Chapter 5 Shaping a New Nation

Continental Congress Debates States were unequal in size, wealth and population Question: should the new gov’t represent people or states? Question: should states be represented by population? Articles of Confederation: new type of gov’t and laws in which two levels of gov’t share main powers AOC gave national gov’t power to: Declare war, make peace, sign treaties, borrow money, set standards for coins and measure, est postal service, deal with Native Americans AOC did not create an executive dept to carry out and enforce laws or a court system to interpret the meaning of laws

Debate Over Western Lands By states agreed to accept the new gov’t BUT the conflict over western lands delayed final approval Some states had claims to land west of the Appalachians and states that did not, were concerned that they would be overpowered by the bigger states AOC went into effect in March 1781 after all states gave up their western claims Land Ordinance of 1785: established a plan for surveying the new land

Northwest Ordinance of 1787 Established procedure for dividing the land into territories Set requirements for the admission of new states 3 basic steps for becoming a state: Congress would appoint a territorial governor and judges When a territory had 5,000 voting residents, the settlers could write a temporary constitution and elect their own gov’t When the total population of the territory reached 60,000, the settlers could write a state constitution to be approved by Congress before statehood Land and Northwest Ordinance became the Confederation’s greatest achievements – est blueprint for future growth of the nation

Shay’s Rebellion Farmer’s protest Cause panic throughout the nation since every state had debt- ridden farmers New nation’s reputation was in danger Shay’s Rebellion showed it was time to talk about a stronger national government In order to prevent abuse of power, the states placed such severe limits on government that the government became too weak

Call for Convention One of the nation’s biggest problems: trade between the states Sept 1786: James Madison & Alexander Hamilton called a meeting of state delegates to discuss trade Only 5 states showed up Delegates decided to meet again a year later in Philly Shay’s Rebellion convinced 12 states to send delegates May 1787 delegates from all states except RI met in Philly G. Washington chosen to preside over the meeting Most of the 55 delegates were layers, merchants or planters

Conflict Leads to Compromise Within the first 5 days of meeting, the delegates of the constitutional convention gave up the idea of revising the Articles of Confederation and decided to form a new government The big issue: representation in big states v. small states Virginia Plan v. New Jersey Plan Virginia PlanNew Jersey Plan Proposed bi-cameral (2 house) legislator with membership based on a state’s pop. Voters would elect members of the lower house, who would then elect members of the upper house. Proposed a single-house congress in which each state had an equal vote.

Conflict Leads to Compromise Debate over the plans became deadlocked (tied) Roger Sherman (Conn) suggested the Great Compromise 2-house Congress to satisfy big and small states Each state had equal representation in Senate (upper-house) House of Representatives (lower-house) would be based on a state’s population Voters of the state would choose members of the House and the state legislature would choose members of the Senate Sherman’s plan pleased those who favored gov’t by the people because it allowed voters to choose representatives AND pleased people who defended state’s rights because it preserved the power of state legislatures

Slavery-Related Issues Representation based on population raised the question of whether slaves should be counted as people Southern states wanted the slaves to count as part of the population so they had more representation in the House North disagreed Delegates eventually agreed to the Three-Fifths Compromise: three-fifths of a state’s slaves would be counted as population The Compromise settled the political issue but not the economic issue of slavery South was worried that if Congress were given the power to regulate foreign trade they might try to do away with the slave trade To resolve this issue the convention gave Congress the power to regulate trade bur prevented is from making a decision on slavery for 20 years

People Demand a Bill of Rights The proposed U.S Constitution contained no guarantee that the government would protect the rights of the people or the states Many saw this as a reason not to ratify the constitution Antifederalists: since the Constitution weakened the states, people needed a written guarantee that their rights would be protected Federalists: Constitution only granted limited powers to the national government so it could not violate the rights of the states or the people Also pointed out that people had the power to protect their rights by electing trustworthy leaders In the end….Federalists agreed to add a bill of rights if the states agreed to ratify the constitution

Ratification of the Constitution The new government became a reality in 1790 when all states ratified In September 1789, Congress submitted 12 amendments to the state legislatures for ratification By December 1791, the required ¾ of the states had ratified ten of the amendments First 8 amendments spell out personal liberties 9 th and 10 th amendments impose general limits on the power of the federal government The protection of rights and freedoms did not apply to Native Americans, slaves and women