The Articles of Confederation

1. The Articles of Confederation Civics & Economics

2. Facts • The Articles of Confederation represent the first constitutional agreement made between the 13 colonies. • Submitted to the Second Continental Congress on July 12, 1776 • Were adopted by the Second Continental Congress on November 15, 1777 • Created a unicameral legislature

3. Articles of Confederation cont. Strengths Weaknesses • Congress had the authority to declare war. • Named the United STATES of America • Creation of coin money • Northwest Ordinance • Ordinance of 1785 • Congress had no power to: • Collect taxes • Regulate trade • Enforce its laws • No national court system or single leader or group to direct government policy. • Could not pass laws without 9 states • Could not be changed without the approval of all 13 states. So What??

4. A Confederacy State Government State Government Federal Government What does this show? State Government State Government

5. Ordinance of 1785 • Congress created a system for surveying and selling the western lands. • It arranged land into townships, six square miles. • Each township is divided into 36 sections, one square mile each. • Applied to the Northwest Territory, what today is known as Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin.

6. Northwest Ordinance • In 1787, Congress passed the Northwest Ordinance. • Which laid the basis for the organization of new territorial governments. • Set a precedent for admitting new states to the union.

7. National Debt • The U.S. was still struggling after the Revolution • They faced serious financial trouble • Congress had to borrow money to pay for the Revolutionary War because they had no power to tax • States heavily taxed their citizens as well as taxing imports from other states

8. Shay’s Rebellion • Daniel Shays, a farmer from Massachusetts • Fallen into debt because of state taxes • Massachusetts courts threatened to take his farm as payment for his debts. • He felt that they had no right to punish him for a problem he didn’t create • Shays armed 1,200 farmers to attack a federal arsenal • Became known as Shays Rebellion and it sent a wake-up call throughout the country asking for a stronger national government.

9. The Road to the Constitution • The Philadelphia Convention • Constitutional Convention (Simulation) • The Virginia Plan • The New Jersey Plan • The Great Compromise • The Three-Fifths Compromise • Electoral College • Federalists • Anti-Federalists