1 / 21

When Americans declared independence in 1776, they needed to form a new government

America's journey from the Articles of Confederation to the Constitution marked a pivotal shift towards a more powerful national government. The initial confederation system, established post-independence, aimed to preserve states' autonomy, but ultimately proved too weak to address pressing issues like taxation and trade. The ineffectiveness of the confederal government was highlighted by events such as Shays' Rebellion, prompting the Constitutional Convention of 1787, leading to the development of the robust governance framework we recognize today. Learn about this transformative period in American history and the critical steps taken to strengthen the nation's political structure.

randyr
Download Presentation

When Americans declared independence in 1776, they needed to form a new government

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. The American republic would be a more “enlightened” version of the Roman Senate When Americans declared independence in 1776, they needed to form a new government They wanted to form a republic where citizens vote for elected leaders to represent them They wanted to protect citizens & individual states from a powerful national government King George III

  2. When independence was declared, the 13 colonies became independent states Each state had its own constitution, legislature, & an elected governor; 8 states had Bills of Rights But, the USA needed a national gov’t to do things that states could not, like sign treaties & form a military America’s 1stnational gov’t was the Articles of Confederation (1777-1789)

  3. This “confederation” style gov’t loosely connected the states under a weak national government

  4. Each state could send between 2-7 representatives to the national congress, but each state had only 1 vote To pass a law, 9 of the 13 states had to agree Confederation Government in New York City The national congress could make laws, settle disputes between states, negotiate treaties, handle Indian affairs, oversee a military But all other powers were left up to the states

  5. Americans did not want to re-create a powerful gov’t like the one they just fought the Revolutionary War to break away from So, the national gov’t had no president & could not tax the states or citizens Confederation Government in New York City

  6. Western Lands, 1783 Western Land Claims, 1783 The lands between the Appalachian Mountains & Mississippi River that were acquired from the British in 1783 were claimed by numerous states. Many of these land claims overlap. How should we solve this problem?

  7. The United States, 1783 Areas of Settlement, 1783 The Articles established a good system of settling western lands

  8. Western Land Claims Ceded by the States First, states had cede (give up) their claims to lands in the west to the national gov’t

  9. Congress passed the Land Ordinance of 1785to create an orderly way to divide the west into townships & farms Selling western lands was the only way the national gov’t could generate money since it did not have the power to tax

  10. Land Ordinance of 1785 Section 16 of the each township was set aside for a public school

  11. Northwest Ordinance of 1787 The Northwest Ordinance of 1787 gave government to the territories When a territory had 5,000 residents, it could create a self-governing legislature When a territory had 60,000 residents, it could apply to become a U.S. state Slavery was outlawed in the NW

  12. Closure Questions • The Articles of Confederation were created intentionally weak • What powers does the national government have? • What powers do the individual state governments have? • What problems do you predict will occur because of these political weaknesses?

  13. The Articles of Confederation was America’s 1st form of gov’t The weakness the national gov’t was originally seen as good because it eliminated tyranny Later, these same weaknesses kept the gov’t from solving serious national problems Confederation Government in New York City

  14. The inability of the government to collect taxes led to problems Confederation Government in New York City

  15. U.S. Trade with Britain, 1783-1789 America could not pay off debts from the Revolutionary War Debt

  16. Property foreclosures led an uprising among Massachusetts farmers called Shays’ Rebellionin 1787 but the gov’t could not pay for an army to stop it Shays’ Rebellion proved to be the convincing event that led to the Constitutional Convention of 1787 Poor farmers in western MA were angered over high taxes & prospect of debtors jail Daniel Shays led an uprising & closed debt courts & threatened a federal arsenal

  17. America’s First National Government: The Articles of Confederation After Shays’ Rebellion, people like Hamilton & Madison began calling for a stronger national gov’t In 1787, delegates met in Philadelphia to discuss ways to improve the Articles Instead of revising the Articles of Confederation, the delegates replaced it with the Constitution

More Related