Today’s Vocab Articles of Confederation: Our first constitution that we came up with after independence. Created weak central government. Very unsuccessful. Shay’s Rebellion: Rebellion by farmers against Massachusetts taxes. Acted as a wake up call that “The Articles” were insufficient to run our government. Virginia & NJ Plan: Plans for representation in the new government. Led to Great Compromise. Great Compromise: Settled argument over representation in Congress. Created bicameral Congress with the House of Rep/Senate Electoral College: Settled how the new president would be elected. 3/5’s Compromise: Settled how slaves would be counted in states population.

Federalists: Supported the Constitution, wanted strong central gov’t. Anti-Federalists: Against Constitution, wanted states to hold most of the power. Whiskey Rebellion: The last rebellion. It showed the new gov’t was strong enough to lead country. Federalism: Power of the government is divided between both the Federal and State level. Northwest Ordinance of 1787: Accomplishment of the Articles of Confederation. It abolished slavery in the Northwest Territory.

Warm up? What kind of government system were we in under Great Britain? What kind of system do you think we would come up with after gaining independence?

1.Why was the Stamp Act significant? A.Represented the 1 st step in colonial unity against Britain B.Demonstrated Parliament’s determination to tax its American colonies C.Represented New England’s determination to go to war against England D.Demonstrated the colonists’ political and philosophical disagreement among themselves

Articles of Confederation & The Constitution

Accomplishments of the Articles Ratified in 1781 Created a process for admitting new states into the Union System of cooperation between states Northwest Ordinance of 1787 – Abolished slavery in the Northwest territories

Problems with the Articles The States were acting like 13 separate countries or govt’s (we weren’t unified) The national gov’t (Congress) couldn’t force the states to pay taxes With no tax money we had no gov’t services: army, navy, roads, garbage collection, national debt…we couldn’t pay back our loans No power to regulate trade This means Congress couldn’t make laws regarding trade States would put tariffs on products from other states No national currency No power to enforce laws Required that amendments be approved by all 13 colonies With no president, supreme court, and a weak Congress there was no leadership to decide arguments between states

Problems after Revolutionary War Trade declining Taxed goods purchased from other states Inflation Since Congress could not tax, they had to borrow $ from the states Shay’s Rebellion-1786 –1–1,500 armed farmers attacked a federal arsenal –A–America needs a stronger central gov’t

Constitutional Convention Met in 1787 Met simply to revise the Articles of Confederation

What were the operation procedures during the constitutional convention? 7 out of 13 states had to be present Majority votes wins Everything had to be secret

Creating and ratifying the Constitution The delegates at the Constitutional Convention were determined to create a framework of government all states could accept. – A major problem was be how states would be represented in the new government

Virginia Plan Large states Legislative Branch Representation based on population New Jersey Plan Small states Legislative Branch Representation would be equal 3 branches of gov’t & 2 parts Of Congress House of Representatives Senate

Both plans agreed to have an Executive, Legislative and Judicial Branch. The delegates argued over these two plans for six weeks.

Compromises The Great Compromise Proposed the Legislative Branch have 2 Houses – Bicameral – House of Representatives Based on population – Senate Equal representation (2)

More Compromises Electoral college – How should the President be chosen? – Solution: a group of people (chosen by the states) to select the president 3/5ths Compromise – 5 slaves would count as 3 free people

Approving the Constitution September 17, 1787 the Constitutional Convention was finished. 9 of the 13 states needed to ratify it. But the public is divided between Federalists and Anti-Federalists:

Federalists Supported the constitution Believed the constitution create a system of federalism. A form of gov’t in which power is divided between national gov’t and states. Wrote the federalist papers: series of essays that promoted constitution declaring we need a strong central gov’t. Anti-Federalists Opposed the constitution Believed the constitution gave too much power to the national gov’t and took too much power away from the states. Wanted a Bill of Rights added to protect individual freedoms

Thanks to the Bill of Rights, the Constitution was ratified!

June 21, 1788 New Hampshire became the 9 th state to ratify the Constitution. The Constitution is now the Law of the Land!!!

America Creates a Republic Republic (Democratic Republic) –G–Gov’t where the people elect representatives to govern and make laws on their behalf (Rome) Democracy –P–People themselves vote on issues (Greece)

Whiskey Rebellion B/c of whisky tax, people stop buying whisky Washington quickly steps in to put down rebellion –S–Shows federal gov’t will not tolerate rebellion any longer

Closing? Why do you think the Constitution is called “A Bundle of Compromises”?