South Carolina took an active role in the
Constitutional Convention . Of course, as
usual, all of the men who attended the
convention were wealthy Low Country
planters. Their names were….
Charles
Pinckney,
Charles Cotesworth
Pinckney,
Note: This is Eliza Lucas
Pinckney’s son.
John
Rutledge,
and
Pierce
Butler.
Overall, SC was in favor of
amending the Articles of
Confederation feeling it was not
strong enough to run the
country well. Shortly after
arriving in Philadelphia, ….
the delegates made the
realization that the AoC needed
to be tossed and a whole
new document was born.
The new document was
the United States
Constitution and it is still
the basis of our
government today.
Several issues were
brought up during the…
convention which
seriously threatened to
break up
the United
States…
before we even got started.
This will focus on SC’s
feelings about these issues.
Conflicts
Conflict #1
How were states going
to get representation in
the government?
In other words, how many votes
would each state get?
Two
plans
were
introduced.
Virginia Plan
The gov’t would be
divided into 3 branches
and…
voting would be based on
population so larger states
would have more votes
than smaller ones.
New Jersey Plan
They agreed that the gov’t
should be divided into 3
branches, but…
they felt like each state
should get an equal
number
of votes.
They felt like they
would not have any
power if the Virginia
Plan were to pass.
They battled over this
issue for quite a while
until Roger
Sherman…
came up with the Great
Compromise.
Solution: The Great
Compromise
SC did support the
Great Compromise
which said…
There would be 3
branches of Gov’t—
the executive,
the legislative,
and judicial branches.
The legislative branch
would be bicameral
which
means
it would be split into two
groups or houses—the House
of Representatives and
the Senate.
LEGISLATIVE
BRANCH
OR
CONGRESS
This is where all laws in
the United States
gov’t
are made.
HOUSE OF
REPRESENTATIVES
Modeled after the
Virginia Plan
Representation based on
population-- the larger
the population, the more
votes your state gets.
SENATE
Modeled after the
New Jersey Plan
Representation is equal.
Each state has
2 representatives.
In order for any law to
pass, it must be accepted
by BOTH the House of
Representatives and the
Senate.
A law is introduced in
either the House or
Senate.
NO
it is
DEAD!
There it is studied,
revised, and voted on.
YES
It is sent to the
OTHER House and
there it is studied,
revised and voted
on again.
NO
it is
DEAD!
YES
Passes Congress, so it
goes to the President. It
can either be signed and
it becomes law or
vetoed which means the
bill is sent back to
Congress.
Once back in Congress ,
they can override the
President with a 2/3rds
majority in Congress.
http://www.schooltube.com/video/fcde4d15a9276c9a09d3/Scho
olhouse-Rock-How-a-Bill-Becomes-a-Law
Conflict #2
Should
they
count?
Now that the number
of votes a state gets
in the House of
Representatives is
based on population,..
each state wanted to
have as large a
population as possible
so they would get more
votes. Not a problem…
for the northern states.
Count up all of the
people in your state and
you have the
population. However,
in the southern states
approximately ½ of the
population were slaves.
Technically they were not
citizens and they did not
have the right to vote, so
should they count as part of
the population?
Northern states say
NO!
They argued that the
slaves were not citizens
and their rights would
not be represented, so
they should not count.
Southern states say
YES!
They felt that since they
cared for the slaves and
were responsible for
them, they should be
able to vote FOR them.
Of course, the real reason
the southern states wanted to
count the slaves is that they
would get more votes and
more power.
3/5ths Compromise
The states had to compromise again.
The 3/5ths Compromise stated “that
for every 5 slaves you owned, 3
would be counted. Obviously since
SC was a slave holding state, they
did not particularly care for the
3/5ths compromise ---SC wanted to
count all slaves.
Conflict # 3
South Carolina delegates were
concerned that a stronger national
government might attempt to control
trade. This upset them because SC
relied on exporting their cash crops
and also relied on slave labor as cheap
labor. They worried that if the
government had too much power,….
they may try to place a tariff on
international shipping or pass laws to
limit slavery.
