Articles of Confederation - barren.k12.ky.us · The Articles of Confederation was the first Constitution of the United States, but it had many flaws A Constitution is a written plan

Articles of Confederation

The first written Constitution of the United States

Land OrdinancesThe Land Ordinance of 1785 settled land disputes in the land north of the Ohio River

The Northwest Ordinance was a document created in 1787, set guidelines for governing new territory and the creation of new states

Shay's Rebellion

This took place shortly after the end of the Revolutionary War.

A colonial farmer, Daniel Shay, and a group of men tried to overthrow the Massachusetts government after their farmland was taken away

Plans for a new government

Virginia Plan

Three branch government

Two house legislature

Number of votes based on state population

New Jersey Plan

Three branch government

Single House Legislature

Each State gets one vote

The Great Compromise

The legislature has TWO houses

Congress is made up of the House of Representatives and the Senate

3/5 Compromise

There was a debate among states on whether slaves should be counted as part of the state's population

Decision was to count each slave as 3/5 a person.

More Compromise

Northern and Southern States also had to compromise on trade matters

The Southern Delegates Feared that if Congress regulated the trade then there would be a tax on imports

First Constitution

The Articles of Confederation was the first Constitution of the United States, but it had many flaws

A Constitution is a written plan of government

Ideas behind the Constitution

The British Government

The British government was headed by the king

The Magna Carter of 1215 was the basis for the constitution, it was a famous English document that limited the King's power

The Iroquois League

Members nations governed their own affairs but joined together for the common defense

Philosophers

Framers of the Constitution also looked to Enlightenmentphilosophers for ideas, they used the ideas of John Locke and Baron de Montesquieu

John Locke

Wrote that people have natural rights to life, liberty and property.

We took his ideas and incorporated them into the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution

Montesquieu Montesquieu came up with the concept of separation of powers; he thought a government's power should be shared among the threebranches: legislative, executive, and judicial.

This would prevent individual or groups from using the government for their own purposes

Division of power

The division of power between the national and state governments is called Federalism

This led to some people to refer to the national government as the FederalGovernment

National Government

Regulate trade

Coin (make) Money

Provide for Army and Navy, declare war

Conduct foreign affairs

Set up federal courts

Make treaties

State governmentsRegulate trade within the state

Establish local government systems

Conduct local elections

Establish public school systems

Determine qualifications of voters in State Elections

Shared powers- Federal and State

Collect Taxes

Build/Regulate Roads

Establish Criminal Courts

Enforce laws

Borrow money

Provide for the general welfare

When States and Federal government disagree the Constitution is considered the supreme law of the land

Separation of powers

Divides the government into 3 branches and gives each branch specific duties

Legislative

Judicial

Executive

LegislativeMakes laws

Bicameral (2 house legislature) -made up of the Senate and House of Representatives

House of Representatives- the number of representatives is based on the States population, term is 2 years in office

Senate- based on equal representation, each term is 6 years

Executive Branch

Carries out or enforces the laws

It includes the President and Vice President

President is commander in chief and responsible for relations with other nations

Judicial Branch

Decides whether or not a law is constitutional

It includes the Supreme Court and other federal courts

Checks and Balances

System of safeguards put into the Constitution to make sure one branch doesn't get more powerful than the other

Bill of Rights

First 10 amendments to the Constitution

These amendments grant individual rightsb

Ratifying the Constitution

Passing the Constitution

To ratify means to confirm or approve

To ratify the Constitution (under the Articles of Confederation) it required 9 out of 13 states to pass

Divided Americans

Anti-Federalists opposed the Constitution because it gave too much power to the national government

Federalists supported the Constitution

Famous Anti-Federalists included John Hancock, Samuel Adams, and Patrick Henry they claimed the Constitution failed to protect basic liberties

The federalist papersJames Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and Jon Jay became the best known federalists

James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, John Jay wrote the Federalists Papers

It was a book of essays explaining and supporting the Constitution and urged others to support it

Argued against the Anti-Federalist argument

Elections

President of the US is elected by the ElectoralCollege

Republic is the government system we have in the US

A Republic is a government system in which the power rests on citizens entitled to vote and is exercised by representatives chosen by the people.

Ratification

The federalists, insisted if the Constitution was ratified then amendments (additions or changes) and would be made to provide a Bill of Rights

The vote went to the state conventions in the fall of 1787 with 9 states ratifying by June 1789. Rhode Island was the last to ratify in 1790.

The first amendments to the Constitution were known as the Bill of Rights