Foundations of American Government (1776-1790)
Articles of Confederation
Created by 2nd Continental Congress in 1777, not approved by states
until 1781.
Hold-up to ratification is the issue of western land claims. Maryland will not
agree until the states (8) surrender land claims for “the good of the
whole.”
Congress was the dominant force (no executive or federal courts):
1. All bills required 2/3 vote for passage.
2. Any amendment to the Articles required a unanimous vote.
3. Each state had 1 vote.
4. No power to regulate commerce.
5. No tax enforcement power (voluntary).
Land Ordinance of 1785
Northwest territory sold to pay off debt.
Land divided into townships.
One section (of the 36) was set aside to be sold for the benefit of public
schools.
Allowed for ordered settlement of the old Northwest.
Northwest Ordinance of 1787
Creation of civil govt. in the territory under the direct control of Congress.
A territory could eventually become a state once population reached
20,000 (petition congress for statehood). Earlier, some interesting
names had been proposed for new states (see next page).
Natural Rights provision (an influence upon the bill of rights?)





Right of habeas corpus.
Freedom of religious worship.
Bans on excessive fines and cruel and unusual punishment.
Right of trial by jury.
Ban on ex post facto laws.
Slavery and involuntary servitude forbidden in Northwest.
Allowed for new states to enter union on equal basis with the original 13.
Native Americans:
"The utmost good faith shall always be observed towards the Indians; their lands
and property shall never be taken from them without their consent; and, in their
property, rights, and liberty, they shall never be invaded or disturbed, unless in
just and lawful wars authorized by Congress; but laws founded in justice and
humanity, shall from time to time be made for preventing wrongs being done to
them, and for preserving peace and friendship with them.”
"...the governor shall make proper divisions thereof... to lay out the parts of the
district in which the Indian titles shall have been extinguished, into counties and
townships."
Drafting of State Constitutions
In 1780, states begin to call conventions to write state constitutions.
Submitted to voters for ratification.
Conventions focus on distribution and limitations on governmental power.
Americans distrust powerful, central government.
States such as Pennsylvania took a radical approach by adopting many
of the ideas contained within, The People the Best Governors.
Provisions
 State constitutions limit the power of the governor and length of term.
 Increase the power of the legislatures.
 Actual not virtual representation.
 Fewer restrictions on suffrage. Most states lowered property
qualifications for voting.
 Separation of powers.
 Bicameral legislature.
 Most state constitutions include a Declaration of Rights a Bill of
Rights (guarantees of Natural Rights, due process of law, right to
reform govt., and freedoms of religion and speech).
Revision
State constitutions soon need revision, did not establish governments
strong enough to conduct the business of governing.
Most revisions increase the power of the governor and decrease the
power of the legislature.
Foreign Problems
Britain refused to send an ambassador, make a commercial treaty, or
repeal the Navigation Laws.
Trading posts along Canadian border source of trouble with Indians.
Spain seized lands granted to the U.S. by Britain and harassed trade on
the Mississippi River.
France demanded repayment of loans made during the Revolution and
restricted trade with the West Indies.
Domestic Problems
Some states refused to pay taxes, interest on the public debt grew and
nation's credit dwindled.
States began levying duties on each other's products and quarreling over
boundaries.
Shays' Rebellion (1786) Western Massachusetts, farmers losing their land
due to mortgage foreclosures and tax delinquencies.
Massachusetts authorities put down the uprising with force.
Leaders throughout the nation worried about the potential of domestic
unrest and continued commerce woes.
The Call for Reform of the Articles
Annapolis Convention, called to deal with issue of interstate commerce,
requested a convention to deal with reforming the Articles
(Philadelphia).
Representatives from 12 states (Rhode Island boycotted) assembled in
Philadelphia in 1787 to make a more perfect union.
THE CONSTITUTION
Republicanism and Federalism
Federalism is a system of government in which power is divided between a
central authority and constituent political states; this system binds the
lesser states into a single large state while allowing them to maintain their
own political identities. Federalism under the Articles of Confederation and
under the Constitution represent two different models of structure and
emphasis of power.
Republicanism is based on the assumption that liberty and power
continually battle. Therefore, citizens must protect liberty from the
destructive powers of tyranny and despotism. Republican government is
based on the consent of the governed and is conducted by elected
representatives of the people. In such a government, virtuous citizens
must exercise self-control for the common good.
Annapolis Convention
September 1786. Delegates drew up a report calling on Congress to hold
a convention “to render the constitution of the federal government adequate
to the exigencies of the union.”