Solution: Commerce Compromise
A compromise was reached that
promised that the federal government
would not pass tariffs or any laws to
regulate the slave trade for 20 years.
Conflict #4
Everyone, including SC was
concerned with how strong the
President should be– nobody wanted
another king, but knew he had to have
power in order to be effective. SC
favored……
 SC wanted the President to serve 67 year term.
 The idea of an aristocratic republic–
this means that the government
would be run by the wealthy
property owners.
 Allowing states to determine who
had the right to vote in their own
state.
Solution:
There is no specific compromise that
was made here, but SC did get some of
the things they wanted. For now, SC
could determine voting rights which
would keep the power in the hands of
the rich. The decision was made to
give the President a 4 year term before
re-election.
SC simply had to accept that they
could not get everything they
wanted in the Constitution. They
were satisfied with the new
document and returned to South
Carolina to lobby for its
ratification.
Ratifying
the Constitution
Once the Constitution was
finished, each state had to ratify it
or accept it. The SC ratifying
convention was held in Charleston
even though the new capital of
Columbia had been chosen by
then.
Americans were split over the
Constitution. Some people were
Federalists who agreed with the
Constitution and wanted to see it
ratified. Others were AntiFederalists who felt like the
Constitution gave the government
too much power.
Federalists--agreed with the
Constitution & wanted to see it
passed.
Anti-Federalists—thought it was
too powerful & did not want it
passed.
Of course, when it came time to
decide on the Constitution, the Low
Country had more representation just
as they always had. The few men of
the Up Country who had the right to
vote had little influence on the
ratification of the Constitution because
they lived so far away that they had
little effect on the decisions.
They thought the Constitution
gave too much power to the
federal government and that the
rights of the people would be
ignored. This is a logical
concern to a group of people
who have had little power
throughout history.
Since most Low Country
leaders were Federalists and
felt like a strong National
Government would provide the
strength our country needed to
get back on its feet, the
ratification of the Constitution
passed easily.
th
8
South Carolina was the
state to ratify the
Constitution, thus officially
joining the United States of
America.
To try to calm the worries of the
Anti-Federalists, the Federalists
promised to adopt the Bill of
Rights to ensure the rights of the
citizens. The Bill of Rights is
the first 10 amendments to the
Constitution and is the basis of
our freedoms today.
Youtube
video—Smart
Songs—Bill
of Rights Rap
Once 9 states ratified the
Constitution, it became
our new government and
it has been in place ever
since.
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
December 7, 1787: Delaware .
December 12, 1787: Pennsylvania .
December 18, 1787: New Jersey ratifies.
January 2, 1788: Georgia ratifies.
January 9, 1788: Connecticut ratifies.
February 6, 1788: Massachusetts ratifies.
March 24, 1788: Rhode Island popular referendum rejects.
April 28, 1788: Maryland ratifies.
May 23, 1788: South Carolina ratifies.
June 21, 1788: New Hampshire ratifies.
June 25, 1788: Virginia ratifies.
July 26, 1788: New York ratifies.
August 2, 1788: North Carolina adjourns without ratifying
November 21, 1789: North Carolina ratifies.
May 29, 1790: Rhode Island ratifies.
Although the Constitution guarantees
shared power between the US
Government and the state governments,
the US Constitution is the highest law
in the country. All other laws must
meet the requirements of the
Constitution. Each state also has a state
Constitution, but the United States
Constitution is the supreme law of the land.
The Constitution was ratified
and went into effect in 1789.
The most famous line from the
Constitution is the Preamble or
introduction. It gives the 6
goals of the Constitution and
lists the responsibilities of the
government.
The basic principles of
American government
include…..
Popular Sovereignty
The authority for government
is in the power of its people. In other
words, people have the right to vote.
Individual Rights
Unalienable rights are guaranteed to all citizens.
(Unalienable means that those rights should not
ever be taken away.) Also remember when this
was written, this really didn’t apply to All
citizens– many groups, the poor, African
Americans, women, etc. had had to fight to get
those rights.
