CH 8 NOTES Confederation to Constitution, 1776–1791 Section 1: The Confederation Era

Main Idea: *The Articles of Confederation were too weak to govern the nation after the war ended.

Why It Matters Now *The weakness of the Articles of Confederation led to the writing of the U.S. Constitution.

Moving West *Some Americans thought of Kentucky as the wild frontier. *Others, were attracted to the rich river valleys – saw opportunity * Daniel Boone and 30 woodsmen cut Wilderness Road over the Appalachian Mountains stretching 250 miles!

Moving West * Conflict w/Natives – settlers continued to move West. *By 1790s, about 100,000 Americans lived in the Kentucky region. *While settlers headed into the Western territories, the people in the East began to create new state governments.

New State Governments *After declaring independence, each state created its own government. *Some states created separate branches of government, giving different powers to different branches. *They did this hoping to prevent the government from becoming too powerful.

New State Governments *Some states included a bill of rights to help control government. *All state governments were republics—people chose representatives to govern them.

The Articles of Confederation *What was this? Plan for national gov’t. *Gave national gov’t. few powers to avoid tyranny, or oppressive rule. *Had the power to: wage war, make peace, sign treaties, and issue money. *Each state had 1 vote in Congress.

The Articles of Confederation *States had the most important powers - setting taxes and enforcing national laws. *Leave states in control of lands west of App. Mts. *Continental Congress passed the Articles of Confederation in November *In 1778, 8 states ratified (approved), small states refuse to sign.

The Articles of Confederation *Large states with western lands had an advantage in paying debts by selling the land to the west (map pg. 207). *All states gave up their claims to Western lands over the next three years and the articles were ratified in *Result? The U.S. finally had an official government! Wow!

The Northwest Ordinance *What was Congress supposed to do with the Western lands that it now controlled? *Congress passed important laws on how to divide and govern these lands. *The Land Ordinance of 1785 divided Western lands into townships. *These lands were known as the Northwest Territory.

The Northwest Ordinance *Northwest Ordinance (1787) described how territory was governed:  As the territory grew in population, it would gain rights to self-government.  Slavery was outlawed.  Rivers were open to be navigated by all.  Freedom of religion.  Trial by jury.

Why is the Northwest Ordinance important? *When pop. reached 60,000, territory could apply to be a state. *The Northwest Ordinance was important because it set a pattern for the orderly growth of the United States.

Weaknesses of the Articles *The U.S. government ( ) under the Articles were weak in the following areas:  Lacked power to enforce laws.  Lacked power to levy taxes.  Lacked power to regulate trade among the states.  Required all 13 states to approve changes in the Articles. Yikes!

Weaknesses of the Articles *The Rev. War left the U.S. government with huge debts. *The Articles of Confederation do not give Congress the power to charge taxes (no money coming in). *Congress was unable to pay soldiers and the soldiers rioted.

Shays’s Rebellion *In the mid-1780s, Massachusetts (Mass.) faced economic problems. *People had little money, but had to pay high taxes. *Many farmers could not repay their debts. *Their property was auctioned off. *If the auctioned property did not pay debts off, the farmer was put in prison.

Shays’s Rebellion *Farmers requested debt relief from the state. *The legislature refused…the farmers rebelled! *Led by Daniel Shays, 1,500 men marched on a federal arsenal (place to store weapons).

Outcome of Shays’s Rebellion *The rebellion was defeated quickly. *Farmers won the sympathy of many people. *Why Shays’s Rebellion was important: *American leaders realized that changes within the gov’t needed to occur! *Convention held to change the Articles of Confederation!