Transcript New Nation - TeacherWeb

New Nation
• 3 Types of Republic
– 1. Small in size and homogeneous
– Willing to give up personal gain for the best for all
citizens ( Social Contract Theory)
– 2. Bases on Economics
– As an individual increased his own wealth, thereto
would the society benefit
– 3. Believed that everyone should have a say in
Government
– Government should ask common folk what they
wanted
Virtues and the Arts
• In the early years of the country government and
people were trying to keep a working man’s
mentality.
• Luxury items were wrong, even the art was
portraits of hard working Americans
• Mason Locke Weem’s “Life of Washington” –
created a 6 year old Washington that cut down a
cherry tree and could not lie about it.
• This tried to promote the new nation to take on
Washington virtues and patriotism
Public Education
• 1. Some states were using state taxing to fund
education for elementary schools
• 1789 Massachusetts was among first for
public education
• 2. States saw the importance of teaching girls
as well as boy
– Girls – they needed to raise the future of America)
Women’s Role
• Judith Sargent Murray – believed that men
and women should be treated as equal in
education
• Believed that women should be taught to be
independent of men
• Abigail Adams (wife of John Adams)- wrote
here husband a letter in 1776 to remember
the women when he was writing the new
government
Women and Slavery
• New Jersey wrote in their State constitution that
“all inhabitants” of New Jersey had the right to
vote
• Therefor unintentionally giving women and free
African Americans the right to vote. (oops)
• Many northern states gradually banned slavery
after the war – know as the First Emancipation
• 1777 – Vermont first state to ban slavery
• 1799 - New York freed children born into slavery
but not till they turned 20
Slavery
• Even though slaves were freed, they were not
equal.
• Many laws increased discrimination
• Blacks were not allowed to testify against
whites in courts
• African Americans needed to start to form
their own school, churches and stores.
Theory of Racism
• Thomas Jefferson “blacks ere inferior to whites in
the endowments both of body and mind” Notes
to Virginia - 1781
• However he was an advocate of emancipation.
• Jefferson believed that African Americans should
leave Virginia and start their own colony.
• White males feared that Black men desired White
women, but yet mad no mention of White man’s
desire of Black women
Designing a Republic Government
• Articles of Confederation – 1st Government of
US
• Unicameral – legislation made up of 1 house
• Each state received 2 representatives, but only
one vote
• No taxing powers, No Army, US Currency
worthless
• Allowed states to maintain their own
sovereignty.
State Constitutions
• States were allowed to create their own
constitutions, however many states still feared
leadership becoming a tyrant.
• Limited powers
– Limited term limits on public office
– Only a legislative
– System of checks and balances in place
– Lowered the qualifications of voting
Foreign Affairs
• In the beginning of our county America looked
weak to foreign countries. (did not have army)
• Cheap British goods were flowing into
America, not allowing US manufactures to
flourish
• Spain would not allow the US to use the
Mississippi River to transport goods
• British closed down trade with America in the
British West Indies
Foreign Affairs
• In the Treaty of Paris of 1783, US had to pay
back their pre-revolutionary war debt to
England
• However with a weak Government and no
army and no way of gaining money the US
Government could not pay this back
• This made the US look extremely weak in the
eyes of foreign nations.
The West
• Indian Relations
• Indians were making treaties with other
Indians that they did not have the authority to
make, over land that the US controlled
• Indians now had no choice but to deal with
the US because all other nations had no
authority in North America after the Treaty of
Paris 1783.
The West
• Land Ordinance of 1785
• US was given the land west of the
Applianchian Mts.
• Land was broken into 6 mile squares with each
having 36 sections, each section having 640
acres. ( $1 per acre)
• Would not see to the poor
• Lands were used to pay soldiers and others for
payments for the Revolutionary War
The West
• Northwest Ordinance of 1787
• Set up ways that territories can become State in
the United States of America
– Had to write a Constitution, to be approved by
Congress
– Freedom of Religion
– Trial by jury
– No cruel and unusual punishment
– Prohibited any new State to come in as a slave state
War in the Northwest
• Indians did not accept the US as having
control of Indian lands, therefor treaties could
not be made.
• Miami Indians kept attacking settlers in the
Ohio Valley Region
• Little Turtle was the war chief that led this
attacks against the western settlers.
• The Northwest Indian Wars began
War in the Northwest
• Under the Articles it was difficult for US to get
enough soldiers to defeat little turtle
• Finally General Anthony Wayne defeated the
Miami Confederation of Indians at the Battle
of Fallen Timbers
• Treaty of Greenville
• Allowed settlers to go North of the Ohio River
• Gave Indians the territory Indiana ( which will
be taken away later)
Shay’s Rebellion
Daniel Shay was a farmer from Massachusetts
that fought in the Rev. War.
