Transcript 1783 Treaty of Paris Officially recognized the

The Nation’s Shaky Start
1783 Treaty of Paris
Officially recognized the United States as an
independent country and awarded them all lands
east of Mississippi and south of Great lakes and
St. Lawrence Sea Way.
Rewarding Spain
As a thank you gift for Spain joining the war
against Britain the U.S. returned Florida to them
but there were still disputes on exactly how
much land.
The United States?
As of yet, the only reason that the new country
was called the United States, was due to the fact
that they had called themselves “the thirteen
united states of America” in the constitution.
The Thirteen Republics
In reality each state was a separate republic or
country having created their own state
constitutions at the request of the Continental
Congress in 1776.
The Thirteen Republics
At the time each state considered itself to be its own country able to individually
deal with their own affairs and only willing to work together to wage war and
negotiate with foreign nations.
The State Constitutions
By 1781 every state had either made a new
constitution/government or made their
colonial charter their official form of
government.
Scary Governors
Every state sought to weaken the power of
the governors by giving some
responsibilities to legislature or doing
away with the position like Pennsylvania.
The Legislator
Given the most power but also divided into
two houses to separate powers and
required popular elections for freemen,
usually white age 21 or above, who owned
land or paid a certain amount of taxes.
THE POWER OF THE PEOPLE!
The Articles of Confederation
Confederation of States
Each state was given one vote in Congress with 9
of 13 states approval required to pass laws.
Powers
Right to raise army and navy, control foreign affairs,
coin money, setup postal system but no power to
set taxes to raise money to do so.
No Money
Without the power to raise money the congress was
forced to ask for money from the states which
usually ignored them.
Slow Moving
Requiring 9 of 13 states to approve laws congress
was slow to pass laws if at all and 13 of 13 to
change Articles of Confederation.
Squatters in the West
Settlers followed Daniel Boone into the Ohio River
Valley often claiming whatever land they chose
simply by marking their initials on a tree or drawing
rough maps.
Land Ordinance of 1785
An ordinance created by the
Articles of Confederation
Congress to help settle lands
west of the Appalachian
Mountains in an orderly and
profitable way.
Divided lands “purchased’ from
the Native Americans into
townships which were 6 miles by
6 miles square
Four sections were set aside for
use by the national government
Income from one section would
support public schools
Money from the sale of all other
townships would be used to repay
the war debt
Northwest Ordinance of 1787
Ordinance created by the Articles of Confederation Congress to create a government for the Northwest
Territory and called for the creation of three, four, or five smaller territories
Democracy Moves Westward
•Included a bill of rights
•Made slavery illegal in the territories
•Stated that good relations should be maintained with the Indians
•Stated that schools and education should be forever encouraged
An Empire for Liberty
Thomas Jefferson saw the expansion into the western lands as the creation of a Empire of Liberty and
would continue this spread with his purchase of the Louisiana Territory during his presidency
I.
Governor
Appointed as soon
as settlers began to
arrive in the new
territories
II. 5,000 adult males
Settlers were
allowed to elect a
legislature
III. 60,000 adult males
A territory was
allowed to apply for
statehood and have
the same rights as
the original states
Still the Little Guy on the Block
Trouble with Britain
Britain refused to withdraw from forts in the
Northwest territory, as they had agreed to in the
1783 Treaty of Paris, because Americans failed to
live up to their end of the deal by returning lands
to loyalist and repaying debts to the British
Merchants.
Weak Congress
The federal government was too weak to push
the British out and also too weak to get the
American public to repay their financial debts to
the British Merchants.
Spain
Challenged the United States claims to lands
between the Ohio River and Florida and closed
the Mississippi River to American shippers
effectively isolating the western settlers behind
the rugged mountain passes of the
Appalachians.
WHY?
No Army
After the Continental Army had been disbanded
the Congress could not afford to pay to raise
another and could not defend its own lands or
wage war to expand their lands.
The government is “fit for neither war nor peace”
Alexander Hamilton
No Unity
Even before the war was over the states began to quarrel over;
•Trade with some states taxing goods from other states and congress unable
to prevent it
•Boundaries as states like Maryland and Virginia nearly went to war over the
Potomac River
SPAIN AND BRITAIN JUST WAITING TO PICK UP THE PIECES
Money Troubles
Without gold or silver to give the
continental dollar value states began
to print their own money leading to
inflation and more and more bills
without value.
Robert Morris
Tried to pass a 5% tax on imported
goods in order to pay U.S. debts to
Britain, loyalists, and continental
soldiers.
The End of Democracy?
Washington had been maintaining an army outside of New York to insure that the British
left. When the Congress failed to pay officers pensions and soldiers back pay some officers
began circulating plan to overthrow the government and install Washington as King of
America
Nov 1786 – British pullout of New York
December 1786 – Washington resigns position and retires to Mt Vernon.
Shay’s Rebellion
January 1787
Depression
With all of the money trouble and problems with free
trade among the states crop prices fell rapidly and
many farmers were unable to repay their debts and
pay the high state taxes meant to repay the states war
debt.
Refusal to Compromise
The Massachusetts legislature refused to allow
farmers to pay their debts with crops instead of
money.
Loss of Land
Losing land not only took home and food but possibly
right to vote.
Daniel Shay’s
A hero of Bunker Hill who led angry mobs armed with
muskets to protest hearings to take peoples farms to
repay their debts.
March on the National Arsenal in Springfield
Daniel Shay’s led a march of 800 farmers to take a
federal arsenal. Massachusetts was on its own to but
down the rebellion
End of the Rebellion
Although the rebels were eventually pushed back and
Shays fled to Vermont to escape arrest many of those
Americans who had accumulated wealth and land
became very concerned about a government unable to
protect their possessions.