Federalism
The federal system shares powers between
the national government and the states–
States’ rights which is going to become
and important issue causing the Civil War.
th
10 Amendment
The
of the Bill of
Rights states that any right not
stated in the Constitution is
reserved for the states. This is the
basis of States’ Rights which will
eventually lead our country to Civil
War.
Separation of Power
To ensure that no one part of government
was able to get too much power and take
away the rights of the people,
the Constitution set up
three branches
of government.
They are the…..
Legislative Branch or
Congress whose primary
job is to make the laws.
The Judicial Branch
which is the federal court
system who ensures that the
laws passed are
Constitutional. The highest
court is the Supreme Court.
The Executive Branch
is headed by the President and
carries out the laws. It also includes
the Vice President and Cabinet
who assist the President in making
informed decisions.
Checks and balances
Each branch can check the power of
the other. These checks keep any one
branch from gaining too much power.
An example of checks and balances is
the process by which a bill becomes
law. The bill must be passed by both
houses of the Congress. The President
may sign it or veto it.
The President can veto a law
Congress passes, but Congress can
override his veto with a 2/3s vote.
The Judicial Branch can then
kill a law if they
determine it is
Unconstitutional.
Limited Government
Powers of the government are
restricted by the Constitution as stated
in Articles I, II, III and the Bill of
Rights which protects
the rights of the
individual against
excessive power
by the government.
Representative Democracy
The Constitution recognizes that the
authority of the government derives from
“We, the people.” Voters hold the
sovereign power but elect representatives
to exercise power for them, including the
president, Senators, and Representatives.
Most of these beliefs are also present
in most state governments. The
majority of states have state
constitutions that mirror the national
government, with an executive,
legislative, and judicial branch
including the concepts listed above,
such as checks and balances.
Once the Constitution was ratified,
and the new government was in
place, it was time to elect our first
president.
George Washington was
chosen
st
as the 1
President.
• Never lived in White House—the site was chosen during his
Presidency and the President's House as it was called began
construction. John Adams was the first to live there.
• Washington served 2 terms and then resigned—remember at that
time, there were no term limits on the President, but he decided to
step down.
• He returned to his plantation in Virginia to his true love which was
agriculture. He had a plantation that raised sheep for wool, grew
wheat which he made into flour and whiskey.
• Another side crop was Hemp which he grew to sell to make rope. A
lot of people assume when they see that he grew hemp that he was a
“pothead”, but at that time in history, it was common for hemp to be
cultivated for its value as rope, NOT as a drug.
Random fact: Washington’s salary for President was $25,000 a
year—This would be equivalent to aprox. $650,000 in 2013 .
Today, Barack Obama earns $400,000 a year, however, he also
has a $150,000 expense account , a $100,000 travel account
and $20,000 entertainment budget, a house with no expenses, a
car, a plane, a helicopter…
• He lived only 3 years in retirement before his death.
• He died from a throat infection—probably something like Strep
Throat. The Dr. who came to Mt. Vernon called it “inflammatory
quinsy”. There was little medical knowledge at the time and very
few medications, so he died from something you or I would never
die from.
NOTE: The Constitution originally allowed
the President to serve for an unlimited time
period as long as he was re-elected every 4
years.
After FDR served 4 full terms for a total of
16 years, Amendment 22 was added to the
Constitution. Now, a President is limited to
serving 2 full terms.
During Washington’s
presidency, the first two official
political parties developed.
There were many issues that
divided the people and
sometimes by just where they
were from.
Federalists
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Led by Alexander Hamilton
Wealthy Low Country landowners
Very dependent on others to continue to make money and stay wealthy–
businessmen, plantation owners.
Strong National Government– thought that gov’t had the right to do whatever was
“necessary and proper” to ensure the strength of the nation
Believed national government should take priority over state gov’t
Wanted the creation of national banks and collection of taxes. The Federalists voted
in favor of creating the bank and it was opened
Wanted to pay off debts of war, including all states’ debts. They did pay off the
states’ debts.
Wanted to pass a protective tariff to protect American businesses
Wanted to keep the capital in New York City since it had already been chosen
During the French Revolution, they opposed the French Revolution because of its
violence.
