 “countries” would only buy hats from France, but if Rhode Island wanted to buy hats from Spain, it could do it anyways, right? “AYE!”

So basically... This was an efficient government that could get things done effectively, right? “Nay!”

So it’s pretty clear The Articles of Confederation was NOT effective. Image Courtesy of

Constitutional Convention In 1787, delegates from each “country” decided to meet in Philadelphia to fix and revise the Articles of Confederation. Image Courtesy of

Constitutional Convention (1787) After arguing about what fixes to make, the delegates slowly started thinking that the “emergency government” just might need to have more power. Instead of calling it a “National” government (because that simply caused people to think back to the terrible days under King George and the Parliament) they started calling this a “Federal” Government. They soon also realized that the Articles of Confederation should just be tossed. They would just start over. Image Courtesy of

Federal? NO WAY! While many delegates increasingly felt like we needed a Federal government, not just an emergency government, others wanted to keep most of the powers with the states. There were many arguments, but the “Federalists” eventually won. One of the Revolution’s most famous heroes became an famous anti-federalist, a man who hated the idea of all the states united into one nation... Who was he? A drawing of Federalists and Anti-Federalists Debating The future of our country. Image courtesy of

Famous Anti-Federalist Patrick Henry was an anti-Federalist and did not want to see a “united” set of states form one country. He did not want to see too much power in the national government. He felt that the government might one day abuse its powers to take advantage of Americans.

Patrick Henry

Constitutional Convention (1787) TWO Virginian documents influenced the thinking of our American leaders as they planned the Constitution. –Virginia Declaration of Rights, written by George Mason –Statute of Religious Freedom, written by Thomas Jefferson George Mason wrote the VA Declaration of Rights to list the basic rights of people. Thomas Jefferson summarized these rights in the Declaration of Independence. Mason’s work was also used in the Constitution to clearly describe American freedoms and rights. Image courtesy of In addition to the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson also wrote the Virginia Statute of Religious Freedom, which basically claimed that people should have the right to worship whichever religion they choose. This idea also influenced the Constitutional Convention as they discussed the basic rights of Americans. Image Courtesy of pageone_files/image005.jpg

Constitutional Convention (1787) In the end, after all the anger and arguments, it was agreed that there would be a federal government. BUT, that was not even the worst argument they all had to handle... Image Courtesy of

What was the worst argument over? How would states be represented? How many representatives would each state be able to send?

The VIRGINIA Plan Virginia submitted the Virginia Plan that suggested having states with more populations send more representatives. Smaller states knew that this wouldn’t be fair to them. –After all, if big Virginia got to vote 20 times to pick on of tiny Rhode Island, Rhode Island’s 1 vote would be unable to stop this unfair action. A copy of the Virginia Plan that gave states with more people more representatives. Image courtesy of

The NEW JERSEY Plan The smaller states came up with their own plan called the New Jersey Plan. The New Jersey Plan suggested having each state send equal numbers of representatives –For example: If they decided that everybody would send 2 representatives, then Virginia and Rhode Island would both send 2, no matter who had more people living in their state. Smaller states got together to fight the Virginia Plan by proposing the New Jersey Plan Image Courtesy of

The Arguments lasted for what seemed like F-O-R-E-V-E-R! They argued to the point many delegates began considering the convention a total failure. Many of our founding fathers wanted to quit designing our new country over this issue. UNBELIEVABLE!

James Madison Luckily, James Madison sat quietly on the side taking notes of this whole argument. He slowly designed a compromise. James Madison Image Courtesy of

The Great Compromise The Great Compromise saved the country. Madison suggested using BOTH the Virginia Plan AND the New Jersey Plan. The government could have TWO houses, 1) The House of Representatives would be like the Virginia Plan, based on population. 2) The Senate would be like the New Jersey Plan. There would only be 2 senators elected to represent each state. James Madison Image Courtesy of assets/aa/madison/aa_madison_subj_e.jpg

The Great Compromise Any bill that is passed by the House of Representatives must then be passed by the Senate. Only AFTER both houses have passed a bill will the president have the chance to look at it. House of Representatives. Started with the Virginia Plan. Image Courtesy of encyclopedia/US_House_ Committee.jpg U.S. Senate. Started with the New Jersey Plan. Image Courtesy of history/art/resources/graphic/ xlarge/38_00004.jpg