Like many he was promised money for fighting
in the war, his lands had been foreclosed by the
bank, US gov. had no money to pay such farmers
Shay led a rebellion of 1500 men to Springfield
to capture weapons to use against the US.
They were defeated, however it showed the
weakness of the national government
Annapolis Convention
• Civil war almost broke out between Maryland
and Virginia over border disputes
• George Washington steps in and called a meeting
held Annapolis, Maryland.
• Only 5 states showed up
• Because of the lack of attendance at the
convention and events like Shay’s Rebellion and
Northwest Indian Wars, George Washington
called a meeting in Philadelphia to discuss the
Articles of Confederation
Constitutional Convention
• Framers- 55 men, known as delegates were
chosen to write the Constitution of the United
States in Philadelphia.
• They met in Independence Hall, where 11
years earlier the Declaration of Independence
was signed.
• The delegates named George Washington the
President of the Convention
• Only 12 States out of the 13 sent
representatives. – Rhode Island did not
Constitutional Convention
• All delegates agreed to work in secret.
• We know most about the convention because
of the notes of James Madison
• James Madison is known as “The Father Of
the Constitution”
• Delegates were sent to Philadelphia to revise
the Articles of Confederation
• They all agreed to write a new Government
for the United States
New Plans for Government
• Each state was asked to create their idea for a
new Government for the United States.
• Virginia Plan – this plan called for a
Government with 3 separate branches of
Government; Legislative, executive and
judicial
Virginia Plan
• Legislative – would be made up of 2 houses
• Representation in each house would be based
on population or the amount of money that
each state would give the new government
• Those of the lower house would be voted in
by the people
• Those of the higher house would be selected
by the members of the lower house.
Virginia Plan
• Congress would choose the Executive Branch,
which is the President and the Judicial
Branches, which is the national court system.
• These branches would then get together and
write the new constitution to the United
States
• Many states believed this plan favored the
larger and richer states to much
New Jersey Plan
• The New Jersey Plan also called for 3 separate
but equal branches of government
• The legislative branch should be made up of a
unicameral- which means one branch• This legislative would have equal
representation – each state having 2
representatives
• The legislative would choose the executive
• The executive would choose the Judicial
Great Compromise
• The Connecticut Compromise – this
compromise was agreed upon by all states.
• The Legislative Branch should be made up of 2
houses called Congress
• The lower should be called the House of
Representatives and should be based on
population
• The upper house shall be called Senate and
each state would receive 2 members no
matter their size in population or financial
contribution to the Government
3/5 Compromise
• This compromise said that all free people
should be counted as one person
• All slaves should be counted as 3/5 of a
person.
• This means for 5 slaves the south could have 3
people count for representatives for the
House of Representatives and 3 people for
taxation purposes
Ratifying the Constitution
• Supporters of the Constitution and its strong
central government called themselves Federalists,
while those more in favor of states’ rights were
called Antifederalists.
• The framers of the Constitution devised it so that
the Constitution could be passed by special state
conventions (where the people had direct says),
rather than in state legislatures (where it was
more likely to be rejected by politicians fearing
loss of power).
Federalist Papers
• James Madison’s answer to them came in the
form of Federalist papers 10 and 51, in which he
argued that the checks and balances would help
and that liberty was safest in large republics, in
which anyone could have support, even rebels
who went against the norm.
• Basically, Madison was arguing that if people
could be corrupted by office, they could also be
corrupted by factional self-interests, and that was
a radical argument in 1787.
Bill of Rights
• In any case, it soon became clear that a bill of
rights was needed; many states approved the
Constitution only after a bill of rights was
promised, and even then, they passed it after
much debate.
• James Madison finally introduced a set of
proposals, mostly based on the Virginia bill of
rights, to Congress, which passed twelve of them;
ten of those twelve were passed by the states
and went into effect as the first ten amendments,
or the Bill of Rights, in 1791.
Ratifying the Constitution
• Delaware was the first state to ratify the
constitution on June 21, 1788.
• Virginia would only ratify the constitution with a
agreement of a Bill of Rights to be added later
• The Constitution was approved finally on April 6th
of 1789.
• At this meeting everyone there agreed to appoint
George Washington the President of the United
States.
• He did not want the position but finally took the
position on April 30th 1789 and became the first
President of the United States