Transcript The Articles of Confederation and the creation of

The Articles of Confederation and
the creation of the Constitution
The Second Continental Congress
When the congress was formed in 1775, it was
designed as a committee to resolve issues, it
was not seen as new government.
In 1777; the congress passed the Articles of
Confederation. They did not go into effect until
1781. These articles created the first
government of the newly recognized United
States of America (USA)
Why The Articles? Questions about
Government
1.
2.
3.
4.
What type of government should we
have?
What responsibilities does that
government have?
How should this government be
designed?
What powers should the states and
national government have?
What type of government should
we have?
Weak: The Colonists had just fought
a war against tyranny
They were afraid of giving all of the power to
just one person (like the king) or a small
group of people (like royal governors).
NO LARGE BEAURACRACY
What responsibilities does that
government have?
Establish a name
 Taxation
 Defense
 Commerce
(trade)
 Legislation (laws)

Currency (print
money)
 Postal Mail
 Foreign Relations
 Declare War

How should this government be
designed? What does it look like?
No Chief Executive (President, King,
Oligarchy etc…) Remember, they had a
King previously
 No judicial branch (national court system)
 Unicameral or single house legislature
(becomes the Congress of Confederation:
each state was permitted one vote
regardless of population or size of state.

What powers should the states and
national government have?
The National Government was given very
little authority to enforce its power.
The Second Continental Congress believed
that King George III and Parliament had
crushed their rights and most power was
given to the states rather than the
Congress of Confederation.
Weakness and Failures



Taxation (could only ask states to contribute
funds to the Congress of Confederation…Would
you do it?)
Defense (could only ask states to contribute
troops to the Congress of
Confederation…Would you do it?)
Commerce (trade) ~ no ability to regulate trade
between colonies or nations. (leads to disputes
between states)
Weakness and Failures



Legislation (laws) ~ 9 of 13 states had to approve
any legislative measure.. How often did you think
that happened?
Currency (print money) ~ states were hesitant to
put faith in a new national currency and kept their
old ones (the US had 15 different currencies in
circulation, and no exchange rate)
Declare War (hard to do when you do not have
an army)
Shays Rebellion
The war takes a large toll on New England
farmers.

–


High taxes, farmers forced to pay creditors.
Many farmers, and former minutemen, join
together in 1787 under the leadership of
Daniel Shays
They open up debtor’s prisons and protest
throughout Massachusetts
 The
national government does
not have the power to raise an
army to put down the riots.
 Local militias do the job, but it
takes a while.
Successes

The Congress of Confederation is
successful in two ventures.
–
–
Setting up a Post Office ~ Benjamin
Franklin first Postmaster General of the
United States.
Creating the Northwest Ordinance of 1787
to deal with the need to create new states
from the land taken from the British.
Now What??
What is the next step for the United States?
Continued Disorganization and
Disunion
Or
Revision and Change