Constitutional Period

1. Constitutional Period Unit 2B AP U.S. History

2. Think About It • To what extent was the American Revolution considered a turning point in American politics and society? • To what extent did the ratification of the U.S. Constitution maintain continuity and foster change in American politics and society?

3. A New Form of Government? • States drafted new constitutions • Defined citizens’ rights • Conservative state constitutions • Bicameral legislatures and strong governors • Property requirements for voting • i.e. Massachusetts, New York, Virginia • Liberal state constitutions • Unicameral legislatures and weak governors • Universal manhood suffrage • i.e. New Jersey, New Hampshire • Republicanism vs. democracy • Republicanism preferred landed elites, power in the hands of a few; common good • Democracy synonymous with “mob rule” and development of corrupt factions; individual liberties • Debate on who may vote • Whites? Property owners? All males? Women? Christians?

4. Articles of Confederation • Each state retains its “sovereignty, freedom, and independence” • Unicameral legislature and weak national government • No executive or judicial system • Could not regulate interstate commerce • Limited taxation • Voting and Ratification • Each state received one vote • No new tax or amendments without unanimous consent

5. The Good: Northwest Territory • Land Ordinance of 1785 • 36-square-mile township • Each township divided into 36 sections of 640 acres each • $1 each acre • Sections set aside for school and church • Some land set aside as source of federal revenue • Northwest Ordinance of 1787 • Forbade slavery north of Ohio River • Admitting states • Appoint territorial officials • Once 5,000 adult males settled then vote on temporary constitution and legislature • When population at 60,000, residents approve state constitution • Angered Natives • Hoped for British support • Deals with the Spanish

6. The Bad: Problems with the Articles

7. Tensions rise Jay-Gardoqui Treaty Spain’s rights to Mississippi River New England’s depression Mercantilist policies Foreign manufacturing competition States refusing/unable to pay debts Weak defenses Massachusetts farmers in serious debt Held meetings protesting “tyrannical Mass. government” Daniel Shays led 2,000 men to shut down western courts to avoid foreclosures Virtual civil war in Massachusetts led to Annapolis Convention The Ugly: Shays’s Rebellion (1786-1787)

8. Toward a Constitution • Annapolis Convention (1786) • After a meeting run by Washington, delegates from five states meet in Maryland to discuss interstate commerce • Decide to reform Articles with other delegates • Constitutional Convention at Philadelphia • All states but Rhode Island • Held in secrecy • Common nationalist viewpoint • Reform Articles or devise new government altogether? • The Delegates • 55 total delegates; all white males • Mostly wealthy, middle-aged, professional (especially lawyers or politicians) • 19 delegates owned slaves • George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, Benjamin Franklin

9. Representation? Virginia Plan New Jersey Plan Unicameral legislature Each state with an equal vote Proposes executive and judicial branches • Strong central government • Virtually total legislative control over the states • Bicameral legislature • Proportional representation to each states population in both houses • Lower house directly elected • Lower house elected upper house with input from state legislatures • Both houses chose executive and judicial

10. Great Compromise • Bicameral legislature • Lower house (House of Representatives) • Proportional representation • Directly elected • Upper house (Senate) • Equal representation of 2 senators each • Elected by state legislatures • NOTE: Virginia and New Jersey Plans allowed for Congress to: • pass revenue bills • regulate commerce • supremacy over states Oliver Ellsworth and Roger Sherman

11. Structure of National Government • Separation of Powers • Article I - Congress (Legislative Branch) • House of Representatives • Senate • Article II – President/Agencies (Executive Branch) • Article III - Supreme Court (Judicial Branch) • Checks and Balances • Federalism • Division of powers between national government and states

