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Chapter 6 Strengthening the New Nation. The Articles of Confederation. The Confederation Government. The Critical Period- after ratification during Revolution. No executive branch to oversee laws. No power to tax. States had to donate or be willing to give the government money. Finance
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The Confederation Government • The Critical Period- after ratification during Revolution. • No executive branch to oversee laws. • No power to tax. States had to donate or be willing to give the government money. • Finance • Growing debt
Land Policy • Easy income source for Congress • Used Northwest territory to sell land. • History of the land west of the colonies • The Northwest Ordinance • Promised a certain amount of land and states. • No slavery allowed. • Had to have minimum amount of people to create state constitution. • Jefferson wanted over 12 states to be created.
Diplomacy • Flaws in the Articles begin to surface • Problems with Britain to the west • Brits had string of forts in the area and refused to leave till debt paid. • Problems with Spain to the south • Spain held Florida and parts of the Gulf Coast. • Treaty allowed US to ship goods down Miss. • 1784, Spain gov of Louisiana closed port to US
Trade and Economy • Great Britain closes West Indies to the United States • England stopped providing protection to farmers who used the Navy to protect themselves around trade. • England forbade US from trading with the West Indies. • West Indies imported most of its food from the US farmers.
The Confederation’s Problems • Framers wanted loose organization of states with more power than govt. • No central control over states’ policies • Congress had no say in a state raising taxes on imports or lowering taxes. • States competed against each other this way. • No central control over monetary concerns • States printed their own money to pay debts and freely overprinted causing inflation and devalue of currency.
Shays’s Rebellion • The problem- Daniel Shay’s(former captain in Revolution) and Massachusetts. • Mass. Had high property and poll taxes. • The “rebellion”- Shay’s leads rebellion to prevent courts from foreclosing on their lands due to lack of paper currency in 1786 and 1787 led 1500 farmers • Militia sent to put down “rebellion”, 4 farmers killed. • The result- showed issues with Articles of anarchy from rich and discontent from poor
2. Land Ordinance of 1784 found too radical the proposal to give away the land; slavery prohibition failed as well. 3. Land Ordinance of 1785 called for dividing the land into three to five states; land would be sold by public auction for a minimum price of one dollar an acre; minimum purchase was 640 acres, and payment had to be made in hard money or certificates of debt; gave the advantage to speculators, who held the land for sale rather than living on it; thus avoided conflict with Indians who called the land their own. 4. Land Ordinance of 1787 (the Northwest Ordinance) forth the process by which settled territories would advance to statehood; population would eventually write a constitution and apply for full admission to the Union; perhaps the most important legislation passed by confederation government; ensured United States would not become a colonial power with respect to its white citizens.
Calls for a Stronger Government • The need for a Constitutional Convention • By 1785, need to amend, but needed unanimous support. • AT Mt. Vernon and Annapolis Convention, delegates discussed ways to fix. • Hamilton secured a call for a Constitutional Convention.
Creating the Constitution • The Constitutional Convention-Phila May 25th, 1787 • 55 Delegates in attendance- mix of lawyers, farmers, and merchants. Washington presided • The emergence of James Madison • 2 camps of small and large states. 3 months of debate. • The Virginia and New Jersey Plans • Virginia-Madison plan, bicameral congress based on population. Houses elect executive and judiciary. • New Jersey(small)- William Paterson • Each state single voted 1 house Congress.
IV. The United States Constitution A. From Annapolis to Philadelphia 1. Revision meetings 2. The Constitutional Convention • 55 men who met in Philadelphia had already concluded weaknesses in the Articles; all white men; generally wealthy; two-thirds were lawyers and the majority had served in the Confederation Congress and knew its strengths and weaknesses. B. The Virginia and New Jersey Plans 1. Virginia Plan • Philadelphia convention worked in secrecy so that the men could freely explore alternatives without fear their honest opinions would come back to haunt them; major issue was representation; Virginia Plan repudiated the principle of a confederation of states; called for a two-chamber legislature, a powerful executive, and a judiciary; practically silenced the smaller states by linking representation to population; argued government operated directly on the people, not on the states. 2. New Jersey Plan • mid-June, delegates from small states unveiled the New Jersey Plan; maintained the single-house congress of the Articles, but gave it sweeping powers; also called for a plural presidency. 3. The Great Compromise • bicameral legislature, with representation in the lower house, the House of Representatives, tied to population and representation in the upper house, the Senate, coming from all states equally. 4. The Three-Fifths Clause • the words slave and slavery never appear, but the Constitution recognized and guaranteed slavery with the fugitive slave clause and a provision closing the international, but not the domestic, slave trade.
The Constitution • The Great Compromise- after several months. • 2 house Congress with 1 based on equal rep in Senate and the House based on population • Executive branch and judicial created. • Principles Incorporated into the Constitution • Separation of powers • Nature of the presidency-enforce laws, but not create • Nature of the judicial branch-Supreme Court with chief justice. Congress appoints other courts and justices below the SC. • Examples of countervailing forces in the new government • Congress can overturn a veto. May impeach, may remove members of executive and judicial branch. • President may veto.
