Transcript Slide 1
THE CONFEDERATION AND THE CONSTITUTION
Chapter 9
The Pursuit of Equality
The exodus of some 80,000 Loyalists left a great lack of conservatives.
This weakening of the aristocratic “upper crust” let Patriot elites emerge.
Mister, all men are created equal The fight for separation of church and state resulted in notable gains.
Anglican Church was humbled and reformed as the Protestant Episcopal Church.
p165 St Philip's Church ruins are the remains of a colonial Anglican church building in Brunswick, North Carolina
The Pursuit of Equality
Virginia Statue for Religious Freedom-
Statement of natural right and deism The Statute for Religious Freedom is one of only three accomplishments Jefferson instructed be put in his epitaph It supported the Establishment Clause and Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment, and freedom of conscience.
p165 St Philip's Church ruins are the remains of a colonial Anglican church building in Brunswick, North Carolina
The Pursuit of Equality
The Continental Army officers formed an exclusive hereditary order called the Society of the Cincinnati.
The Philadelphia Quakers in 1755 founded the first anti-slavery society.
The 1st Continental Congress called for the complete abolition of the slave trade in 1774.
Several northern states went further and either abolished slavery altogether or provided the gradual emancipation of slaves.
No states south of Pennsylvania abolished slavery.
Early Emancipation in the North
Women
Women: they still were unequal to men Abigail Adams, “remember the ladies” New Jersey’s 1776 constitution allowed women to vote (for a time).
Mothers devoted to their families were developed as an idea of “republican motherhood” and elevated women to higher statuses as keepers of the nation’s conscience.
The artist and his family James Peale 1795
Constitution Making in the States
States developed their own constitutions during the Revolution – Adams Massachusetts Popular sovereignty Social contract Loyalist land was seized Navigation acts enforced – Brit West Indies Americans could now trade with foreign countries However, inflation was rampant, and taxes were hated; the rich had become poor, and the new rich were viewed with suspicion Worthless money Brits keep forts, stir up Indian Savages Barbary Pirates Disrespect of private property became shocking Courts weak
A Shaky Start Toward Union
While the U.S. needed to resolve many problems, the people were far from united.
In 1786, after the war, Britain flooded America with cheap goods, greatly hurting American industries.
On the plus side the states all did share similar constitutions, political inheritance form Britain, exceptional leadership 171
Creating a Confederation
States had created their individual currencies and tax barriers.
The Articles of the Confederation was finished in 1777, but in was finally completely ratified March 1, 1781.
A major dispute was that states like New York and Virginia As a compromise, these lands were ceded to the federal government, which pledged to dispense them for the common good of the union (states would be made).
Articles of Confederation
The Articles had no executive branch (hence, no single leader), a weak Congress in which each state had only one vote, required 2/3 majority on any subject of importance, and a fully unanimous vote for amendments.
Also, Congress was pitifully weak, and could not regulate commerce or enforce tax collection.
Western Land Cessions
Land Ordinance of 1785
The Land Ordinance of 1785 provided the acreage of the Old Northwest should be sold and that the proceeds be used to pay off the national debt.
This vast area would be surveyed before settlement and then divided into townships six miles square, which would then be divided into 36 square sections with one set aside for public schools.
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Northwest Ordinance of 1787
Divided the land into five areas (Ohio, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin and Indiana).
Basic premise: Could become states equal to original 13.
Two evolutionary territorial stages When territory had 60,000 inhabitants, it could draft state Constitution and petition for admission as state by Congress Slavery prohibited
The World’s Ugly Duckling
The British remained in the Americas where they maintained their fur trade with the Indians.
The American states did not honor the treaty of peace in regard to debts and Loyalists.
The British stayed primarily to keep the Indians on the side of the British so to defend against future attacks on Canada In 1784, Spain closed the Mississippi River to American commerce.
The Gálvez Monument
Spain and France
Both Spain and England, while encouraging Indian tribes to be restless, prevented the U.S. from controlling half of it territory.
Even France demanded payment of U.S. debts to France.
The pirates of the North African states, including the arrogant Dey of Algiers, ravaged U.S. ships in the area and enslaved Yankee sailors; America was too weak to stop them.
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The Horrid Specter Of Anarchy
States were refusing to pay taxes, and national debt was mounting as foreign credibility was slipping.
Boundary disputes erupted into small battles while states taxed goods from other states.
People were beginning to doubt republicanism and this Articles of the Confederation.
However, many supporters believed that the Articles merely needed to be strengthened.
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Shay’s Rebellion
Shay’s Rebellion- in western Massachusetts in 1786; What are their concerns?
Fear of Monocracy. Need stronger federal government.
Perception that civic virtue not working Perception that civil authority not sufficient to control the people.
