Learning Target

• The American Revolution’s democratic and republican ideals inspired new experiments with different forms of government.

OK, we won our Independence and everyone was very excited!

Very excited…

• After declaring independence in 1776, American political leaders created new constitutions and declarations of rights that articulated the roles of national and state governments to protect their rights.

• These documents protected individual rights and limited government power.

• Power was typically placed in the hands of state governments, property rights were strongly protected.

This protection of property extended to…

Articles of Confederation

• The first government we tried, was called the Articles of Confederation. Under this government, the 13 states were unified and a central government with very limited power was created.

• After all, they knew what they didn’t want in a government…

• So they went the other way…

Articles of Confederation

• Under the Articles, there was no real national government.

– 13 individual republics united loosely together.– Power lay in the hands of the States.

Articles of Confederation

• But it got worse…

• During the Revolution, the Congress printed $250,000,000 of money they didn’t have to pay for the war.

Financial Crisis

• This created a financial crisis that had to be dealt with.

• If America would not pay off its debts, then the new nation could not receive credit.

• No credit, no international business.

• No international business, no economy!

Financial Crisis

• Since each state controlled its own economy, currency and credit the 13 individual states really controlled the economy of the United States.

Financial Crisis

• If the Federal Government controlled the economy, currency and credit then the financial crisis could be dealt with.

• But that would require a new government.

• The Articles of Confederation, had to go!

• Instead of having 13 individual republics, each sovereign & independent, we needed one government with power over the states.

• This went against everything the people

thought before.

Constitutional Convention

• 55 men arrived in Philadelphia to debate the new Constitution. Among them were: – George Washington, Benjamin Franklin,

Alexander Hamilton and James Madison

Constitutional Convention

• James Madison was the central figure in the writing of the Constitution.

• They had a few things going for them:

1.) They knew they needed a new form of government.

2.) They knew what they didn’t want.

Constitutional Convention

• And they had a lot of…

Constitutional Convention

• Two main sides to the debate:

– The Virginia Plan– The New Jersey Plan

The U. S. Constitution

• Threatening to derail the convention was the issue of slavery.

The U. S. Constitution

• But there was another problem…• Representation in the House of

Representatives depended on population. Southern states believed they would be under-represented in Congress, and slavery could be outlawed by northern states who were turning against slavery.

The U. S. Constitution

3/5

The U. S. Constitution

• Slaves would each count as 3/5 of a person for the purposes of representation in Congress.

• This increased the population of southern states by 20%

The U. S. Constitution

• And it provided enough southern votes in Congress to fend off any challenges to slavery until the Civil War.

President Washington

• Dealing with this was President Washington

Economic crisis

• When President Washington met with his cabinet, one of the first issues to come up was the debt from the Revolution.

Economic crisis

• The new, stronger, federal government had just inherited a debt of $54,000,000

• (in 1790 dollars)

Economic crisis

• Alexander Hamilton also wanted the federal government to assume the debts the states had accumulated under the Articles of Confederation.– Another $21,000,000

Economic crisis

• This would put the federal government in charge of the U.S. economy, the states would not have any control over it.

Economic crisis

• Since most southern states had paid off their war debt already, this was not a popular plan in the South.

Blue = < 1 person per sq. mile

Orange = > 50 people per sq. mile

Economic crisis

• A deal was struck between Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson

– Hamilton would get federal control of the entire debt of the united States

Economic crisis

• A deal was struck between Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson

– The capital of the united States would be located in the south, giving southern states access to the central government.