1. The Articles of Confederation Identify the new government formed by the Second Continental Congress after the Revolutionary War and the problems that emerge from it

2. State Constitutions During the Revolutionary War, the Second Continental Congress called upon the colonies to draft new constitutions These constitutions were used to represent fundamental law, or organic law, superior to the colonial legislatures that had been established

3. Creating a Constitution Before the colonies declared independence in 1776, the Second Continental Congress established a committee to create a constitution for the new nation Articles of Confederation-adopted in 1777 Another factor that convinced France to support colonies since we had a gov’t in progress Fully ratified by 13 colonies in 1781 What is a CONFEDERATION? A group of people or nations form an alliance allowing each member to govern itself, but agreeing to work together for a common cause

4. America’s First Constitution Allowed 13 colonies to take joint action with foreign affairs Flaws: Unicameral legislature, Congress had no power to regulate commerce, collect taxes, and states were allowed to establish conflicting laws and their own currency Articles of Confederation would prove too weak to govern America

5. Land Laws Land Ordinance of 1785: acreage in Northwest territories should be sold to help pay off national debt Northwest Ordinance of 1787: uniform national land policy; create Northwest Territories controlled by gov’t; land could be sold to individuals; when a territory had 60,000 people it could be admitted by Congress as a state

6. Britain Maintains Presence Britain still hoped to maintain mercantile policies in the Americas Lord Sheffield claimed Britain could win back America “It will be a long time before the American states can be brought to act as such a nation, neither are they to be feared as such by us (England)” British maintained their presence in the west and fur trade with Indians to maintain alliances and prevent American attacks on Canada

7. Economic Problems As a result of independence, American had to make everything on their own They no longer imported from Britain or traded with British West Indies This thrust many Americans into poverty due to the bad economy after the Revolution Result: Inflation; many state governments printed more money to try to solve this issue

8. Shay’s Rebellion Western Mass., 1786 Impoverished back-country farmers led by Daniel Shay rebelled against the Mass. Gov’t for taking their farms due to mortgage foreclosures and tax delinquencies Similar rebellions started to spread throughout the states Congress had no power to rectify the situation Proved weakness of Articles of Confederation and new American government European powers watched hoping that the new America would collapse!