Transcript THE ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION

THE ARTICLES OF
CONFEDERATION
EUGENIA LANGAN
MATER ACADEMY CHARTER HIGH SCHOOL
HIALEAH GARDENS, FLORIDA
ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS:
TODAY: HOW EFFECTIVE WERE THE ARTICLES OF
CONFEDERATION?
WHAT LED TO THE CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION?
BROAD:
WHEN DID A “UNITED STATES” IDENTITY EMERGE?
WHAT WERE THE CAUSES OF THE CIVIL WAR?
BACKGROUND:
 17TH CENTURY:
 SOUTH DEVELOPED CASH CROPS  PLANTATION ECONOMY:

NEEDED SLAVES

RELIED ON EXPORTS TO GREAT BRITAIN
IN THE EARLY YEARS OF THE REPUBLIC AND WELL INTO
19TH C., THE SOUTHERN STATES CONTRIBUTED MORE TO
NATIONAL ECONOMY THAN NORTHERN/WESTERN STATES DID
 NORTH HAD NO CASH CROPS, NO PLANTATIONS, DEVELOPED
TRADE, PROTO-INDUSTRIAL ECONOMY

DID NOT NEED AND COULD NOT AFFORD SLAVES

INCREASINGLY MORE RELIANT ON SALES TO DOMESTIC
MARKETS, LESS ON EXPORTS TO BRITAIN
 SEVEN STATES, INCLUDING VIRGINIA, NEW YORK, AND
MASSACHUSETTS, CLAIMED LANDS WEST OF
APPALACHIANS ON THE BASIS OF COLONIAL CHARTERS.
 U.S. AND STATES (ESPECIALLY NORTHEASTERN STATES)
RACKED UP MASSIVE DEBT DURING REVOLUTION
 JULY 1776 (> 1 YEAR AFTER WAR BEGAN!) SECOND
CONTINENTAL CONGRESS DECLARED INDEPENDENCE OF
U.S.
THE ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION AND PERPETUAL
UNION: OUR FIRST CONSITITUTION (1781 – 1789)
 NOVEMBER 15, 1777 – SECOND CONTINENTAL
CONGRESS ADOPTED ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION
(> 1 YEAR AFTER DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE)
 MARCH 1, 1781 (> 3 YEARS LATER), ARTICLES WERE
RATIFIED (ALL 13 STATES HAD TO RATIFY, MD. WAS LAST)
WHAT TOOK SO LONG?
SAME THING THAT KEPT THE COLONIES FROM
APPROVING THE ALBANY PLAN OF UNION
1. SOVEREIGNTY ISSUE: CONCERN ABOUT STATES LOSING
SOVEREIGNTY TO STRONG FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
(ARTICLES EVENTUALLY PROVIDED STATES WERE
SOVEREIGN)
2. WESTERN LAND DISPUTES: “HAVE-NOT” STATES,
ESPECIALLY PENNSYLVANIA AND MARYLAND, WANTED
“HAVE” STATE, ESPECIALLY VIRGINIA AND NEW YORK, TO
CEDE WESTERN LANDS TO FEDERAL GOVERNMENT -* CLAIMED ALL STATES WERE FIGHTING TO DEFEND
WESTERN LAND,
* ALSO CLAIMED “HAVE” COULD SELL LAND FOR $ TO
PAY WAR DEBT, WHILE “HAVE NOT” STATES WOULD HAVE
TO TAX CITIZENS HEAVILY TO PAY DEBT 
“HAVE STATES” CEDED LAND  LAST HOLD-OUT STATE, MD.,
RATIFIED ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION
 FEDERAL GOVERNMENT WOUND UP WITH VAST LAND
HOLDINGS

