WarmUp n Describe 4 things that the newly

Warm-Up n Describe 4 things that the newly independents states need to figure out/determine now that they are a brand new country.

The Articles of Confederation

A pure would put too much Thedemocracy Articles of Confederation power in the hands of the “uneducated mob” n When Americans declared independence in 1776, they needed to form a new government: –They wanted to form a republic where citizens vote for Theelected American leaders to representrepublic them would be a more –They wanted to protect citizens & “enlightened” individual states fromversion a powerful of the national government. Roman Senate

Thirteen Independent States When independence was declared, the 13 colonies became independent states But, the USA needed a national gov’t to do things that states could not, like sign treaties & form a military Each state had its own constitution, legislature, & an elected governor; 8 states had Bills of Rights

The Articles of Confederation America’s 1 st national gov’t was the Articles of Confederation (1777 -1789) This “confederation” style gov’t loosely connected the states under a weak national government

Each state could send between 2 -7 representatives to the national congress, but each state had only 1 vote Government Structure To pass a law, 9 of the 13 states had to agree

The national congress could make laws, settle disputes between states, negotiate treaties, handle Indian affairs, oversee a military Government Powers But all other powers were left up to the states

Americans did not want to re-create a powerful gov’t like the one they just fought the Revolutionary War to break away from Government Powers So, the national gov’t had no president & could not tax the states or citizens

Warm-Up n Describe the strengths and weaknesses of The Articles of the Confederation.

Successes of the Articles of Confederation

Areas. United of Settlement, The States, 1783 The Articles established a good system of settling western lands

Western Land Claims Ceded by the First, states had. States cede (give up) their claims to lands in the west to the national gov’t

Congress passed the Land Ordinance of 1785 to create an orderly way to divide the west into townships & farms Selling western lands was the only way the national gov’t could generate money since it did not have the power to tax

Section 16 of the each township Land Ordinance of 1785 was set aside for a public school

The Northwest Ordinance n The Northwest Ordinance of 1787 gave government to the territories: –When a territory had 5, 000 residents, it could create a self-governing legislature –When a territory had 60, 000 residents, it could apply to become a U. S. state –Slavery was outlawed in the NW

Weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation

Warm-Up n What was America’s first system of government called? n Who had power in this system (federal or state)? Why was it set up this way? n Who enforced laws passed by the national congress?

The Weaknesses of the Articles n The Articles of Confederation was America’s 1 st form of gov’t: –The weakness the national gov’t was originally seen as good because it eliminated tyranny –Later, these same weaknesses kept the gov’t from solving serious national problems

Economic Problems n The inability of the government to collect taxes led to problems: –America could not pay off debts from the Revolutionary War –Property foreclosures led an uprising among Massachusetts farmers called Shays’ Rebellion in 1787 but the gov’t could not pay for an army to stop it

U. S. Trade with Britain, 1783 -1789 Debt

Shay’s Rebellion Shays’ Rebellion proved to be thein convincing event that led to the western Constitutional Convention of 1787 Massachusetts n Poor farmers in western MA were angered over high taxes & prospect of debtors jail n Daniel Shays led an uprising & closed debt courts & threatened a federal arsenal

America’s First National Government: The Articles of Confederation

Weaknesses of the Articles n After Shays’ Rebellion, people like Hamilton & Madison began calling for a stronger national gov’t n In 1787, delegates met in Philadelphia to discuss ways to improve the Articles n Instead of revising the Articles of Confederation, the delegates replaced it with the Constitution

Acrostic Poem n Write an acrostic poem about the Articles of the Confederation. C O N F E D E R A T I O N