Chapter 9

Articles of Confederation and the Constitution 1781-

1788

Greater equality among all social classes (rich/poor) Fought together during the war, bred a sense of equality Voting rights expanded—land qualifications for voting abandoned in

most states although money still required (had to pay taxes) Poor/lower class made up a large % of elected officials (In New

England less than 20% before the war to over 60% after)Greater freedoms for women

Some debate over extending full rights to women, but never adopted Legal restrictions on women relaxed somewhat in some states (right

to own property, etc.)Emancipation for (some) Slaves

Gradual emancipation in the North Manumission (voluntary freeing of slaves) in a few places in the

South (DE, MD, VA) British freed many slaves during the war Most states outlawed the slave trade (if not slavery) after the war

Social Effects of the Revolution

Articles of Confederation 1781 (took effect during the war) Each state was like an independent country loosely allied together in

the Confederation States had a lot of power over their own affairs King/Parliament replaced by Congress—Congress didn’t have very

many powers (couldn’t tax, regulate trade, etc.) Increase in “democracy” in the state constitutions

Democracy vs republic State constitutions gave the people more power than they had before

Assemblies more powerful, governors weaker Governors and upper house elected by the people—not appointed like before State Bills of Rights limited what the state governments could do

Couldn’t limit freedom of speech, religion, etc Increase of religious freedom in the states

Southern states ended official religions New England states didn’t abolish their official religions until the

early 1800’s, but had religious toleration

Political Effects of the Revolution

Central government=Congress (no president, no courts)Congress replaced the role that King/Parliament had

played during colonial timesEach state had 1 vote: problems?Most decisions required 9 out of 13 state approval:

problems?Amending the Articles required unanimous approval:

problems?Could not tax, could not regulate trade

Why not? Who could do these things?Had control over foreign policy, the national military,

post office, western lands, Indian affairs (foreign policy)

Articles of Confederation: 1781(1783)-1788

Technically the government that won the war vs. the most powerful country in the world (Britain)

Land PolicyGot the states to cede most of their land claims to

the central governmentNorthwest Ordinance of 1785 (new states, not new

colonies)State governments held most of the power

(almost every law/tax of any importance was passed by the state governments not the federal government) the PEOPLE had a lot of control over the state governments

Successes/Pros of the Articles

Foreign ProblemsIndian attacks on the frontier (often supplied

by British/Spanish)British/Spanish occupied large parts of US

territory (Northwest US, Southwest US)Spanish refused to allow Americans access to

Mississippi RiverUS government couldn’t pay back Loyalists

from Revolutionary War—Treaty of ParisNorth African Pirates (Barbary Pirates)

Crisis Period? Problems with the Articles

Domestic ProblemsDebate about Vermont (claimed by both NY and NH)Couldn’t pay off debts from the war: why?Couldn’t regulate trade (different states had different

rules, states passing trade restrictions against each other)

States passing paper money (had no value)Economy suffered—British imports killed US industry,

US lost access to British markets (Caribbean)Shays Rebellion—indebted Massachusetts farmers

closed down the state courts, stopped foreclosures—anarchy???!!!

Crisis Period? Problems with the Articles

Domestic ProblemsUS/State governments not paying off

loans/debtsWhat type of person did this hurt?

Problems regulating tradeWho did this hurt?

Worthless paper money made it easy to pay off debtsWho did this hurt?

Bad economy, damaged industryWho did this hurt?

Shays RebellionWho did this concern?

Problems with the Articles: A Closer Look

Nationalist School John Fiske The Critical Period of US History (1888)Traditional view of the Articles of ConfederationCrisis Period in America“Founding Fathers” saved America by replacing the

Articles with the ConstitutionProgressive School

Charles and Mary Beard (The Beards)An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution (1913)The Articles of Confederation weren’t that badFounders motivated by economic self interestConstitution sacrificed state-level democracy for the

economic well being of the wealthy/powerful

Articles of Confederation: 2 Schools of Thought

Articles of Confederation losing support (especially among the upper class/business leaders)Shays Rebellion 1786-1787Annapolis Convention 1786

fix problems related to interstate and international trade

Didn’t do anything (problem too complicated) agreed to meet again in Philadelphia to revise the entire Articles

Philadelphia Convention 1787Revise the Articles of ConfederationMake changes or completely replace???

From Articles to Constitution

Basic Structure3 Branches: legislative (congress), executive

(president), judicial (supreme court)Federal System: power shared between state

governments and the national (federal) government Problems

Congress: How many houses 1 (Virginia Plan) or 2 (New Jersey

Plan) (unicameral or bicameral)Representation based on population (VA) or equal (NJ)

SlaveryAllow slavery?Allow the slave trade???How do you count slaves for the purposes of voting?

Conflicts and Compromises at Philadelphia

Connecticut Compromise2 house congressHouse of Representatives (lower house)

Representation based on populationElected by the people every 2 years

Senate (upper house)2 representatives per state regardless of sizeElected by the state legislatures every 6 years*

3/5ths CompromiseFor purposes of determining population for House

of Reps every 5 slaves would count as 3 peopleWhat type of precedent did this establish/what did this

say about the status of African Americans in the eyes of the US govt?

Compromises

Constitution Much Less “democratic” than ArticlesStates had less power—less easy for the people

to influence their government (Federalist #10)Senators elected by state legislatures NOT by

popular votePresident elected by Electoral College NOT by

popular voteSupreme Court Justices appointed by the

President and confirmed by the Senate NOT elected by the people

Constitution as a Conservative Document

National (federal) government now had the power to:TaxRegulate interstate and international commerceBorrow moneyCoin moneyNecessary and proper clause Art I, Sect 8, Clause 18

State governments could no longerMake paper moneyMake their own trade regulations/ban trade from

another stateConstitution was the supreme law of the land

Constitutionfederal laws/treatiesstate laws

Articles vs Constitution: Changes

Amendment ProcessAmendments needed to pass both houses of

Congress by a 2/3rds majority¾ of the States needed to ratify them

Presidency1 decisive leaderHad the power to veto laws, congress could

override the veto with 2/3 majorities in both houses

Supreme CourtJustices served for life, appointed by President

Articles vs Constitution: Changes

Problem:How do you keep the national government from gaining

too much power?Rely on people’s good nature not to abuse their power?Rely on people’s bad nature to seek as much power for

themselves as they can?Solution:

People will seek as much power for themselves as they can so construct the government so that in order for one branch to gain power they must take it from another

Greedy individuals in all 3 branches will constantly undercut one another’s power (check) and this will result in no one branch growing too powerful (balance)

Checks and Balances

Checks and Balances

Constitution would take effect when 9 out of 13 states ratified it What would happen to the other 4 who didn’t?

Federalists in favor, antifederalists opposed Federalists: by the coast, in the big cities, merchants, factory

workers, the wealthy, bankers, creditors Antifederalists: backcountry, rural, farmers, poorer, debtors

September 1787 Constitution finished Dec 1787 first state ratified it (Delaware) 1788 9 states had ratified—Constitution took effect VA, NY, NC, and RI hadn’t, US needed these states (especially

NY and VA) Promise to draft a national Bill of Rights won over most of the

holdouts (RI didn’t ratify until after the completion of the Bill of Rights 1790)

Ratification Process

Political Cartoon