12. A Stronger National Government Articles Problems Constitution Solution Lay and collect taxes Interstate and foreign commerce clause No export taxes President Electoral College 4 year terms U.S. Supreme Court Article V – Amendments 2/3 of both houses of Congress ¾ of state legislatures Presentment Clause Simple majority by both houses President’s signature • No power to tax • No power to regulate interstate and foreign commerce • No executive branch • No judicial branch • Amendments need unanimous consent • Supermajority to pass laws

13. Slavery and the Constitution • Southern states requested slave populations counted for more representation • Majority of U.S. population lived in the North • Northern states noted hypocrisy • Three-Fifths Compromise • Each slave counted as 3/5ths a person • Fugitive Slave Clause • Importation of slaves banned by 1808

14. Strong central government Common good Well-funded and politically organized Favored by merchants, urbanites Alexander Hamilton, James Madison The Federalist Papers Federalist No. 10 “Liberty is to faction, what air is to fire, an aliment without which it instantly expires. But it could not be a less folly to abolish liberty, which is essential to political life, because it nourishes faction, than it would be to wish the annihilation of air, which is essential to animal life, because it imparts to fire its destructive agency.” “Among the numerous advantages promised by a well-constructed Union, none deserves to be more accurately developed than its tendency to break and control the violence of faction.” “Extend the sphere and you take in a greater variety of parties and interests; you make it less probable that a majority of the whole will have common motive to invade the rights of other citizens.” Federalist No. 51 “If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary. In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself.” States rights Argued for a Bill of Rights Favored by small farmers, western homesteaders George Mason, Samuel Adams “I had rather be a free citizen of the free small republic of Massachusetts, than an oppressed subject of the great American empire.” – Antifederalist No. 1 “Antifederalists feared what Patrick Henry termed the "consolidated government" proposed by the new Constitution. They saw in Federalist hopes for commercial growth and international prestige only the lust of ambitious men for a "splendid empire" that, in the time-honored way of empires, would oppress the people with taxes, conscription, and military campaigns. Uncertain that any government over so vast a domain as the United States could be controlled by the people, Antifederalists saw in the enlarged powers of the general government only the familiar threats to the rights and liberties of the people.” – Ralph Ketchum Fight for RatificationFederalists vs Anti-Federalists

15. The Constitution Needs a Bill of Rights;The Constitution Does Not Need a Bill of Rights Patrick Henry – Speech Before the Virginia Ratifying Convention (1788) Alexander Hamilton – The Federalist No. 84 (1788) Here, in strictness, the people surrender nothing, and as they retain every thing, they have no need of particular reservations. “We the people of the United States, to secure the blessing of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this constitution for the United States of America.”... I go further, and affirm that bills of rights, in the sense and in the extent in which they are contended for, are not only unnecessary in the proposed constitution, but would even be dangerous. They would contain various exceptions to powers which are not granted; and on this very account, would afford a colourable pretext to claim more than were granted. For why declare that things shall not be done which there is no power to do?... The truth is…that the constitution is itself in every rational sense, and to every useful purpose, a Bill of Rights...And the proposed constitution, if adopted, will be the bill of rights of the union. • It was expressly declared in our Confederation that every right was retained by the States respectively, which was not given up to the Government of the United States. But there is no such thing here. You therefore by a natural and unavoidable implication, give up your rights to the General Government… A Bill of Rights may be summed up in a few words. What do they tell us? – That our rights are reserved. – Why not say so? Is it because it will consume too much paper?... A Bill of Rights is a favorite thing with the Virginians, and the people of the other States likewise. It may be their prejudice, but the Government ought to suit their geniuses, otherwise its operation will be unhappy. A Bill of Rights, even if its necessity be doubtful, will exclude the possibly of dispute, and with great submission, I think the best way is to have no dispute.

