Unit 3 Chapter 8: Confederation
to Constitution
This presentation follows materials presented in Unit 3 of the
McDougal Littell textbook: Creating America
I. The Confederation Era
Just so you know it means the same thing…
Federal
Government
=
Central
Government
=
National
Government
A. Articles of Confederation
A. America’s 1st FORM of Government
1.
The Continental Congress drafted the Articles in
1776 and 1777.
2. They did not want a strong national government.
3. The states held most of the power not the national
government.
4. It had only one branch of government, the
Congress.
A. Articles of Confederation
Federal Government
could:
1. Declare War
2. Make Peace
3. Manage foreign
affairs
4. Issue (print) money
5. Establish a postal
system
6. Establish a military
(from states)
State Governments
could:
1. Collect Taxes
2. Enforce Federal
Laws
3. Control land in
Northwest Territory
A. Articles of Confederation
5. WEAKNESSES of the Articles
of Confederation
a. No Chief Executive – No
President/ “Too Many Chiefs”
b. National Government could not:
Enforce the laws, Control
Trade, Tax (could not pay off
debt), Raise a National Army
c. Amendments (changes) took
ALL 13 states’ approval
A. Articles of Confederation
6. ACCOMPLISHMENTS of the Articles of
Confederation
a. Signed the Treaty of Paris, 1783( treaty with Britain
ending the revolution)
b. Helped establish the idea of limited government
c. Passed the Northwest Ordinance of 1787
1.
2.
3.
4.
Prohibited slavery in area
Encouraged free public education
Guaranteed religious freedom and trial by jury
Gave an orderly way for territories to become states.
A. Articles of Confederation
7. EFFECTS of the Articles of
Confederation: Shays’ Rebellion
a. High taxes in Massachusetts led to war
veterans and farmers losing farms
b. Daniel Shays led a rebellion to close
down the courts but was defeated by
the militia.
c. Fear led to a Convention to revise (fix)
the Articles but only 5 states showed
up. This led to another meeting in
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
II. Philadelphia Convention
A. Meeting in Philadelphia
1. George Washington was chosen as
President of the Convention.
2. The delegates (representatives)
known as our Founding Fathers.
3. James Madison took notes of every
meeting and many ideas in
Constitution were his
1.
Madison is still known as the
“Father of the Constitution”
4. CHALLENGE: create a strong but
limited gov’t through a series of
compromises.
B. The Virginia Plan
1. Planned a gov’t made up of 3
parts like we have today.
2. Legislature would have two
houses and the number of
representatives based on
population of state
3. Large states LOVED this plan
because they would control both
houses of Congress.
C. The New Jersey Plan
1. Planned a gov’t made up of 3
parts like we have today.
2. Legislature would only have one
house and each state would
have one vote.
3. Small states LOVED this plan
because they would have as
many votes as the large states.
D. The Great Compromise
1. 2 Houses in Congress (Bicameral)
2. Decided how many
REPRESENTATIVES each state would
have in Congress
Congress
Senate
EQUAL
Representation
House of Reps.
PROPORTIONAL
Representation
(based on Population)
E. The Three-Fifths Compromise
1. WHO would be counted as
“Population” for representation
2. Southern States wanted to count
slaves a “Population”, so they
could have more representatives
3. Northern states said no because
slaves are not citizens
COMPROMISE: 3 out of 5 Slaves
count for representation