Transcript A Survey of USA

A Survey of USA:
---- Founding a New Nation
Prof. Niangen Huang
Founding a New Nation
Questions:
1. What does confederation mean?
2. What was the chief difference between the
Government under the Articles of
Confederation, and that established by the
Constitution?
3. What was the Bill of Rights? What were the
main contents of the Bill?
4. What were the events that led to the War of
1812?
Founding a New Nation
 When the Revolutionary War was over, the
differences between the colonies became
important again. The colonies were now
states in one nation. Some states earned
money from farming. Others were centers
for manufacturing and trade. Some states
had slaves, while others did not. Some
states claimed large areas of land to the
west. Others had no western territory.
Founding a New Nation
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There was, however, a central government that was created
in 1781. This first national government was established
under the Articles of Confederation. A confederation is a
government in which the constituent governments, called
states in America, create a central government by
constitutional compact but do not give it power to regulate
the conduct of individuals.
The central government makes regulations for the
constituent government, but it exists and operates only at
their direction. According to the Articles of Confederation,
the Congress could conduct war and foreign affairs, make
commercial treaties, and negotiate with the Indians. It
could borrow and coin money and issue bills of credit. Yet
many imperfections remained.
Founding a New Nation

Under the Articles of Confederation, the government
consisted of only a legislature; it had no separate executive
or judicial divisions. And not all of the Congress's powers
were exclusive. The states could continue to deal directly
with foreign governments and engage in war with
Congress's consent. And even without it, they could borrow,
maintain mints, and issue bills of credit. The states also had
sole right to legislate in matters concerning debts, contracts,
and family affairs. Most important of all, they alone could
tax their citizens. And if experience showed that changes in
the Articles were desirable, they would be hard to make,
since amendments required the consent of every state.
Above all the Articles formed a very loose union of states
within the framework of a central government. Such weak
government couldn't serve the capitalists and landowners
welt. Especially the Shays" rebellion in 1786 made the
capitalists know a strong and powerful government was
needed very much.
Founding a New Nation
 On May 25, 1787, fifty-five delegates
from all states except Rhode Island
met in the opening session of the
Constitutional
Convention
in
Independence Hall in Philadelphia. For
four months, they talked and argued
about what the government of the
United States should be like. At last
they drafted the Constitution of the
United States.
Founding a New Nation
 The Constitution represents a series of
compromises between strong government
and government limited in the interests of
freedom, between national and local
authority, and between the interests of the
large states and those of the smaller ones.
Borrowing from the French philosopher,
Charles Louis de Montesqieu, the delegates
adopted the idea that each branch of
government -executive, legislative, and
judicial-must exercise distinct powers and
be selected in a distinct way.
Founding a New Nation
 This separation would ensure the
independence of each branch. In addition,
the delegates adopted the idea that each
branch must be able to "check and balance"
the others. By such an arrangement the
greatest freedom would be ensured, for if
one branch grew too powerful and sought
to dominate the others, it could be stopped.
Besides establishing a new structure, the
Constitution greatly enlarged the powers
and scope of the national government.
Founding a New Nation
 The new government would impose its authority on
the people directly, not through states. It would also
fuse the nation into a single legal whole. Under the
Constitution each state was required to give "full faith
and credit" to all laws and court decisions of the
others. The new government could also do many
specific things the confederative government could
not do. It could impose and collect taxes from citizens,
control and regulate foreign and interstate commerce.
It had sole control over the coinage of money and
could establish a postal system, build post roads, and
pass laws of naturalization.
Founding a New Nation
 Finally, the constitution declared that the
new government could "make all laws
which shall be necessary and proper for
carrying into Execution the foregoing
powers, and all other powers vested by this
Constitution in the Government of the
United States. " In sum, a strengthened
national government was to exercise broad
authority over economic and political affairs,
and over a single economic and legal unit.
Founding a New Nation
 The Constitution created a federal
government; that is, it left the states with
independent authority in some spheres.
Crime and breaches of the peace were in
the states" jurisdiction, except when a state
legislature or governor specifically
requested federal help to put down local
violence. Social relations, including
marriage, divorce, and education, were also
left to the states.
Founding a New Nation
 After the Constitution was finally finished,
it was up to the states to approve it.
Everywhere, people were talking about it.
The people who were against the
Constitution were called antifederalists.
They were afraid of a strong central
government. They didn't think enough
powers were left to the states. Many people
wanted the Constitution to spell out the
people's rights. Still others did not like the
Constitution because it did not do away
with slavery.
Founding a New Nation
 The Constitution may be changed by
amendments, but only if threequarters of the states agree to the
change.
 In 1791 the first ten amendments to
the Constitution, the Bill of Rights,
were approved by three-fourths of
the states, so it was adopted.
Founding a New Nation
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The Bill of Rights guaranteed freedom of speech, religion,
peaceful assembly, and the press; the right to bear arms;
freedom from unreasonable search; and the right to the
protection of certain legal procedures known as the due
process of law.
The Ninth and Tenth Amendments promised that the federal
government would not assume any powers not accorded it
in the Constitution, thus confining Congress and the
President to their allotted spheres, Since the Bill of Rights,
many more amendments have been added to the
Constitution.
Now the Constitution of the United States contains seven
Articles and twenty-six Amendments. These later
amendments have made it possible for the Constitution to
meet the needs of a changing nation.
Founding a New Nation
 When the 1787 Constitution came
into effect in 1788, the first election
followed precisely the letter of the
Constitution. George Washington was
elected as the first president of the
new republic.
Western Frontier
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At this time the boundaries of the new country extended no
further than the Mississippi River in the west, Spanish Florida
in the south, and British Canada in the north. The population
of the country was less than 4,000,000 of which about
800,000 were the blacks.
The greatest number of the people lived in the northern and
middle states, and only about a million people lived in the
South. The west territories were still mainly inhabited by the
American Indians, but a steady stream of immigration
continued to pour westward across the Appalachian
Mountains.
In 1780s, the American government passed some laws to
encourage people to move to the frontier region between the
Mississippi and the Ohio rivers. When a part of this territory
had 60,000 people, it could become a state. The pioneers
would then govern themselves.
A New Nation

The acquisition and the later exploration of Louisiana
showed dearly that Jefferson was capable of vigorous action
in pursuing the national interest. But besides creating
opportunities, European antagonisms caused serious
difficulties for the United States that Jefferson found harder
to handle.
The 2nd Independent War
 During the two administrations of Jefferson (18001808), the relations between U. S. and Britain were
becoming worse. The British were not reconciled to
the loss of their thirteen colonies. Using Canada as
the base, they always challenged to battle with the
young Republic. British warships were often placed
outside American harbors to keep a watch on shipping
that came and went. At the same time, in order to
find more men for the crews of its large navy, Britain
began to impress great numbers of sailors from
seized American ships. Americans had always been
angry at this British practice..
The 2nd Independent War
 This angry reached its peak in1807 when
one British warship attacked and boarded
the American ship, killing or wounding 21
men and impressing four sailors. Jefferson
had to take action, and in order to avoid
war for which he knew the United States
was ill-prepared, he persuaded Congress to
pass an Embargo Act. This Act forbade all
ships, except foreign ones without cargo, to
leave American ports. After that, the
relations between the two countries
became even worse.
The 2nd Independent War
 In 1812, President Madison asked Congress to declare
war on Britain, and the war broke out. The war lasted
for three years and ended in another American victory
over the British. This war is usually known as the
Second War of Independence in American history. This
war had one important result- the strengthening of
national unity and patriotism. And it was only after
this was that the United States was able to effect the
change of a semi-colonial economy into a really
independent national economy.