This Lesson’s Essential Question:

1. This Lesson’s Essential Question: Why were the Articles of Confederation unable to provide an effective plan of government for the United States?

2. Lesson 8.1a: The Articles of Confederation Today we will analyze the Articles of Confederation.

3. Vocabulary • republican – form of government in which people elect the people who govern them • bill – a written paper or list containing a statement of details or facts • constitution – a written outline of government • establish – create or set up • ordinance – a law

4. Check for Understanding • What is today’s Essential Question? • Do Democrats have republican beliefs? • What does it mean if the city council establishes an ordinance against raising chickens in your backyard?

5. What We Already Know The Enlightenment spread the ideas that people had rights that came from God and that governments should exist to protect those rights. John Locke

6. What We Already Know For eight years, the United States fought a bitter war against a government that threatened those rights.

7. What We Already Know During the Revolutionary War, the Continental Congress had served as the government for the United States.

8. Read aloud with me: Once the American colonies declared independence, each of the states had to create its own government.

9. New State Governments • What is a constitution? • Wanted political systems to be more democratic

10. New State Governments Separate branches keep the government from becoming too powerful.

11. New State Governments • Tried to weaken the executive branch (enforces the laws) • Short terms of office

12. New State Governments Some states abolished slavery.

13. New State Governments • Some state constitutions had a bill of rights.

14. New State Governments • All states had a republican form of government. • Pattern for the U.S. Constitution

15. Get your whiteboards and markers ready!

16. 1. What effect did state governments have on national politics? • They provided a pattern for the U.S. Constitution. • They abolished slavery everywhere. • They created constitutions that contained bills of rights. • They demanded that Congress repeal the Northwest Ordinance.

17. What form of government did all the new states create? • republican • democratic • parliamentary • magisterial • bureaucratic

18. 2. Why did most of the new state constitutions create governments with separate branches? • It was the way government had been organized back in England. • Separate branches would make the governments strong and effective. • Each branch could operate independently of the other two. • They wanted to prevent those govern-ments from becoming too powerful.

19. Track with me as I read: During the Revolutionary War, each state was independent, with a republican form of government. The war showed the need for the states to work together. This idea of “united we stand, divided we fall” carried on after independence was won.

20. In 1776, the Continental Congress began to develop a plan for a national government. • Government should be a republic • Based on the British Parliament

21. The Articles of Confederation Final plan called the Articles of Confederation

22. The first American government was intentionally made weak by a people that had fought a desperate war for freedom against a powerful and abusive government.

23. The Articles of Confederation • Government only had a legislative branch, the Congress. • One vote in Congress per state, regardless of size • No executive branch to enforce its laws.

24. The most important powers were left to the states. • to set taxes • to enforce national laws

25. Congress could only . . . • wage war and make peace • sign treaties w/other countries • issue money • govern Western lands

26. Get your whiteboards and markers ready!

27. 3. Who had the most powers under the Articles of Confederation? • the national government • the state governments • Federalists • republicans

28. 4. What was the United States Congress modeled after? • the German Reichstag • the British Parliament • the French Estates General • the Russian Duma • the Spanish Diet

29. The Problem of Western Land Some of the smaller states refused to ratify (approve) the Articles of Confederation.

30. The Problem of Western Lands • Wanted the national government to control the western states • Western lands could be sold to pay debts left from the Revolution.

31. The Problem of Western Lands Larger states agreed to give up title to the western lands.

32. The Land Ordinance of 1785 Set up the way the Northwest Territory would be settled

33. The Land Ordinance of 1785 • Six-mile square townships • One square-mile section of land sold to provide money for schools • First national government support for public education

34. The Northwest Ordinance • Described how the Northwest Territory was to be governed • With 60,000 people, they could apply to become a new state. • N.W.O. set a pattern for the orderly growth of the United States.

35. N.W.O. banned slavery in the Northwest Territory.

36. N.W.O. guaranteed religious freedom.

37. Get your whiteboards and markers ready!

38. 5. What issues affected the Western territories between 1775 and 1787? • Who would control the territories • How to divide western lands • Making peace with the Indians • How to settle the western lands • How to buy more land from foreign countries Choose all that are true!

39. 6. What did the Land Ordinance of 1785 do? • Townships were established in the Northwest Territory. • Each township was a six-mile square (36 sq. miles). • One square-mile section was set aside to earn money for schools. • Slavery was banned in all townships. Choose the one that is NOT true!

40. 7. What did the Northwest Ordinance do? • It outlined when the territories could govern themselves. • It established settlers' rights to religious freedom. • It set a pattern for the orderly growth of the United States. • It allowed Congress to purchase land from Mexico. • It banned slavery in the Northwest Territory. Choose the one that is NOT true!

41. Weaknesses of the Articles • Revolutionary War debt was a critical problem for the government. • Congress had borrowed money to pay the Continental soldiers.

42. Weaknesses of the Articles • Several hundred unpaid soldiers surrounded Congress in June 1783. • Threatened by the soldiers, Congressmen were forced to flee the city. • Clear sign of Congress’s weakness

43. Weaknesses of the Articles • No power to tax under the Articles • Congress depended on the states to send money, but very little was sent.

44. Weaknesses of the Articles • Ordinary people also faced hard times. • In Massachusetts, the people rose up in arms against the government.

45. Get your whiteboards and markers ready!

46. 8. What were the strengths of the Articles of Confederation? • They empowered Congress to make treaties. • They empowered Congress to enforce laws. • They empowered Congress to levy and collect taxes and regulate trade. • They left important powers to the states. • They created a powerful chief executive to run the government. Choose all that are true!

47. 8. What were the weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation? • Congress had no power to enforce laws, collect taxes, or regulate trade. • They withheld important powers from the states. • They lacked a chief executive to run the government. • They contained a limited bill of rights. • They were difficult for the states to amend. Choose all that are true!

48. The government’s weakness led to violence. • In Massachusetts, farmers who could not pay their tax debts lost their land and were jailed. • In 1787, about 1500 farmers rebelled.

49. This rebellion was led by a revolutionary war veteran named Daniel Shays.

50. Shays’ rebels kept judges from ruling against debtors.