17. Ratification • Created: September 17, 1787 • Ratified: June 21, 1788 • “I confess that there are several parts of this Constitution which I do not at present approve, but I am not sure I shall never approve them…I doubt too whether any other Convention we can obtain may be able to make a better Constitution. For when you assemble a number of men to have the advantage of their joint wisdom, you inevitably assemble with those men, all their prejudices, their passions, their errors of opinion, their local interests, and their selfish views. From such an Assembly can a perfect production be expected? It therefore astonishes me, Sir, to find this system approaching so near to perfection as it does; and I think it will astonish our enemies, who are waiting with confidence to hear that our councils are confounded like those of the Builders of Babel; and that our States are on the point of separation, only to meet hereafter for the purpose of cutting one another's throats. Thus I consent, Sir, to this Constitution because I expect no better, and because I am not sure, that it is not the best.“ – Benjamin Franklin, September 17, 1787 • "I have often looked at that behind the president without being able to tell whether it was rising or setting. But now I... know that it is a rising...sun.“ – Benjamin Franklin

18. Charles Beard’s An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution of the United States • The movement for the Constitution of the United states was originated and carried through principally by four groups of personalty interests which had been adversely affected under the Articles of Confederation: money, public securities, manufactures, and trade and shipping: • The first firm steps toward the formation of the Constitution were taken by a small and active group of men immediately interested through their personal possessions in the outcome of their labors. • No popular vote was taken directly or indirectly on the proposition to call the Convention which drafted the Constitution. • A large propertyless mass was, under the prevailing suffrage qualifications, excluded at the outset from participation (through representatives) in the work of framing the Constitution. • The members of the Philadelphia Convention which drafted the Constitution were, with a few exceptions, immediately, directly, and personally interested in, and derived economic advantages from, the establishment of the new system. • The Constitution was essentially an economic document based upon as recognizing the claim of property to a special and defensive position in the Constitution. • In the ratification of the Constitution, about three-fourths of the adult males failed to vote on the question, having abstained from the elections at which delegates to the state conventions were chosen, either on account of their indifference or their disfranchisement by property qualifications. • The Constitution was ratified by a vote of probably not more than one-sixth of the adult males. • It is questionable whether a majority of the voters participating in the elections for the state conventions in New York, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Virginia, and South Carolina, actually approved the ratification of the Constitution. • The leaders who supported the Constitution in the ratifying conventions represented the same economic groups as the members of the Philadelphia Convention; and in a large number of instances they were also directly and personally interested in the outcome of their efforts. • In the ratification, it became manifest that the line of cleavage for and against the Constitution was between substantial personalty interests on the one hand and the small farming and debtor interests on the other. • The Constitution was not created by “the whole people” as the jurists have said; neither was it created by “the states” as Southern nullifiers long contended; but it was the work of a consolidated group whose interests knew no state boundaries and were truly national in their scope.

19. First Ten Amendments • First Amendment • Establishment Clause • Free Exercise Clause • Speech, Press, Assembly, Petition • Fourth Amendment • Searches and Seizures • Fifth Amendment • Due Process • Sixth Amendment • Speedy and fair trial • Counsel • Tenth Amendment • Reserved powers of the states

20. The Constitution Needs a Bill of Rights;The Constitution Does Not Need a Bill of Rights Patrick Henry – Speech Before the Virginia Ratifying Convention (1788) Alexander Hamilton – The Federalist No. 84 (1788) Here, in strictness, the people surrender nothing, and as they retain every thing, they have no need of particular reservations. “We the people of the United States, to secure the blessing of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this constitution for the United States of America.”... I go further, and affirm that bills of rights, in the sense and in the extent in which they are contended for, are not only unnecessary in the proposed constitution, but would even be dangerous. They would contain various exceptions to powers which are not granted; and on this very account, would afford a colourable pretext to claim more than were granted. For why declare that things shall not be done which there is no power to do?... The truth is…that the constitution is itself in every rational sense, and to every useful purpose, a Bill of Rights...And the proposed constitution, if adopted, will be the bill of rights of the union. • It was expressly declared in our Confederation that every right was retained by the States respectively, which was not given up to the Government of the United States. But there is no such thing here. You therefore by a natural and unavoidable implication, give up your rights to the General Government… A Bill of Rights may be summed up in a few words. What do they tell us? – That our rights are reserved. – Why not say so? Is it because it will consume too much paper?... A Bill of Rights is a favorite thing with the Virginians, and the people of the other States likewise. It may be their prejudice, but the Government ought to suit their geniuses, otherwise its operation will be unhappy. A Bill of Rights, even if its necessity be doubtful, will exclude the possibly of dispute, and with great submission, I think the best way is to have no dispute.

