Evolution of Governance in Georgia and the U.S.

1. SS8H4TSW describe the impact that led to the ratification of the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights. a. Analyze the strengths and weaknesses of both the Georgia Constitution of 1777 and the Articles of Confederation led to a need to revise the Articles.

2. Georgia Constitution of 1777Georgia joined the other colonies in celebrating the decision to become independent of Great Britain. The former colonies were tired of being governed and living under laws madeby Great Britain.

3. The colonists believed that Great Britain was out of touch and too far away to understand their needs. The new goal for each colony was statehood. Each new state was to develop its own method of governance and pass laws that met its needs.

4. Work was begun on a state constitution to replace the earlier “Rules and Regulations” which had been used to govern the state.

5. Writing the new constitution wasn’t easy. Some citizens wanted a government like the one already in place with most of the power in the hands of a few wealthy landowners and merchants.

6. The Whigs, a more extreme group, wanted to give all the people of Georgia a chance to govern themselves. Georgia did decide on a government based on the separation of power and the rights of citizens to agree with how they were governed.

7. By May 1777, Georgia adopted its first state constitution at a constitutional convention held in Savannah.

8. The parish system was done away with, and eight counties were formed. However well meaning the lawmakers were in developing the 1777constitution, there were problems.

9. Rather than a bicameral legislature, the Constitution of 1777 provided for a unicameral, or one-house legislature.

10. This single legislative body had very broad powers, including the ability to make appointments for the judicial branch (the courts) and the executive branch (the governor).

11. Stung by the loyalty of former governors to the king, the members of the constitutional convention wanted to limit severely the influence and power of the governor.

12. They proposed a one-year term for the governor. He was to be selected by the legislature rather than voted on by the people.

13. The actual power was in the hands of twelve lawmakers from the legislature who served on an executive council. This council could accept or reject any proposals initiated by the governor.

14. The constitutional convention selected John Treutlen, a Salzburger, as governor.

15. The Articles of ConfederationThe founding fathers wanted to make sure their new government would be very different from the government of Great Britain.

16. The Articles of Confederation, ratified in 1781, intentionally established a weak national government.

17. The new U.S. government consisted of a unicameral legislature, Congress, in which each state had one vote. There was no chief executive, and no national court system.

18. The weaknesses in the Articles of Confederation caused major problems for the new country.

19. Under the Articles, the Confederation Congress that couldn’t pay the colonial soldiers during the Revolutionary War found that it also couldn’t pay them after the war.

20. The Confederation Congress asked the states for help, but many states rejected or ignored the request.

21. The new government didn’t have the power to regulate trade between the states or between the United States and foreign countries.

22. Each state had its own money system which also created problems with trade.

23. The British reoccupied some of the forts in the Northwest Territory (the area north of the Ohio River) and the national government was powerless to do anything to stop them.

24. As a result, foreign countries had little respect for the new country.

25. George Washington and others were alarmed at what they saw happening to the states under the Articles of confederation. A movement began to examine and revise them.

26. An opportunity arose in 1786 when Virginia asked for a meeting in Annapolis, Maryland, to discuss the continuing trade problems among the states.

27. Representatives from only five states attended and nothing was accomplished. The delegates did ask that a second convention meet in Philadelphia that year.

28. They broadened the goals for the Philadelphia meeting and asked to discuss all the problems of the Articles of Confederation. It was hoped that some changed could be made that would make the national government stronger.