1. Norton Media Library Founding a Nation, 1783–1789 Chapter 7 Eric Foner

2. I. Ratification Celebrations

3. II. America under the Articles of Confederation
The first written constitution of the United States
One-house Congress
No president
No judiciary
The only powers granted to the national government were those for declaring war, conducting foreign affairs, and making treaties
Congress established national control over land to the west of the thirteen states and devised rules for its settlement

4. II. America under the Articles of Confederation (con’t)
Congress and the West
In the immediate aftermath of independence, Congress took the position that by aiding the British, Indians had forfeited the right to their lands
Congress was unsure how to regulate the settlement of western land

5. II. America under the Articles of Confederation (con’t)
Settlers and the West
Peace brought rapid settlement into frontier areas
The Ordinance of 1784 established stages of self-government for the West
The Ordinance of 1785 regulated land sales in the region north of the Ohio River
Like the British before them, American officials found it difficult to regulate the thirst for new land
The Northwest Ordinance of 1787 established policy that admitted the area’s population as equal members of the political system

6. II. America under the Articles of Confederation (con’t)
The Confederation’s Weaknesses
The war created an economic crisis that the government, under the Articles of Confederation, could not adequately address
With Congress unable to act, the states adopted their own economic policies
Shays’s Rebellion
Facing seizure of their land, debt-ridden farmers closed the courts
Invoked liberty trees and liberty poles
Shays’s Rebellion demonstrated the need for a more central government to ensure private liberty

7. II. America under the Articles of Confederation (con’t)
Nationalists of the 1780s
Nation builders like James Madison and Alexander Hamilton called for increased national authority
The concerns voiced by critics of the Articles found a sympathetic hearing among men who had developed a national consciousness during the Revolution
It was decided that a new constitution was needed to avoid either anarchy or monarchy

8. III. A New Constitution The Structure of Government
The most prominent men took part in the Constitutional Convention
wealthy
well educated
The Constitution was to create a legislature, an executive, and a national judiciary
The key to stable, effective republican government was finding a way to balance the competing claims of liberty and power
A final compromise was agreed upon based on the Virginia and New Jersey plans

9. III. A New Constitution (con’t)
The Limits of Democracy
The Constitution did not set federal voting qualifications
The new government was based upon a limited democracy, ensuring only prominent men holding office
Neither the president nor federal judges were elected by popular vote
The system was confusing

10. III. A New Constitution (con’t)
The Division and Separation of Powers
The Constitution embodies federalism and a system of “checks and balances”
Federalism refers to the relationship between the national government and the states
The “separation of powers” or the system of “checks and balances” refers to the way the Constitution seeds to prevent any branch of the national government from dominating the other two

11. III. A New Constitution (con’t)
The Debate over Slavery
Slavery divided the delegates
The words “slave” and “slavery” did not appear in the Constitution but it did provide for slavery
The South Carolinian delegates proved very influential in preserving slavery within the Constitution
Congress prohibited the slave trade in 1808
The fugitive slave clause accorded slave laws “extraterritoriality”
The federal government could not interfere with slavery in the states
Slave states had more power due to the three-fifths clause

12. III. A New Constitution (con’t)
The Final Document
Delegates signed the final draft on September 17, 1787
The Constitution created a new framework for American development

13. IV. The Ratification Debate and the Origin of the Bill of Rights
The Federalist
Nine of the thirteen states had to ratify the document
The Federalist was published to generate support for ratification
Hamilton argued that government was an expression of freedom, not its enemy

14. IV. The Ratification Debate and the Origin of the Bill of Rights (con’t)
“Extend the Sphere”
Madison had a new vision of the relationship between government and society in Federalist Papers 10 and 51
Madison argued that the large size of the United States was a source of stability, not weakness
Madison helped to popularize the “liberal” idea that men are generally motivated by self-interest, and that the good of society arises from the clash of these private interests

15. IV. The Ratification Debate and the Origin of the Bill of Rights (con’t)
The Anti-Federalists
Anti-Federalists opposed ratification
They argued that the republic had to be small and warned that the Constitution would result in a government of oppression
Liberty was the Anti-Federalists’ watchword
Argued for a Bill of Rights
Anti-Federalists did not have as much support as the Federalists did
Madison promised a Bill of Rights
Only Rhode Island and North Carolina voted against ratification

16. IV. The Ratification Debate and the Origin of the Bill of Rights (con’t)
Madison initially believed a Bill of Rights was pointless
Madison introduced a Bill of Rights to the first Congress
They defined the “unalienable rights” of the Declaration of Independence
Some amendments reflected English roots, while others were uniquely American
Among the most important rights were freedom of speech and the press, vital building blocks of a democratic public sphere