21. Historiography“The Constitution: Conflict or Consensus?” Gordon S. Wood – The Creation of the American Republic, 1776-1787 (1969) Woody Holton – Did Democracy Cause the Recession That Led to the Constitution? (2005) The competing economic struggles advanced in the 1780s were rooted in conflicting assessments of popular virtue. Madison and other prominent Federalists believed the 1780s offered farmers a grim lesson about the limits of their own capacity for self-rule. According to this viewpoint, the authors of the Revolution-era state constitutions had placed too much faith in ordinary Americans’ ability and willingness to act wisely and justly… Although [many Americans] agreed that the state legislatures had mismanaged the economy, they traced this failure to elite, not popular, misrule. Consequently, they disputed the Federalists’ assertion that the only way out of the economic bind was to the embrace the restraints on popular influence embodied in the Constitution. • Despite all the examples of popular vice in the [1780s], the Federalist confidence in the people remained strong. The Federalists had by no means lost faith in the people, at least in the people’s ability to discern their true leaders. In fact many of the social elite who comprised the Federalist leadership were confident of popular election if the constituency could be made broad enough…Despite prodding by so-called designing and unprincipled men, the bulk of the people remained deferential to the established social leadership... Even if they had wanted to, the Federalists could not turn their backs on republicanism.

22. George Washington (1789-1797) • Washington unanimously elected • John Adams as VP • The Cabinet • Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson • Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton • Secretary of War Henry Knox • Attorney General Edmund Randolph • Judiciary Act of 1789 • Established lower federal courts • Federal district court in each state • Attorney General • Whiskey Rebellion (1794) • Foreign Policy • French Revolution • Jay Treaty and Pinckney Treaty • Farewell Address

23. Reports on the Public Credit Debt Problems $75M debt between national government and states government Worthless national currency Little to no foreign credit The Debt Plan Federal government assumes national and state debts Report on a National Bank Manage revenues, currency, and debt Private institution “necessary and proper” Sources of Revenue Tariffs Excise taxes Report on Manufactures Protective tariffs Promotion of domestic industries Opposition to Hamilton’s Debt and Bank Plans Thomas Jefferson and James Madison Unconstitutional Mostly British financial investments Undermine state governments and state banks Favors bankers, merchants, speculators, business, northern commercial interests Weakens farmers, western settlers, southern agrarian interests Compromise “Dinner Table Bargain” Approval of Assumption Plan and National Bank National capital in the South Washington, D.C. Hamilton’s Economic Plans John Adams Debate

24. Whiskey Rebellion (1791-1794) • Excise tax on domestic whiskey • Western Pennsylvanian farmers attacked federal tax collectors • Washington and Hamilton led federal troops and quashed the rebels • Asserted federal authority over lawlessness • Public could denounce and protest laws • Thomas Jefferson and Opposition • Overuse of federal military • Jefferson caters to western farmers

25. Washington’s Foreign Policy • Europe • French Revolution • Citizen Genet (1793) • Proclamation of Neutrality (1793) • John Adams Neutrality • Jay’s Treaty (1796) • Most-favored trade status to Britain • Removed British from Northwest forts • Did not end British impressment of U.S. sailors • Pinckney’s Treaty (1796) • Established boundaries with Spain • Unrestricted trade access on the Mississippi River • Natives • Treaty of Greenville (1795) • Battle of Fallen Timbers (1794) • Formal recognition/cession of Northwest Territory by Natives

