Alien & Sedition Acts:

The Alien & Sedition Acts were laws that were an attempt to increase national security, as it had never really been considered before. The Naturalization Act increased the requirement for citizenship in the U.S. from 5 years to 14 years. The Alien Act gave the power to deport any foreigners that he deemed a threat to the U.S. The last and most impactful act was the Sedition Act. This act restricted anyone from speaking badly about the federal government, congress and the President. These acts were also thought to indirectly discourage the opposition in politics and give the President an option to put down any rivals.

Whiskey Rebellion:

Hamilton, being the treasurer, needed to come up with a way to create a source of revenue for the U.S. As a result, he brought up the idea of a tax on whiskey. Congress agreed and passed the tax. This made many citizens angry as whiskey was a major source of revenue for them. This also brought about the issue of taxation without representation. A rebel force was formed and attempted to resist the taxation, but Washington raised troops and attempted to negotiate with the citizens. When negotiations failed, they marched their militias in and the rebels scattered and disbanded. This was a major event in American history because it was the first time that the newly formed U.S. had quelled a rebellion without much bloodshed, and showed that the government was indeed in charge.

Writs of Assistance:

In an attempt at ridding the colonies of contraband and keeping it out, the English Parliament issued the Writs of Assistance. These essentially gave authorities the ability to search and seize property without the need for a court order, or reasonable suspicion. Obviously this was heavily regarded as a violation of natural rights, and these issues were brought up in court against the Writs. This issue was one of many that had began to make the colonists wary of English rule in the New World.

Missouri Compromise:

The Missouri Compromise was a result of a congressional decision to allow Missouri to become a slave state at its request, but also allowed Maine to enter as a state. A line was then drawn through the Louisiana area and the northern section was only allowed to enter into the United States as free states, and any areas below that becoming states were allowed to enter as slave states. This situation nearly upset the balance between the north/south and slave/free states alone. As it did not immediately, it will be a major contributor to the coming Civil War.

Contract Theory of Government:

The contract theory of government basically allows the government to rule over the people, but is only given so much power from its people in order to protect them. The people give power to the government in the form of holding offices that they have been elected for.

Essay Question:

The Articles of Confederation was created just after the U.S. gained independence. The basic mindset after the revolution was to get as far from and English monarchy as possible and so the Articles were created. Under the articles, it essentially stated that the states remain independently governed but were considered a united set of individual states. It also only gave the U.S. certain small powers, such as running the post office. The articles did give the government permission to tax, but there had to be a delegate from each state, and the vote had to be unanimous. Obviously this was a very difficult thing to accomplish so many issues went unresolved. Not being able to bring in its own source of stable revenue, it was also realized that the United States had no immediate and effective way of defending itself. The states had their own militias but it was not a federal army. This situation came to hand after Bacons Rebellion, in which disgruntled farmers too up arms against Governor William Berkely because of his lack of action against native Americans that were attacking their farms.

Finally deciding that the current articles were not working for them, they decided to bring the state delegates together at the Philadelphia Convention to fix the articles. All but one state, Rhode Island, showed up to the convention. During the proceedings that followed, several issues arise and several persons decide that the current articles needed to be thrown out and that new ones needed to be drafted. Essentially adopting parts of the Virginia plan, the new constitution outlined that the government would have two houses of congress. One, the house of representatives, would be elected from each state. The other, the Senate, would be elected by the house of reps. The issue did arise in the original Virginia plan about the number of congress members from each state being elected. The original plan essentially gave states with a higher population more power in Congress because they would be allowed more representatives. Another declaration was that the federal government would be divided into three main branches. The first being the legislative branch. This branch would be in charge of creating laws. An example of this would be Congress. The second was the executive branch. The executive branch would be in charge of enforcement of the laws. The third was the judicial branch. This branch was in charge of interpreting the laws. The three branches were developed and managed by way of checks and balances. Each branch had a small bit of power over the others, so this way no one branch could take too much power. As an example, Congress could approve a bill, but if the executive branch (President) finds it unlawful, may choose to veto the bill.