State Constitutions and the Articles of Confederation By Neil Hammond, Millbrook High School.

State Constitutions and State Constitutions and the Articles of Confederationthe Articles of Confederation

• By Neil Hammond, Millbrook High School

State Constitutions and State Constitutions and the Articles of Confederationthe Articles of Confederation

• The American Revolution changed society in a variety of ways. New forms of government encouraged new political ideas. Many Americans who had been loyal to Britain left the country.

New Political IdeasNew Political Ideas• Main Idea: Republican ideals changed American

government by allowing some citizens voting rights and granting religious freedom

• When American leaders broke away from Great Britain, they were aware they were creating something new: a Republic.

• Republic = a government where power resides with citizens who are able to vote. Power is exercised by elected officials who are responsible to the citizens, and who must govern according to laws or a constitution.

New State ConstitutionsNew State Constitutions• Europeans viewed Republican governments as

radical and dangerous, but Americans believed a republic to be the best form of government

• In an ideal Republic, all citizens are equal in the eyes of the law, regardless of their wealth or social class.

• Obviously these ideas conflicted with certain social realities in America at the time: slavery, women and their role (and their legal status) and the concept of some families being “better” than others. Despite these contradictions, Republican ideas began to transform the American political landscape.

New State ConstitutionsNew State Constitutions• Events before the Revolution convinced many

Americans that constitutions needed two things:– 1. Written– 2. Limit government

• At the same time, conservative Republican thinkers were afraid of democracy. People like John Adams feared that a pure democracy would lead to majority rule; minorities would lose their rights. For example, the poor might vote to take away land / wealth from the rich. Adams argued that governments needed checks and balances to stop the majority from establishing tyranny.

New State ConstitutionsNew State Constitutions• Adams favored a “mixed”

government with a separation of powers (legislative, executive, judicial). He also believed in a bicameral legislature (two houses…a senate representing propertied men, and a representative house representing the common folk

• Adams’ ideas influenced several states as they drafted new constitutions:– Virginia, 1776– New York, 1777– Massachusetts, 1780

• All of these states established an elected governor and a bicameral house. Most states followed suit.

New State ConstitutionsNew State Constitutions• But not EVERY American was as

conservative as John Adams…for some Americans, more democracy was a good thing…

• More of the middle classes were elected to office after the Revolution

• This democratic impulse achieved its fullest expression in Pennsylvania, thanks to a coalition of Scots-Irish farmers, Philadelphia artisans, and Enlightenment-influenced intellectuals. The Pennsylvania Constitution of 1776 abolished property ownership as a test of citizenship and granted taxpaying men the right to vote and hold office. It also created a unicameral (one-house) legislature with complete power. There was no upper house, and no governor who exercised veto power. Other provisions mandated an extensive system of elementary education and protected citizens from imprisonment for debt.

New State ConstitutionsNew State Constitutions• In almost all of the new state constitutions,

more people could vote…either:– 1. Property requirements were lowered or

replaced by tax requirements– 2. New states who joined the union usually did

not have property requirements to vote

• The Revolution also led to changes in the way religion was viewed. In VA, Baptists pressed for the abolition of taxes to support the Church of England. Thomas Jefferson wrote the Virginia Declaration of Religious Freedom, which James Madison urged the VA legislature to pass (it became law in 1786). These ideas spread slowly

The War and American The War and American Society: WomenSociety: Women• Women played a big role in the war. While husbands

were off fighting, women often ran family farms. Women traveled with the army, washing and cooking. Some women served as couriers or spies…some – Mulan style – fought.

• Although men controlled all public institutions—legislatures, juries, government offices—upper-class women entered political debate and, defying male opposition, filled their letters, diaries, and conversations with opinions on public issues.

• These American women did not insist on civic equality with men; but they did insist on ending various restrictive customs and laws. Abigail Adams, for example, demanded equal legal rights for married women, who under common law could not own property, enter into contracts, or initiate lawsuits.

The War and American The War and American Society: WomenSociety: Women• Most men ignored women's requests, and most husbands

remained patriarchs who dominated their household. Even young men who embraced the republican ideal of “companionate marriage” (see Chapter 8) did not support legal equality or a public role for their wives and daughters. With the exception of New Jersey, which until 1807 allowed unmarried and widowed female property holders to vote, women remained disenfranchised.

• The republican belief in an educated citizenry created opportunities for at least some American women.

• That began to change in the 1790s, when the attorney general of Massachusetts declared that girls had an equal right to schooling under the state constitution. With greater access to public elementary schools and the rapid growth of girls' academies (private high schools), many young women became literate and knowledgeable. By 1850, the literacy rates of women and men in the northeastern states would be much the same, and educated women would again challenge their subordinate legal and political status

• Adams’ letters…pictures on page p187

The War and American Society:The War and American Society:African-AmericansAfrican-Americans

• Thousands of enslaved Americans gained their freedom during the Revolutionary War. Although the British seized some slaves and sent them to the Caribbean, they also freed many slaves in return for military service

• Some plantation owners freed slaves who fought against the British, and General George Washington permitted African Americans to join the Continental Army. About 5,000 African-Americans served in state militias and the continental army

The War and American Society:The War and American Society:African-AmericansAfrican-Americans

• Slavery was obviously one part of the new Republic that didn’t fit Republican ideals.

• What can you conclude from the table opposite?

The War and American Society:The War and American Society:African-AmericansAfrican-Americans

• Discrimination did not disappear with emancipation. Free African-Americans in the North struggled to get anything more than menial jobs. They also faced de-facto segregation and restrictions on their voting

• But freedom also offered opportunities. Many former slaves moved to cities searching for employment

An American Culture An American Culture EmergesEmerges• Victory over the British created nationalistic feelings

in the US in two ways:– 1) Americans had battled a common enemy– 2) Americans from different states had fought side by

side

• The war also influenced American painters such as John Trumbell and Charles Wilson Peale

• Education became increasingly important. The University of North Carolina became the nation’s first state university. Elementary education became important. Tossing out British textbooks, the new textbooks emphasized the birth of the American nation and the war. Noah Webster from Ct. was the most famous textbook author

– A Grammatical Institute of the English Language– The American Spelling Book– American Dictionary of the English Language

The Articles of The Articles of ConfederationConfederation• The Articles of Confederation became the first

national government of the United States. Written during the Revolutionary war, the Articles created a weak national government that was eventually replaced

• Under the Articles, each state sent a delegation to the Confederation Congress once a year. This unicameral Congress was THE government. There was no executive or judicial branch. Each state had an equal say

• Congress COULD declare war, raise armies and sign treaties. Congress could NOT tax, nor could it regulate trade between states.

The Articles of The Articles of ConfederationConfederation

The Articles of The Articles of ConfederationConfederation

The Articles of Confederation:The Articles of Confederation:Western PoliciesWestern Policies

• Lacking the power to regulate trade, Congress relied on state contributions to fund the government.

• Congress also raised money by selling land it controlled west of the Appalachian Mountains

• To encourage people to move to these lands, Congress did two things:– 1) Land Ordinance 1785 (set up method of

surveying western lands)– 2) Northwest Ordinance 1787 (provided the basis

for governing most of the western lands)

The Articles of Confederation:The Articles of Confederation:Western PoliciesWestern Policies

• worksheet

The Articles of Confederation:The Articles of Confederation:Western PoliciesWestern Policies

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