Anti-Federalists
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Led by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison
Everyday common people/ Up Country poor/middle class
Very independent because life revolved around simply caring and
providing for the family, not buying and selling
Believed that only rights of the national gov’t were those things specifically stated
in the Constitution. If it was not written down, then it was not a right.
Believed in states’ rights which means the states should be able to determine if
laws are fair and constitutional.
Opposed the creation of the bank and taxes.
Opposed the gov’t paying off state debts.
Felt like protective tariffs were not fair to all people and only protected a select few
business owners. Tariff did not pass.
Wanted the capital moved to a more central location so that it would be fair to
everyone. Capital city was moved to Washington, DC.
Agreed with the French citizens desiring to overthrow the king and wanted to help
them.
The US in the French Revolution
As stated in the above chart, George Washington who was a Federalist,
had no desire to get involved in the French Revolution, but he disagreed
with the violence of the war. He issued the Proclamation of Neutrality
that stated that America would not get involved in the European affairs.
The 2nd president, John Adams, sent Charles Cotesworth Pinckney to
France to try to help negotiate peace. This went against Neutrality
Proclamation and made the Federalists angry. Pinckney and 2 other
Americans met with three French government officials called X, Y, and
Z. They asked for a bribe in order to make peace. Pinckney replied, “No,
no, not a sixpence.” This is known as the X, Y, and Z affair and caused
more conflict between the two political parties.
The Democratic Republicans
supported John Adams in several
newspapers. The Federalists were
angry and insulted that they were
getting so much support so they passed
the Alien and Sedition Act.
The Alien and Sedition Acts
The Alien and Sedition Acts were designed
and passed by the Federalists to limit the
growth of the Democratic Republicans and to
put an end to voicing opinions in the
newspapers. Several publishers of these
newspapers were jailed under this act. One of
the arrests included the South Carolina
publisher Thomas Cooper. There is a library at
USC named after him.
This clearly violates the first amendment right to freedom of
the press so the Democratic Republicans protested these acts.
Prompted by the Alien and Sedition Acts, Thomas Jefferson
and James Madison write the Virginia and Kentucky
Resolutions saying that states had the right to nullify or
ignore any act of Congress or law that they found to be
unconstitutional. These resolutions were the foundation of
the “states’ rights’ doctrine which will be important during
the Nullification Crisis and the main issue in the arguments
of John C. Calhoun leading up to the secession of the
southern states and the Civil War.
Controversy over the Alien and Sedition Acts helped lead to
the election of Thomas Jefferson as president in 1800.
The French Revolution Continues
The Napoleonic Wars continued and Americans
saw this as an opportunity to make money, so
they traded with both France and England. The
British began to capture American sailors and
press them into working on British ships. This
is called impressment and upset the Americans
very much because these were innocent men
who were being held captive.
Jefferson being very concerned with this and wanting to put
and end to impressment, passed the Embargo Act. The
Embargo Act forbid Americans from trading with France and
England. It was passed in 1807 and was meant to help protect
American sailors, but it actually devastated the American
economy. This especially hurt New England (the north)
which was a Federalist region. Federalists fought against the
embargo, but many Americans were upset because violence
was becoming more of a problem with the British. Not only
were they impressing sailors, but there were times when the
British were firing on American ships and encouraging
Native Americans to attack settlers.
The War of 1812
The problems listed above will eventually lead
to war. A group of men known as the War
Hawks are pushing the American gov’t to
declare war on England. One of the most
outspoken War Hawks was John C. Calhoun
from South Carolina. He and several others
encouraged Congress to declare war on
England which happened in 1812.
The American Army invaded British
Canada where they were defeated. Then
in 1814, the British army attacked
Washington, DC and set fire to the capitol
building and the President’s house. After
it was refurbished, it became known as
the White House.
The End of the War of 1812
The war was ended by a treaty, but there
were no lands gained or lost. The biggest
impact from this war was a surge of
nationalism. American pride and
expansion became important. The
Federalist party died out.