revolution to constitution. articles of confederation americans feared centralized power for its...
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Revolution to Constitution
Articles of Confederation
• Americans feared centralized power for its potential for “tyranny”
• 1781: Articles of Confederation– “confederacy of states,” each
republic with own government
– Legislature of representatives elected by state legislatures
– National taxes would need unanimous approval; congress could request money from states
– No president: instead committees did jobs of government
– No national court system to enforce national laws
Shays’s Rebellion and Difficulties• States set high taxes to repay war
debts
• Shortage of gold and silver– Stores and banks’ refused to accept
paper currency
– People owned value (land, crops) but had little actual money
– People could not get new loans or pay back old loans
• Sheriffs began to auction off peoples’ farms and houses to pay taxes and debts
• Daniel Shays, a former military officer, led 2,000 farmers against Massachusetts government, but were put down
• Shays and followers were elected to state legislature in 1787: they cut taxes and pardoned Shays
• Nation learned: stronger national government needed to keep order
Need for a National Government
• Federation proved too weak
• Needed a stronger national government to:– Provide national
enforcement & avoid “mobocracy” of Shays’s Rebellion
– Create national tax to pay war debts in all states, not just wealthier states like Virginia
– Create tariffs to protect industries, and negotiate trading privileges abroad
– Negotiate for land rights with Native Americans so colonies could expand westward
George Washington addressing the Constitutional Convention
Constitution, Virginia & New Jersey Plans
• Representatives from each state met to create Constitution– National government could veto
state laws, use army against states
– National taxes– Separation of Powers– Checks and Balances
• Key question: should large states have same power as small ones?– Virginia Plan: Upper and lower
houses in congress, with states having seats according to population
– New Jersey Plan: Houses in congress to have equal number of seats
– How to count the slaves?
Compromise Created Agreement on the Constitution
• Constitution– Strong central government
with three separate branches: executive, judicial, legislative
• Bicameral legislature (“The Great Compromise”)– States have proportional
representation in House of Representatives based on population
– States have equal representation in Senate
• 3/5 Compromise:– Slaves to be counted as 3/5
of a man, but have no vote Independence Hall in Philadelphia where the Constitution was written