WEAKENED AUTHORITY OF STATES TO SOME EXTENT

HELD UNION TOGETHER – STATES HAD TO REMAIN
IN UNION TO BENEFIT FROM FEDERAL LAND SALES

FINALLY GOT ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION RATIFIED
-- > 4 YEARS AFTER BECOMING INDEPENDENT, THE
COUNTRY HAD A CONSTITUTION
HOW EFFECTIVE WERE THE ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION?
 NOT TOTALLY INEFFECTIVE – U.S. MANAGED TO STAY
TOGETHER, MANAGED TO NEGOTIATE TREATY OF PARIS WITH
GREAT BRITAIN
 AND SECOND CONTINENTAL CONGRESS MANAGED TO
ENACT TWO MAJOR PIECES OF LEGISLATION:
1. LAND ORDINANCE OF 1785
2. NORTHWEST ORDINANCE (1787)
IT MANAGED TO DEAL WITH ITS “COLONIES”!
 LAND ORDINANCE OF 1785 (JEFFERSON) – ENACTED SO FEDERAL
GOVERNMENT COULD SELL LAND IN “OLD NORTHWEST” (MAP NEXT
SLIDE) TO PAY OFF REVOLUTIONARY WAR DEBT. SET PATTERN FOR
TOWNS, CITIES IN MID-WEST:
 WESTERN LANDS TO BE DIVIDED INTO TEN STATES
 EACH STATE DIVIDED INTO TOWNSHIPS SIX MILES SQUARE –
 EACH TOWNSHIP TO BE DIVIDED INTO 36 SECTIONS EACH ONE
SQUARE MILE (SECTIONS COULD BE SUBDIVIDED)
 SECTION 16 OF EACH TOWNSHIP TO BE PUBLIC SCHOOL –
PROMOTED PUBLIC EDUCATION – MANY MIDWESTERN TOWNS
STILL HAVE SCHOOLS ON SECTION 16
 SECTIONS 8, 11, 26, AND 29 RESERVED FOR REVOLUTIONARY
WAR VETERANS (NOT ALWAYS DONE!)
“OLD NORTHWEST” AKA THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY
NUMBERED
SECTIONS OF OHIO
 THE NORTHWEST ORDINANCE (AN ORDINANCE FOR THE
GOVERNMENT OF THE TERRITORY OF THE UNITED STATES, NORTHWEST OF THE RIVER OHIO)
 BANNED SLAVERY IN NORTHWEST TERRITORY -- OHIO RIVER
BECAME N/W BOUNDARY FREE/ SLAVE IN NEW TERRITORY EAST OF
MISSISSIPPI RIVER
 PROVIDED TWO-STEP PROCEDURE FOR ADMISSION OF NEW
STATES:
1. “TERRITORIES” – GOVERNED BY CONGRESS, BUT IF 5,000
“FREE WHITE MALES” COULD HAVE TERRITORIAL LEGISLATURE
2. WHEN 60,000 (NON-INDIAN) INHABITANTS, COULD
BECOME STATE
 BUT REQUIRED ENABLING ACT – FIRST NEW STATE = OHIO 1802
 CIVIL RIGHTS – PREDECESSOR OF BILL OF RIGHT – GAVE
CITIZENS IN N.W. TERRITORY FREEDOM OF RELIGION, RIGHT TO
KEEP AND BEAR ARMS, RIGHT OF HABEAS CORPUS
 INDIANS – PROVIDED “THE UTMOST GOOD FAITH SHALL
ALWAYS BE OBSERVED TOWARDS THE INDIANS; THEIR LAND
AND PROPERTY SHALL NEVER BE TAKEN WITHOUT THEIR
CONSENT; AND, IN THEIR PROPERTY, RIGHTS, AND LIBERTY,
THEY SHALL NEVER BE INVADED OR DISTURBED” (YET
ANOTHER OF A SERIES OF EMPTY PROMISES, MANY MORE TO
COME)
SO ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION WEREN’T TOTALLY
INEFFECTIVE – BUT THEY WEREN’T EFFECTIVE ENOUGH!
WHY NOT? WHAT WERE THE DEFECTS IN THE
ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION? WHAT WAS THE
ROAD TO THE CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION
(AND WHY DID THAT TAKE SO LONG?)
YOU ANSWER THESE QUESTIONS –
YOUR “O.I” AND DOCUMENT
JIGSAW!