Crafting the Constitution • The Fight for Ratification • Federalists versus anti-Federalists • Fed- pro govt with Hamilton, Madison publishing the Federalist Papers • AntiFeds led by Jefferson, Richard Henry Lee and Patrick Henry- states rights. • Arguments for Ratification • Standard money, reduce taxes and pay war • Arguments against Ratification • No Bill of Rights, illegal under Articles.
V. Ratification of the Constitution A. The Federalists 2. Ratification strategy • Federalists targeted states most likely to ratify quickly • by early 1788, they had achieved ratification in Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Georgia, Connecticut, Maryland, and South Carolina; after a tough battle, they secured ratification in Massachusetts by May 1788; they therefore only needed one more vote, but they also felt they had to win over the largest and most economically critical states: Virginia and New York. B. The Antifederalists 2. Elected officials and individual rights • Antifederalists feared that representatives would always be elites and therefore not sensitive to the problems of the lower classes • Federalists agreed that elites would be favored in national elections, but they viewed it as a good thing; Federalists wanted power to reside with intelligent, virtuous leaders like themselves; Antifederalists’ most widespread objection was the Constitution’s omission of any guarantee of individual liberties like those found in state constitutions’ bills of rights.
Crafting the Constitution, continued • The Decision of the States • Small states adopt it first • Needed Virginia and New York to ratify • Demand for a Bill of Rights- 12 initially, but chose 10. • New Hampshire Becomes Ninth State to Ratify • Government is formed
New Hampshire cast the decisive vote on June 21, 1788, but New York and Virginia were too large and important to ignore; an influential Antifederalist group led by Patrick Henry and George Mason tried to block the Constitution; Federalists finally secured ratification by proposing twenty specific amendments that the new government would promise to consider. 2. New York and The Federalist Papers New York voters believed such a large state should not relinquish so much power to the new federal government; also home to persuasive Federalists; Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay wrote and published eighty-five essays on the political philosophy of the new constitution; the essays were later republished as The Federalist Papers; Madison argued in Federalist 10 that a large republic would increase democracy by preventing a single faction from coming to power; impassioned debate plus the news of Virginia’s ratification tipped the balance to the federalists
The Federalist Era • America in 1789 • 4 million from Great Lakes to Gulf of Mexico • South- agrarian and smaller cities • North- shipping and industry • A New Government • 1789- Washington is chosen unanimously. • He knew he was the first and had to set the standard. • Received salary of around $25000, but had to pay for all dinners and expenses
The Federalist Era, continued • The Government’s Structure 3 post • Dept of War, State and Treasury(Finance) • The Executive Branch • Department of State-Jefferson • Department of the Treasury- Hamilton • Department of Justice- Attorney General Edmund Randolph • Department of War- Henry Knox • The Judicial Branch- John Jay as chief justice
A New Nation • The Bill of Rights • Religious Freedom
Hamilton’s Financial Vision • Raising Revenue- tariffs on imports • Establishing the Public Credit • Hamilton won approval to absorb all state debts. • Established national bank and credit • The Emergence of Sectional Differences • Downside, northern business grew against South. • A National Bank • Used to control money supply. • Visioned a central bank to allow govt to prevent inflation or deflation of dollar
Hamilton’s Financial Vision, continued • Encouraging Manufacturers • To encourage growth, prices imported were higher • Used protective tariffs on foreign goods. • Hamilton’s Achievement • War debts were paid off, • Manufacturing grew in America
The Republican Alternative • Birth of the First Political Parties • Parties grew from disagreements on national bank and debts • Federalists- created by Hamilton and his followers to promote strong central govt • Republicans or Democratic Republicans • Madison and Jefferson created this party for strict reading of Constitution and states rights
Foreign and Domestic Crises • The French Revolution of 1789 • The Treaty of Alliance, 1778 • Washington’s Proclamation of 1793 • Washington stated US was neutral
Foreign and Domestic Crises, continued • Citizen Genet- French diplomat during revolution in France. • Genet hired privateers to harass British and caused fear in America of a war. • Jay’s Treaty • Sent to ease relations with British. • Approved to avoid embarassment
Frontier Tensions • The Battle of Fallen Timbers • General Anthony Wayne sent to NW territory in 1793 to protect settlers. • Wayne inflicted heavy loses to Natives and burned their villages. • The Treaty of Greenville, 1795 • Forced Natives to surrender land and move west.
Domestic Crises • The Whiskey Rebellion • Hamilton levied tax on Whiskey in 1791 angering farmers. • West Penn. Farmers terrorized revenue officers. • Washington called militia and rebels left. • Pinckney’s Treaty • 1795, Thomas Pinckney secured rights to use New Orleans and land north of 31st parallel to Tennessee river and west of Miss.
Western Settlement • Land Policy • The Wilderness Road • Daniel Boone expanded trail through Cumberland Gap.
