1. Confederation and Constitution 1776 - 1790
Pageant Chapter 9

2. The United States

3. 1. Intro
1) What would the Americans do with the independence they have just won?
2) Would the 13 states be able to remain united after the revolution?
3) What would come of the “sectional conflict” btw. the northern and southern states?

4. George Washington

5. 2.a. Impact of Revolution
The Revolution is over: America is independent
The Revolution brought striking changes
1) 80,000 Loyalists left and went back to England, weakening the conservative and aristocratic population.
2) The egalitarian sentiments of the war brought about early moves for the abolition of slavery.

6. 2.b. Impact of Revolution
The Founding Fathers believed that a dispute over slavery would fracture the already new and fragile union.

7. 3. State Constitutions
1) All of the new state constitutions gave power to the people.
2) All of them had initial weak executive and judicial branches of government

8. 4a. Articles of Confederation and Land Policy
Many people don’t remember our first form of government after the Revolution….
The Articles of Confederation – they failed after just a few years…
The 13 states began operating like different countries right after the Revolution
They coined their own money
They raised their own armies and navies
They erected their own tariff barriers.
The Articles of Confederation were passed in 1781.
Required UNANIMOUS approval from all 13 states.
Congress planned on carving the new territory out and making new states.

9. 4b. Articles of Confederation and Land Policy
The Articles were quite different from the Constitution:
No executive branch
No judicial branch
No popular sovereignty – all 13 states had to agree on amending or changing the Articles in any way

10. 4c. The Treaty of Paris 1783
The Articles, though they failed, did have some good in them
The Land Ordinance of 1785 – dealt with the Northwest Territory (Ohio, Indiana, Great Lakes)
The Northwest Ordinance – set up the requirements for territories to become states.

11. 5a. Creating The Constitution
The new American country, though free, was not out of trouble
Foreign powers still loomed; especially Britain
The Articles began to reveal their weaknesses
Western Massachusetts; 1786; Shays’ Rebellion
Shays’ Rebellion showed that the Articles could not fix the nation’s financial problems.
Revealed the need for a strong national government
Philadelphia – 1787 – a convention to revise the Articles is called.

12. 5b. Creating The Constitution
George Washington was chosen to preside over the Convention.
James Madison – also chosen to be there; 36 years old; would contribute more to the Constitution than any other person
Great Compromise – created a bicameral legislature – House of Representatives (population) and the Senate (equal)
3/5 Compromise – Southern states wanted to count slaves in the census to gain more representation, the North felt it was unfair – so…3/5 would be counted

13. 5b. Creating The Constitution
Electoral College – presidents would not be popularly elected directly by the people
Checks and Balances – a limited government, separated into three branches that check each other’s power

14. 5c. Creating The Constitution
1) Congress has extensive power to levy taxes and override the president
2) The president has extensive powers to enforce federal laws.

15. 6a. Ratification Anti-Federalists disagreed with the Constitution
1) No individual rights were in this new Constitution.
2) 2/3 was too low of a majority to amend the Constitution
The Federalist – probably would have been no Constitution without these series of essays by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay.