Transcript Chapter 7 Section 1 - 2 & 3 Notes PowerPoint

A New Government is
Formed
The Articles of Confederation
and the Constitution
CH 7-1 NOTES
GOVERNING A NEW NATION
• Americans generally agreed that their
new nation should be a democracy, a
government by the people.
• Specifically, they desired a republic, a
government run by the people through
their elected representatives.
Early Government
• In the years following the Revolution,
Americans thought of themselves as
citizens of individual states, not of a
common nation.
• The United States was not a nation as
much as it was a confederation, an
alliance of separate governments that
work together.
VOCABULARY:
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1. Declaration of Independence: a public document signed on July 4, 1776
proclaiming that the colonists be forevermore separated from British rule.
2.Continental Congress: a group of delegates elected to make decisions on behalf
of the 13 colonies/states.
3. Constitution: a document stating the rules under which a government will operate.
4. Executive: the person who runs the government and sees that the laws are
carried out.
5. Representatives: a group of elected officials who decide on or make laws.
6. Bill of Rights: a written list of freedoms that a government promises to protect.
7. Democracy: a system of government in which the people choose representatives
to govern them.
THE ARTICLES OF
CONFEDERATION
- Following the Revolution, individual states began drafting
laws (constitutions).
- The Continental Congress decided that they needed a
plan for the nation as a whole.
- This was America’s first national constitution.
- Under the Articles, the state’s thought of themselves as
separate countries. They did not want a strong national
government controlling them.
Main features
- Under
this plan, the government was run by Congress.
Each of the 13 states had one single vote in Congress.
- States did not want to risk giving too much power to a
central government far from the people. Thus under the
Articles, the states were given most of the power and the
Central government was limited.
- One legislative branch, called congress, with each state
having one vote.
- 9 out of 13 states had to approve laws in order for them to
become permanent.
Articles of Confederation:
• State governments had more power than the
national government.
• Individual state constitutions were important
during this period.
• In 1777, the Continental Congress adopted a set of
laws to govern the United States.
• Approved in 1781, the Articles established a limited
national government, in which most of the power
lay with the states.
Weaknesses:
- Economic Problems under the Articles:
● States could set their own taxes, this discouraged trade
between states.
● Each state printed its own money.
● The Central government had NO authority to regulate
trade or collect taxes.
More Problems with the Articles of
Confederation:
- Could not protect land from Foreign Occupation
-Could not stop public unrest as shown in Shay’s
Rebellion.
-No national court system existed.
- The States had too much power and the Central
Government was not strong enough to deal with
problems!
What were the problems or weaknesses of
the Articles of Confederation?
1) Congress could not levy or collect taxes
2) Each state had only one vote in congress regardless of
population.
3) 9 out of 13 states had to agree to pass any laws
4) Articles could only be amended if all states approved
5) There was no executive branch to enforce
laws
6) No national court system
7) National Government could not
draft troops
8) 13 separate states that lacked a
national identity.
Articles of Confederation
• The colonists didn’t want a strong national
government because they didn’t want their
government to repeat the problems they
had with England
• Match each weakness of the Articles of
Confederation next to the grievance
(problem) it was designed to prevent
Problems with old government
• The King had
abused his power
• The King has taxed
us without
representation
Weakness of Articles of Confederation
• No power to
control trade
• No Executive
Branch
• The King has
prevented trading
with other countries
• No power to tax
• The King uses the
courts unfairly
• No Judicial Branch
of government
Shays’ Rebellion
Causes of Shays’ Rebellion
• State leaders needed to raise money to pay off war debts.
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In order to help pay off its large debts, Massachusetts passed the heaviest direct
tax ever.
This tax had to be paid in specie, gold or silver coin, rather than paper money.
• If people did not pay their taxes they lost their land. Farmers were
upset by this!
• A group of farmers led by Daniel Shays rebelled against these
taxes in a crisis which came to be known as Shays’ Rebellion.
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Farmers drove off tax collectors and forced courts to close when their petitions
were rejected.
Soon, open conflict raged as angry crowds rioted. Many Tax collectors were
attacked.
• The rebellion was stopped but it showed the problems with the new
government plan
Effects of Shays’ Rebellion
• Congress had no money to raise an army
to counter Shays’ Rebellion.
• It also could not force states to pay for
one.
• The Massachusetts state government
raised an army that quieted the rebellion.
• However, Shays’ Rebellion demonstrated
to many prominent Americans that a
stronger national government was needed
to avoid civil unrest.
THE NORTHWEST ORDINANCE:
- The government had to decide what to do about the frontier that was
not yet states.
- The Northwest Ordinance was passed in 1787, it was a set of laws for
how new states could be formed out of this land.
- Under the new ordinance, territories could apply for statehood after
reaching a population of 60,000.
CH 7-2 NOTES
THE CONSTITUTIONAL
CONVENTION
• 1. Convention: a large gathering of people for a particular reason
• 2. Compromise: a settling of differences where both sides give up
something
• 3. Ratify: to approve
• 4. Amendment: a change or addition to a document
Main Idea:
CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION:
~ In May 1787, delegates from 12 of the 13 colonies met in
Philadelphia to try to fix the problems of the new United
States government.
~ The Constitutional Convention was a meeting of state
legislatures whose goals were to change or fix the
problems with the Articles of Confederation.
● Under the Articles of Confederation, the central
government was too WEAK!
• ~ George Washington was voted
president of the convention. Other famous
delegates included Ben Franklin,
Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Jefferson
and James Madison
• (who became known as the father of the
Constitution!)
• One particularly influential delegate at the
Constitutional Convention was James
Madison of Virginia.
• Before the convention, Madison spent a year
thinking about how to create a new
government.
• At the convention, he took detailed notes that
would later become the best record of the
proceedings.
• For his role, he became known as “the father
of the Constitution.”
CONSTITUTIONAL
CONVENTION:
• ~ Delegates debated over how to fix the
Articles of Confederation, many decided
revising would not be enough! They
needed an entirely new plan or
Constitution.
THE VIRGINIA PLAN:
• ~ This plan set forth an entirely new framework
for a stronger central government. (Central,
Federal, National all the same thing).
• ~ The Virginia Plan called for the central
government to have 3 Branches or a
Separation of Powers.
• ~ In this government, no one branch would have
more power than another. This idea is called
checks and balances.
Legislative Branch
Executive Branch
Proposes the Laws
Enforces the Laws
Judicial Branch
Interprets the Laws
The President
“Carries out the law”
• The President would be chosen by a group
of electors from each state.
• The candidate with the majority of votes in
the electoral college, or group of electors,
would become President.
• The President was granted enormous
powers, including the power to veto acts of
Congress and to appoint judges for the
federal courts.
The Federal Courts
“Interpret the law”
• The Constitution calls for one Supreme
Court and several lesser courts, although
the details of the federal court system were
intentionally left vague.
• Supreme Court justices would be appointed
for life by the President with the consent of
the Senate.
• ~ The Virginia Plan also called for a
change in Congress, making it a twohouse Legislature:
consisting of an upper house & a lower
house.
Reaching Agreements
• In the Great Compromise, delegates
agreed to create a legislative branch
made up of two houses.
DEBATE HELPED SOLVE
CONVENTION PROBLEMS!
• THE GREAT COMPROMISE:
• ~ Delegates at the convention could not agree on how
representatives for Congress should be chosen.
• The arguments were between states with large
populations and states with small populations.
• ~ Large states argued that the more people you have the
more seats in Congress that state should have.
• Smaller states thought this unfair!
Congress, the President, and the
Federal Courts
Congress
“Makes the law”
• Each of the two houses of Congress was granted
different powers.
• Each was also designed with different methods of
election and different term lengths, making the
House more receptive to public opinion and the
Senate more stable.
~ The COMPROMISE:
• To compromise they made Congress a
TWO- house Legislature: consisting of an upper
house & a lower house.
• The lower house to be called The House of
Representatives was to be based on state
population.
• Representative would serve a 2 year term. This
pleased the larger states!
THE GREAT COMPROMISE:
• To please the smaller states, the upper
house to be called The Senate would
have two delegates from each state,
regardless of size.
• Senators would serve 6 year terms.
THREE-FIFTHS COMPROMISE:
• ~ Delegates also debated over the issue of
slavery. This issue really divided the
Northerners from Southerners.
• ~ Southern states wanted slaves to count in their
population, so that they could have more
representatives in the House of Reps.
• ~ Northern states said that because slaves could
not vote, than they should not count as part of
the population. (slaves were not considered
citizens).
~ The COMPROMISE:
• Congress agreed that each slave would
count as three-fifths of a person, in the
end giving the South more seats in the
House of Representatives!
SIGNING OF THE CONSTITUTION OF
THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA!!
• ~ The Constitution opens with the words:
• “ We the people of the United States, in
order to form a more perfect union…”
THE BILL OF RIGHTS
• ~ The Bill of Rights are the first ten
amendments of the constitution.
The Bill of Rights
1st Amendment
• Ensures Civil Liberties:
– Guarantees freedom of speech
– Freedom of the press
– Freedom of religion
– The right to assemble peacefully
– Guarantees that Congress can pass no laws
that would restrict those freedoms
– The right to complain about whatever they
choose to any government official
2nd Amendment
• The Right to bear arms:
– The exact meaning is unclear – does it mean everyone has the right
to own any kind of gun they want to?
– Or does it mean the country has the right to organize a “well
regulated Militia” and those people can have guns?
– Both Congress and state legislatures have passed laws regulating
the private ownership and use of weapons by individuals.
3rd Amendment
• Quartering of Soldiers is not permitted:
– The result of the constant takeover of citizens’ homes by
the British during the Revolutionary War.
– Protects individual homes from the military and says
that, during peacetime or wartime, “no Soldier shall . . .
Be quartered in any house, without the consent of
the owner.”
4th Amendment
• Protection from unreasonable Searches and
Seizures:
– Requires the use of search and arrest warrants from a
judge to search either a person or a home.
– Warrants must be issued by a judge
– Warrants must be issued on the basis of probable cause
– Warrants must detail what exactly will be searched and
where
– The Supreme Court has ruled that items seized without a
warrant cannot be used in court.
5th Amendment
• Protects the rights of the accused.
- protects people from testifying against
themselves in a criminal trial
– Also says that a person cannot be tried for the
same crime twice
– Says that a person cannot be denied due process of
law.
– Due process of law – guards individual rights from
infringement by state or federal governments.
6th Amendment
• The right to a speedy
and public trial by jury:
– Gives the right to every
defendant to be aware of
any charges against him
– As well as the right to an
attorney, regardless of
whether the defendant can
afford one
– And the right to a jury trial
7th Amendment
• The right to a trial by
jury for civil cases:
– Establishes the right to a
federal trial in which one
person sues another over
anything more than $20.00:
common law suits
– Not all civil cases are
brought before a federal
court, however
8th Amendment
• Barring cruel and unusual punishment:
– Guards against any excessive bail, fines, or
cruel and unusual punishment for alleged
criminals and criminals
– The interpretation of this amendment has
been expanded by Supreme Court rulings to
prevent the securing of confessions through
such “cruel and unusual punishment.”
9th Amendment
• The rights of people are not limited
those listed in the Bill of Rights:
10th Amendment
• Powers not given to the federal
government belong to the states:
– Protects states from the federal government.
– Establishes that powers not given to the
national government – or denied to the states
– by the Constitution belong to the states or to
the people.
Government Structure
FEDERALISM
Federal and State Powers
• The Constitution created a federal system of
government, in which power is shared among
state and national authorities.
• In a federal system of government, powers are
divided into three categories:
– Some powers are reserved for the states only.
– Others are delegated to the federal government only.
– Still others, called concurrent powers, are held by both
the federal government and state governments.
The Federalist View
• For the Constitution to become law, 9 out of the 13
states had to ratify, or approve, it.
• Special conventions called in each state would
decide whether or not to ratify the Constitution.
• Those who favored the Constitution were called
Federalists.
• The Federalists included many Nationalists, such
as George Washington, James Madison, and
Alexander Hamilton, who favored a strong national
government.
The Anti-Federalist View
• Those who opposed the Constitution were called antiFederalists.
• Anti-Federalists believed that the Federalists’ plan
threatened state governments and the rights of
individuals.
• The anti-Federalists included older revolutionary
figures such as Patrick Henry, people in isolated areas
who had less need for a strong national government,
and some former Nationalists who wanted a national
government but were unhappy with the Constitution.
CH 7-3 NOTES
DEBATING THE CONSTITUTION
FEDERALISTS
- Supported the Constitution!
- In favor of a strong central
government.
- Supporters were:
1. Alexander Hamilton
2. John Jay
3. James Madison
ANTI-FEDERALISTS
- Against the Constitution!
- Argue that the new
constitution gave the central
government too much power
- Didn’t like that the
constitution:
1. weakened the states power.
2. Did not have a Bill of Rights
3. Feared having a president
(King).
VOCABULARY:
• 1. ratify = to approve
• 2. amendment = a change or addition to
a document
SIGNING OF THE UNITED STATES
CONSTITUTION!
• - In June 1788, the 9th state ratified the Constitution. By
July all 13 states did!
• - July 4th , 1788 – The ratification of the United States
Constitution was celebrated.
• - One of the first amendments (additions) to the
Constitution was to add The
• Bill Of Rights! These are the First 10 Amendments!