17. V. We the People National Identity
The Constitution identifies three populations inhabiting the United States
Indians
“other persons”
“people”
Only “people” were entitled to American freedom
American nationality combined both civic and ethnic definitions

18. V. We the People (con’t) Indians in the New Nation
Indian tribes had no representation in the new government
Treaty system was used with Indians and Congress forbade the transfer of Indian land without federal approval
Battle of Fallen Timbers led to the Treaty of Greenville in 1795
Some prominent Americans believed that Indians could assimilate into society
Assimilation meant transforming traditional Indian life

19. V. We the People (con’t) Blacks and the Republic
The status of citizenship for free blacks was left to individual states
Crèvecoeur’s Letters from an American Farmer described America as a melting pot of Europeans
Like Crèvecoeur, many white Americans excluded blacks from their conception of the American people
The Naturalization Act of 1790 was limited to “free white persons”

20. V. We the People (con’t) Jefferson, Slavery, and Race
John Locke and others maintained “reason” was essential to having liberty
Blacks were not rational beings
Jefferson’s Notes on the State of Virginia
Jefferson did not think any group was fixed permanently in a status of inferiority
He did not believe black Americans would stay in America
Freeing the slaves without removing them from the country would endanger the nation’s freedom

21. V. We the People (con’t) Principles of Freedom
The Revolution widened the divide between free Americans and those who remained in slavery
“We the people” increasingly meant white Americans

22. Western Lands, 1782–1802 • pg. 240
Western Lands, 1782–1802

23. The Northwest Ordinance of 1787 • pg. 243

24. Ratification of the Constitution • pg. 256

25. Indian Tribes, 1790 • pg. 262
Indian Tribes, 1790

26. Table 7.1 • pg. 265 top

27. Table 7.1 • pg. 265 bottom

28. fig07_01.jpg
Pages 234–35: The Signing of the Constitution, by the mid-nineteenth century American artist Thomas Pritchard Rossiter, depicts the conclusion of the Constitutional Convention of Among the founding fathers depicted are James Wilson, signing the document at the table in the center, and George Washington, presiding from the dais with an image of the sun behind him.
Credit: Independence National Historical Park.

29. fig07_03.jpg
Page 238: A map of the newly independent United States, engraved in London five months after the signing of the Treaty of Paris in The map indicates the location of Indian tribes, as well as the indeterminate western boundaries of some of the seaboard states. The decoration depicts, beneath the American flag, George Washington alongside Liberty with her liberty cap. On the right is Benjamin Franklin, assisted by Justice and Wisdom, drafting the treaty.
Credit: I.N. Stokes Collection, Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints, and Photographs, The New York Public Library; Astor, Lenox, and Tilden Foundations.

30. fig07_05.jpg
Page 244: A Bankruptcy Scene. Creditors repossess the belongings of a family unable to pay its debts,while a woman weeks in the background. Popular fears of bankruptcy led several states during the 1780s to pass laws postponing the collection of debts.
Credit: Print Collection, Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints, and Photographs, The New York Public Library; Astor, Lenox, and Tilden Foundations.

31. fig07_06.jpg
Page 245 (top): James Madison, "father of the Constitution," a miniature portrait by Charles Willson Peale, painted in Madison was only thirty-six when the Constitutional Convention met.
Credit: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, LC-USZC

32. fig07_07.jpg
Page 245 (bottom): Alexander Hamilton, another youthful leader of the nationalists of the 1780s, was born in the West Indies in This portrait was painted by Charles Willson Peale in the early 1790s.
Credit: Independence National Historical Park.

33. fig07_08.jpg
Page 246: A fifty-dollar note issued by the Continental Congress during the War of Independence. Congress's inability to raise funds to repay such paper money in gold or silver was a major reason why nationalists desired a stronger federal government.
Credit: New York Public Library.

34. fig07_09.jpg
Page 247: The Philadelphia State House (now called Independence Hall), where the Declaration of Independence was signed in 1776 and the Constitutional Convention took place in 1787.
Credit: Library of Congress Rare Book & Special Collections Division.

35. fig07_13.jpg
Page 260: An engraving and poem, published in 1788 in an American newspaper, after New York became the eleventh state to ratify the new Constitution. North Carolina would ratify in 1789 and Rhode Island in 1790.
Credit: Library of Congress.

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37. Give Me Liberty! An American History
End chap. 7
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This concludes the Norton Media Library
Slide Set for Chapter 7
Give Me Liberty!
An American History by
Eric Foner