Transcript The Articles of Confederation The First Constitution of

The Articles of Confederation
The First Constitution
of
The United States of America
Effective 1781
http://flagspot.net/flags/us-1777.html
http://bensguide.gpo.gov/9-12/documents/articles/
Agree or Disagree
• Small States need to be protected from
large states.
• The Mississippi River is of great
importance to Pennsylvania.
• People are more loyal to their State than
to the Union.
SWBAT
After the Revolution, the United States of America
were organized under the Articles of Confederation
(AoC)
1. Describe how EXPANSION issues were
settled.
2. Describe how FOREIGN RELATIONS were
handled.
3. Explain how Shay’s Rebellion demonstrated
weaknesses in the AoC.
After the Rev
Before the CONSTITUTION
• Colonies came together and
organized under the AOC
• The Articles were rules and laws
that recognized differences
between State & Federal power
• Federal = government that is
responsible for the whole nation
• The Articles may have worked in
war
• Caused problems in peace
Analyze Features of the AOC
• Handout 1.3A from TCI
–USH-8-3, Activity 1.3, Page 4 & 5
• Working with a partner, complete the
matrix filling in the blanks.
• Compare answers to the other
partnership in your corner group
AoC Matrix Questions
• From the matrix, prove that the AoC
enforced State sovereignty (rule and
control) as opposed to Federal or Central
Authority.
• Which feature do you think caused the
most problems?
Internal Problems: General
•
•
•
•
•
Intra-State relations
deteriorating
Boundary disputes
Levying of duties on
“imported” goods from
state to state
Differing paper
currencies ($$$)
Fear of Massachusetts
problems spreading
Internal Problems: Massachusetts
• After the war crop prices fell,
farmers could not pay their
debts
• Rich lenders ran legislature
and court
• Paper money became
worthless
• Farmers were losing farms to
bankruptcy
• Petitions for reforms were
submitted & denied
• So . . .
Shay’s Rebellion
• A “little rebellion.”
• Began 29 AUG 1786
– Initially small and widespread
– several leaders of the rebellion
jailed
• Finally, Daniel Shays leads 1,500 to
2,000 men and occupies the
Supreme Courthouse and later leads
an assault on a federal arsenal
• Ended 03 FEB 1787 when 4,400
militia attack and scatter Shays’ men
http://www.sjchs-history.org/Shays.html
Shays: Reaction in Favor
Thomas Jefferson, Letter to James
Madison, from Paris, Jan. 30, 1787
"I hold it that a little rebellion now and then
is a good thing, and as necessary in the
political world as storms in the physical.
Unsuccessful rebellions, indeed, generally
establish the encroachments on the rights
of the people which have produced them.
An observation of this truth should render
honest republican governors so mild in their
punishment of rebellions as not to
discourage them too much. It is a medicine
necessary for the sound health of the
government."
Shays: Reaction Against
George Washington, Letter to James Madison,
Nov. 5, 1786
•
"Let us look to our National character, and to
things beyond the present period. No Morn ever
dawned more favourable than ours did-and no day
was ever more clouded than the present! Wisdom,
& good examples are necessary at this time to
rescue the political machine from the impending
storm."
Chief Justice William Cushing, Supreme Judicial
Court, in the Hampshire Gazette, June 6, 1787
• "[I fear] evil minded persons, leaders of the
insurgents...[waging war] against the
Commonwealth, to bring the whole government
and all the good people of this state, if not
continent, under absolute command and
subjugation to one or two ignorant, unprincipled,
bankrupt, desperate individuals."
http://www.sjchs-history.org/Shays.html
Expansion Problems
• Solved through the Northwest Ordinance
• Rather than enlarge Eastern states – Make New
States!
• The Land:
– N of the Ohio River
– W of the Appalachian Mtns
– E of the Mississippi River
• Requirements:
– 5,000 population to become territory
– 60,000 population to become state
– Encouraged religion and Education
as the foundations of a free state
– No Slavery!
External Problem #1: England
• Great Britain Sent no
Foreign Minister or
Ambassador
• England did not leave the
NW territory
– Incited Indians
– Dominated the fur trade
– Closed ports to American
ships in Canada and West
Indies – Trade!
• Debts were not being
paid as Treaty required
External Problem #2: Spain & France
• Spain
– Closed Mississippi River
to American ships
– Claimed land granted to
USA under Treaty
– Plotted w/Indians to
hinder western settlement
• France demanded loan
repayment
Ordinances of 1785 and 1787
• Land Ordinance of
1785
• Created rules for
expansion: a system
of surveying and
dividing western lands
• Northwest Ordinance 1787
• Created rules for political
systems in new territories :
Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan,
Minnesota, and Wisconsin
• Once territory reached
population of 60,000, can draft
their own constitution and apply
for statehood
• Encouraged freedom of religious
expression, rights to education,
rights of Native Americans, and
limited expansion of slavery into
new states.