Perception that government too closely controlled by the people is ineffective.
Who is most frightened by Shay’s Rebellion and other outbreaks?
Prelude to Constitution
Annapolis Convention 1786
Only 5 states showed up Alexander Hamilton saves with his report calling for a Constitutional Convention the next year to amend the Articles.
Constitutional Convention
Congress not eager to call a constitutional convention Finally called a convention “for the sole and express purpose of revising” the Articles of Confederation Every state but Rhode Island chose a representative 55 delegates from 12 states met in Philadelphia on May 25, 1787 All selected by the state legislatures who themselves were chosen only by landowners Sessions held in complete secrecy. Why?
Constitutional Convention
Nature of the Delegates George Washington was unanimously elected chairman Ben Franklin was the elder statesman and the oldest at 81 James Madison dubbed “Father of Constitution” — because of his contributions to the constitution.
Characteristics of Delegates
The 55 delegates were conservative and well off Young (average age 42) but experienced statesmen Nationalists Wanted a strong government so that could have unified trade laws
Hammering Out A Bundle Of Compromises
Some people decided to totally scrap the Articles and create a new Constitution.
Virginia’s large state plan called for Congressional representation based on state population, while New Jersey’s small state plan called for equal representation from all states (in terms of numbers, each state got the same number of reps.) Afterwards, the “Great Compromise” was worked out so that Congress would have TWO houses, the House of Representatives, were reps were based on population, and the Senate, where each state got two reps.
Hammering Out A Bundle Of Compromises
Also, there would be a strong, independent executive branch with a president who would be military commander in chief and could veto legislation.
Another compromise was the election of the president through the Electoral College, rather than by the people directly.
Also, slaves would count as 3/5 of a person in census counts.
Also, the Constitution enabled a state to shut off slave importation if it wanted after 1807.
Safeguards For Conservatism
Delegates agreed that unbridled democracy should be limited. Constitution was designed to be a bulwark against Mobocracy. Examples: Federal judges were to be appointed for life President elected indirectly by Electoral College Senators to be chosen indirectly by state legislatures House the only part of federal government chosen directly by the people
The Clash of Federalists and Anti-federalists
Knowing that state legislatures were certainly veto the new Constitution, the Founding Fathers sent copies of it out to state conventions, where it could be debated and voted upon.
The people could judge it themselves.
The American people were shocked, because they had expected a patched up Articles of the Confederation and had received a whole new Constitution (the Convention had been VERY well concealed and kept secret).
The federalists, who favored the proposed stronger government, were against the anti federalists, who were opposed.
Anti-federalists
Characteristic of Anti-Federalists Advocates of states’ rights Believed that strong central government was a threat to individual liberty Back country people, less educated, and illiterate.
Wanted a bill of rights to protect the few individual freedoms they had.
believed that state sovereignty was being submerged—It was!!
The Struggle over Ratification
Great Debate In The States
Elections were run to elect people into the state conventions.
Four small states quickly ratified the Constitution, and Pennsylvania was the first large state to act.
In Massachusetts, a hard fought race between the supporters and detractors (including Samuel Adams, the “Engineer of Revolution” who now resisted change), and Massachusetts finally ratified it after a promise of a bill of rights to be added later.
Had this state not ratified, it would have brought the whole thing down.
Three more states ratified, and on June 21, 1788, the Constitution was officially adopted after nine states (all but Virginia, New York, North Carolina, and Rhode Island) had ratified
Four Laggard States
Virginia, knowing that it could not be an independent state (the Constitution was about to be ratified by the 9th state, New Hampshire, anyway), so it finally ratified by a vote of 89 to 79.
New York was swayed by The Federalist Papers, written by John Jay, James Madison, and Alexander Hamilton, and finally yielded after realizing that it could prosper apart from the union.
North Carolina and Rhode Island finally ratified after intense pressure from the government.
Federalist Papers
Written by John Jay, Alexander
Hamilton, James Madison.
Written anonymously 85 Federalist papers give lasting insights into the meaning of the constitution by those who drafted it.
Ratification
New York Ratified in part because of federalist papers, in part because Va. and New York Recognized that it couldn’t go it alone.
North Carolina and Rhode Island, the two cantankerous states, are the last to ratify.
A Conservative Triumph
The minority had triumphed again, and the transition had been peaceful.
Only about ¼ of the adult white males in the country (mainly those with land) had voted for the ratifying delegates.
Conservationism was victorious, as the safeguards had been erected against mob-rule excesses.
Revolutionaries against Britain had been upended by revolutionaries against the Articles.
It was a type of counterrevolution.
Federalists believed that every branch of government effectively represented the people, unlike anti-federalists who believed that only the legislative branch did so.
In the United States, conservatives and radicals alike have championed the heritage of democratic revolution.