26. Washington’s Precedents • Two terms • “Mr. President” • Cabinet • Neutrality • Special Relationship with Great Britain • Farewell Address

27. Washington’s Farewell Address Retired after two terms Preserve treaties and avoid alliances** Condemned political parties and partisan conflicts* Warned of sectionalism and to preserve unity Religion and morality and diffusion of knowledge (education) Washington’s Farewell

28. Federalists National policies Strong central government Loose constructionists Commerce and manufacturing Urban The rich, the well-born, the able; merchants, bankers Pro-British Anti-French revolution Northeast Democratic-Republicans States rights Strong local/state governments Strict constructionists Agricultural Rural Small farmers, plantation owners, artisans Anti-British Pro-French Revolution West and South First Political Party System (1789-1824) Alexander Hamilton Thomas Jefferson

29. Election of 1796

30. Adams and the XYZ Affair • French seizure of American ships • American delegation to France • John Marshall • Elbridge Gerry • Charles Pinckney • Talleyrand • Quasi War (1797-1798) “The Paris Monster”, 1797

31. Adams and the Alien and Sedition Acts • Parameters • Deport or jail foreign citizens believed as threats • Expel foreign residents if considered dangerous • Increase residency requirement • Criticism of government prohibited • Ulterior motive • Democratic-Republican Reaction • Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions • Thomas Jefferson and James Madison • Theory of nullification Matthew Lyon (D-R) and Roger Griswold (F)

32. Revolution of 1800

33. An American Society • In the past, most families produced for personal consumption • In the new nation, families attempted to meet new demands and focused on production with old and new markets • New class of entrepreneurs and investors • Split between manufacturers (Hamilton) and farmers (Jefferson) Charles Wilson Peale,The Artist's Mother, Mrs Charles Peale and Her Grandchildren: 1783

34. Women in the New Republic • Limited political and property rights • Increased marital rights • “Republican motherhood” • Raise virtuous citizens • Increased educational opportunities James Peale, The Artist and His Family (1795)

35. Blacks and Slaves in the New Republic Thomas Jefferson, Declaration of Independence(1776) Benjamin Banneker, Letter to Thomas Jefferson (1791) …Sir, how pitiable is it to reflect, that although you were so fully convinced of the benevolence of the Father of Mankind, and of his equal and impartial distribution of these rights and privileges, which he hath conferred upon them, that you should at the same time counteract his mercies, in detaining by fraud and violence so numerous a part of my brethren, under groaning captivity and cruel oppression, that you should at the same time be found guilty of that most criminal act, which you professedly detested in others, with respect to yourselves. • We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

36. Massachusetts - 100% 7,378 Free Blacks Vermont - 100% 557 Free Blacks New Hampshire - 99% 855 Free Blacks Rhode Island - 90% 3,304 Free Blacks Pennsylvania - 89% 14,564 Free Blacks Connecticut - 85% 5,300 Free Blacks Delaware - 57% 8,268 Free Blacks New York - 33% 10,374 Free Blacks New Jersey - 26% 4,402 Free Blacks Maryland - 16% 19,587 Free Blacks Virginia - 6% 20,124 Free Blacks North Carolina - 5% 7,043 Free Blacks South Carolina - 2% 3,185 Free Blacks Georgia - 2% 1,019 Free Blacks Kentucky - 2% 741 Free Blacks Tennessee - 2% 309 Free Blacks United States - 11% 108,395 Free Blacks Percentage of Free Blacks of Total Black Population (1800) Total U.S. Population: 5.3 million Total Black Population: 1 million

37. Natives in New Republic • Battle of Fallen Timbers (1794) • Treaty of Greenville (1795) • Indian Trade and Intercourse Acts (1790-1796) • Protect against illegal land seizures and abuses • “civilization” programs Treaty of Greenville (1795)