1783-1789
Articles of Confederation

 The first written constitution of the United States
 One-house Congress
 No president
 No judiciary
 The only powers granted to the national government
were those for declaring war, conducting foreign affairs,
and making treaties.
 Congress established national control over land to the
west of the thirteen states and devised rules for its
settlement.
Western Lands

 In the immediate aftermath of independence,
Congress took the position that by aiding the British,
Indians had forfeited the right to their lands.
 Peace brought rapid settlement into frontier areas.
 Leaders feared unregulated flow of settlement cross
the Appalachian Mountains could provoke constant
warfare with the Indians.
Land Ordinances
 Land Ordinance 1785organized the land for sale
in Ohio River area
 Northwest Ordinance of
1787- set up procedure for
bringing states into the
union, outlawed slavery in
region, and provided a
method for admitting new
states into the Union and for
placing them on an equal
footing with existing states.
Map of the land settled in the
Northwest Ordinance of 1787
4
Confederation’s Strengths

 Sale and management
of the western lands
 A written constitution.
 Government during
war
 Negotiated the Treaty
of Paris with Britain in
1783
Confederation’s Weaknesses

 No power to regulate commerce
A unicameral Congress [9 of 13 votes to
pass a law].
13 out of 13 to amend.
Representatives were frequently absent.
Could not tax or raise armies.
No executive or judicial branches.
Shays’ Rebellion (1786-87)

 Facing seizure of their land, debt-ridden farmers,
led by veteran Daniel Shays, closed the courts in MA.
 Shays’ Rebellion demonstrated the need for a more
central government to ensure private liberty.
Call for Change

 Nation builders like James Madison and Alexander
Hamilton called for increased national authority.
 The failed Annapolis Convention (1786) sent a report
to the Congress to call a meeting of all the states to
meet in Philadelphia.
 Shays’ rebellion will convince Washington to lead
the Philadelphia meeting in May 1787.
New Constitution

 The most prominent men took part in the Constitutional
Convention.
 Wealthy
 Well educated
 The Constitution was to create a legislature, an executive,
and a national judiciary.
 The key to stable, effective republican government was
finding a way to balance the competing claims of liberty
and power.
 A final compromise was agreed on based on the Virginia
Plan (population) and New Jersey plan (equality).
Limits of Democracy

 Neither the president nor federal judges were elected
by popular vote.
 The words “slave” and “slavery” did not appear in
the Constitution but it did provide for slavery.
 Congress prohibited the slave trade in 1808.
 The fugitive slave clause accorded slave laws
extraterritoriality.
 The federal government could not interfere with
slavery in the states.
 Slave states had more power due to the three-fifths
clause affecting representation in the House.
Anti-Federalists

 Anti-Federalists opposed ratification.
 They argued that the republic had to be small and
warned that the Constitution would result in a
government of oppression.
 Liberty was the Anti-Federalists’ watch word.
 They argued for a Bill of Rights.
Federalists Win

 Anti-Federalists did not have as much support as the
Federalists did.
 James Madison “Father of the Constitution” promised
the Bill of Rights
 The Federalist Papers are a series of 85 articles and
essays by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and
John Jay to promote the Constitution.
 The Federalist Essays win the day!