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Our Growing Government. Chapter 2 Sections 3, 4, 5. Articles of Confederation. Colonies (States)= sovereign Coined money Raised armies and navies Raised tariffs Most claimed land beyond their “colonial” borders Confederation Congress= central government Declare war Make treaties
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Our Growing Government Chapter 2 Sections 3, 4, 5
Articles of Confederation • Colonies (States)= sovereign • Coined money • Raised armies and navies • Raised tariffs • Most claimed land beyond their “colonial” borders • Confederation Congress= central government • Declare war • Make treaties • Manage Indian affairs • Maintain the army and navy • Regulate weights and measures • Establish postal services • What is missing? • Power to tax • Power to regulate trade
Articles to Constitution: Causes • Foreign Problems: • France was demanding repayment of war debts. • Spain closed the Mississippi River. • Britain still attempting to regulate trade; maintain posts in the West; encourage Native Americans.
Articles to Constitution: Causes • Economic Problems: • Congress had no power to regulate interstate commerce. • National credit was worsening. • Could not repay French War debts. • Interest was piling up.
Articles to Constitution: Causes • Interstate Quarrels: • Boundary disputes over western lands. • States taxed each others’ interstate commerce. • States were issuing worthless money for payments in debts.
Annapolis Convention • 5 states show • Pledge to meet in one year • Sought Congress’s approval • Purpose: To revise the Articles of Confederation
Philadelphia Convention • Philadelphia – May 25th, 1787 • Sole purpose was revising the Articles of Confederation. • 55 delegates from 12 states • (except Rhode Island) • Sessions were surrounded by secrecy • Locked doors • Guards in the halls • Windows closed-hot summer • Letters censored as well as Ben Franklin • Most delegates were wealthy property owners and many were lawyers • Most had experience- (i.e. state constitutions or Articles) • 42 was the average age
Important People • George Washington- President of Convention • Secretary of Convention- William Jackson • Ben Franklin- oldest delegate- 82 yrs old • James Madison- “Father of the Constitution” • Wasn’t absent a single day for four months • shorthand/recopied notes at night into long hand • agreed not to release the notes until all delegates were dead • last one to die- James Madison in 1840, 53 years after the convention • “assembly of demi-god” • “convention of the well-bred, the well-fed, the well-read and well wed.”
“A Bundle of Compromises” • The Virginia Plan • The New Jersey Plan • The Connecticut Compromise • The Three-Fifths Compromise • The Commerce and Slave Trade Compromise
Ratification • Ratify- Approve • 9 states needed to ratify the constitution for it to become law…it was close in many of the states, but the FEDERALISTS beat out the ANTIFEDERALISTS and won ratification.
Federalists & Anti-Federalists • Anti-federalists -- states' rights advocates, backcountry farmers, poor farmers, and the ill-educated- “common man”. • Federalists -- Well educated and propertied class. Most lived in settled areas along the seaboard.
Federalists • National government needed to be strong in order to function. • Strong national government needed to control uncooperative states. • Men of experience and talent should govern the nation. • National government would protect the rights of the people. • Constitution and state governments protected individual freedoms without bill of rights. • More sympathetic to separation of church and state.
Anti-Federalists • The Articles of Confederation were a good plan. • Opposed a strong central government. • Strong national government threatened state power. • Strong national government threatened rights of the common people. • Constitution favored wealthy men and preserved their power. • Constitution lacked a bill of rights. • Opposed omitting any reference to God.
Assignment Using pages 51-53 in your textbook, define the following compromises on a sheet of paper… • The Virginia Plan • The New Jersey Plan • The Connecticut Compromise • The Three-Fifths Compromise • The Commerce and Slave Trade Compromise