Constitutional Convention
May 1787. Representatives from all state except Rhode Island attend
meeting in Philadelphia. Delegates decide to keep proceedings of
convention secret.
Key Delegates: Ben Franklin (taking time away from writing his
insightful work, To the Royal Academy of Farting or aka Fart
Proudly), George Washington, James Madison “Father of the
Constitution."
Purpose: Congress called this convention to revise the Articles.
However, many of the delegates believed that the Articles could not
be fixed and needed to be replaced.
Dilemmas:
1. Framers of the Constitution believed that the power to rule
ultimately came from the people yet some hesitated to wholly
entrust the common man with that power.
2. Rectify the federal (equal representation) and national
(proportional representation) models of government.
3. James Madison’s “great desideratum.” Greater vigor of
government but not too much vigor.
The great desideratum in Government is such a modification of the
Sovereignty as will render it sufficiently neutral between the different
interests and factions, to controul one part of the Society from invading the
rights of another, and at the same time sufficiently controuled itself, from
setting up an interest adverse to that of the whole Society.
Constitutional Compromises: Representation & Apportionment
Virginia Plan: Edmund Randolph. This plan was favored by the
states with large populations.
1. It provided for a two-house legislature. Each house would have
proportional representation. (by population)
2. The executive would be elected by Congress.
3. There would be a national judiciary.
New Jersey Plan: William Patterson. This was favored by the
states with small populations.
1. This plan called for modifications of the Articles of
Confederation. It retained the unicameral legislature with equal
representation for each state.
2. It gave the Congress new powers of taxation and trade
regulation.
Solution: Great Compromise, also called the Connecticut
Compromise. Bicameral Legislature composed of the Senate (chosen
by state legislatures) with equal representation, and the House of
Representatives (elected) with proportional representation. “Partly
federal, partly national.”
Representation & Slavery: Three-fifths Compromise
Problem: Delegates from states with large numbers of slaves wanted
them to be counted toward representation but not toward direct
taxation. Delegates from non-slave holding states wanted only free
whites to be counted for representation.
Solution:
1. Three-fifths of the slaves would be included in the population
totals for both representation and taxation.
2. Congress was prohibited from outlawing the foreign slave
trade for at least 20 years. Georgia and South Carolina
threatened to leave the Union if the slave trade was outlawed.
Other Aspects of the Constitution
Separation of Powers: Distribution of political power was among three
branches: legislative, executive, and judicial. The system of checks and
balances would prevent any one branch from becoming tyrannical.
Electoral College: Established to elect the president. A Virginia delegate
said "To leave the choice to the people was like asking a blind man to
choose colors." Not a great view of the capacity of the common man …
Ratification
The Ratification clause of the Constitution provided for the new system to
take effect once it was approved by special conventions in at least nine
states. Two sides began to develop. They debated through pamphlets and
newspapers.
 Federalists: Backed the Constitution. Wanted the creation of a
more powerful central government. “Thought continentally.”
Wanted to put sovereignty in the hands of the people and not the
states. Drew support from the moneyed, propertied, and seaboard
merchants and shippers.
 Antifederalists: Opposed the Constitution. Feared the threat to
states' rights and sovereignty and above all the power of direct
taxation of the people. Many wanted a bill of rights, other believed
the republican model could not apply to a nation as large as the
United States. They drew support from farmers and backcountry
people.
Where was Jefferson on all of this?
You say that I have been dished up to you as an antifederalist, and ask me if it be just. My opinion
was never worthy enough of notice to merit citing; but since you ask it I will tell it you. I am not a
Federalist, because I never submitted the whole system of my opinions to the creed of any party of
men whatever in religion, in philosophy, in politics, or in anything else where I was capable of
thinking for myself. Such an addiction is the last degradation of a free and moral agent. If I could not
go to heaven but with a party, I would not go there at all. Therefore I protest to you I am not of the
party of federalists. But I am much farther from that than of the Antifederalists.
-Letter to Francis Hopkinson (13 March 1789).
I sincerely rejoice at the acceptance of our new constitution by nine States. It is a good canvas, on
which some strokes only want retouching.
-Jefferson to Madision (Paris, July 31, 1788)
The Federalist Papers: James Madison, John Jay, and Alexander
Hamilton campaigned for ratification by publishing 85 essays. The essays
explain the theory behind the Constitution and responded to its critics in
that limits on governmental powers were built into the Constitution. They
also promised that a Bill of Rights would be added.
July 26, 1788: All states except Rhode Island had ratified the Constitution.
Rhode Island finally ratified in 1790. See the map on the next page.