Chapter 6 THE REPUBLICAN EXPERIMENT

1. Chapter 6THE REPUBLICAN EXPERIMENT

2. The States: Experiments in Republicanism • State constitutions served as experiments in republican government • Lessons later applied to constructing central government • Major break with England’s unwritten constitution

3. Natural Rights and the State Constitutions • State constitutions guaranteed natural rights • Freedom of religion • Freedom of speech • Freedom of the press • Private property • Trial by jury • Governors weakened • Elected legislatures given most power

4. Government under Articles of Confederation • In charge of foreign and Native American relations, military, and disputes between states

5. Weaknesses of Articles of Confederation • Articles of Confederation severely limited central government’s authority over states • Each state had one vote • No executive or judicial branch • No taxing power • States taxed each other’s goods • Amendments required unanimity • No national currency

6. Crises of Lack of Power • Barbary pirates raided ships in Mediterranean • Unable to protect settlers from Indians • Shay’s Rebellion (1787) • Tax revolt of indebted veterans • Symbolized breakdown in law and order as perceived by propertied classes • Strengthened support for new central government

7. Northwest Ordinance: The Confederation’s Major Achievement • Land Ordinance • Orderly division of land into sections and townships • One section set aside to finance school system • Banned slavery in NW territory • Provided for eventual statehood of new lands

8. Northwest Territory

9. Land Ordinance of 1785

10. The Nationalist Critique • Restoration of trade with Britain caused trade deficit and hard currency shortage • Congress unable to address trade, inflation, and debt

11. Strengthening Federal Authority • Dissatisfaction with Articles of Confederation • May 1786—Annapolis Convention agreed to meet again, revise Articles

12. Independence Hall