The Articles of Confederation

Please take out a #2 pencil and work with your table team to complete the warm-up for the quiz. You have five minutes.

We will:*take quiz #2 on New England/Mid-Atlantic

geography and Ch. 3-4 content*evaluate why the Articles of Confederation failed

to provide effective national government for the newly-independent United States

Review for Quiz #21. What was the goal of Britain’s mercantilist system?

To promote self-sufficiency within the empire

2. What was “salutary neglect?”

Loose enforcement of mercantilist trade restrictions

3. What was the main difference between the Sugar Act and the Stamp Act?

The Sugar Act sought to regulate trade through duties and the Stamp Act sought to impose a direct tax on all Americans

4. What legislation did the British Parliament pass to punish Massachusetts for the Boston Tea Party?

The Intolerable (Coercive) Acts

5. What major battle was the “turning point” of the Revolution and why?

Battle of Saratoga – convinced the French to ally with the U.S.

Quiz #2• Please clear your table of all materials except for a #2 pencil

and write in your full name, subject: USH Quiz #2, date (10/18/13), and period on your Scantron form

• Write your name on the quiz itself. You can write on it but make sure to answer all questions on the Scantron form.

• When you finish, bring your quiz and Scantron to the cart and pick up your graded PSI – revise as needed and return for additional credit by next Tuesday, October 22.

• If you intend to retake the “Colonial America” unit test, sign up for one of the four retest sessions and turn in your unit binder materials (with the original binder check rubric)

• Then begin work on the Articles of Confederation handout in the folder on your table – work on this independently while everyone finishes the quiz.

The Articles of ConfederationAmerica’s First National Government (1781-1789)

Origins of the Confederation

 Based on a proposal by JOHN DICKINSON of Pennsylvania – Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union

Second Continental Congress sent the document to the states for ratification in 1777, ratified by 1781

National government consisted of a single-chamber Confederation Congress; characteristics included:

 

*ELECTED BY STATE LEGISLATURES

*EACH STATE HAD ONE VOTE

*NO POWER TO TAX WITHOUT EVERY STATE’S APPROVAL

*NO POWER TO REGULATE TRADE

*NO SEPARATE EXECUTIVE OR JUDICIAL BRANCHES

*STATE SOVEREIGNTY MORE IMPORTANT THAN NATIONAL SOVEREIGNTY

Achievements of the Confederation Congress

* Peace of Paris (1783)RECOGNITION OF AMERICAN INDEPENDENCEAMERICA GIVEN TITLE TO TRANS-APPALACHIAFISHING RIGHTS AND LIMITED TRADING RIGHTS WITH BRITAIN

  

* Land Policy:Ordinance of 1785:STATES CEDED CLAIMS TO WESTERN LANDSCREATED UNIFORM SYSTEM OF SURVEYING BASED ON

TOWNSHIPS (1 TOWNSHIPS = 36 SQUARE-MILE SECTIONS) 

Northwest Ordinance (1787):DEFINED STEPS FOR CREATION/ADMISSION OF NEW STATESBANNED SLAVERY IN THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY

Land Claims and Ordinances in the 1780s

Below: At the end of the Revolution, virtually every state had a land dispute with at least one other state. Virginia claimed all of the Northwest.

Right: The township system shaped the “look” of the Midwest for years to come

Political Weaknesses of the Confederation

*LACK OF A STRONG CHIEF EXECUTIVE (DIFFICULT TO ENFORCE LAWS/TREATIES)

*DIFFICULT TO PASS NEW NATIONAL LAWS BECAUSE NINE STATES MUST APPROVE 

*AMENDMENTS REQUIRE APPROVAL OF ALL 13 STATES 

*NO NATIONAL COURT SYSTEM (STATE COURTS DECIDE THEIR OWN LAWS) 

*NO POWER TO SETTLE DISPUTES AMONG STATES 

*SMALL STATES OUTBALANCE LARGE STATES BECAUSE EACH STATE HAS ONE VOTE

Economic Weaknesses of the Confederation

*NO POWER TO TAX CITIZENS DIRECTLY

*NO POWER TO COLLECT STATE DEBTS 

*HUGE WAR DEBT (OVER $160 MILLION) HAD TO BE REPAID TO FOREIGN NATIONS AND U.S. CITIZENS) 

*CONTINENTALS WERE NEARLY WORTHLESS BECAUSE OF INFLATION AND LACK OF CONFIDENCE; LACK OF CURRENCY DUE TO DEBT PAYMENTS

*ECONOMIC DEPRESSION DUE TO BRITISH TRADE RESTRICTIONS

*STATES CHARGED TARIFFS ON EACH OTHER’S GOODS, WHICH HURT TRADE

Diplomatic/Military Weaknesses of the Confederation

*DID NOT HAVE POWER OR MONEY TO DRAFT AN ARMY (MUST RELY ON STATE MILITIAS) 

*BRITISH REFUSED TO LEAVE NORTHWEST FORTS UNTIL LOYALIST WAR DAMAGES WERE PAID

 

*BRITISH SUPPORTED NORTHWEST INDIAN TRIBES WITH MONEY AND WEAPONS

 

*SPANISH CLOSED PORT OF NEW ORLEANS TO PRESSURE WESTERN FARMERS AND ALSO SUPPORTED SOUTHWESTERN INDIAN TRIBES WITH MONEY AND WEAPONS

Shays’s Rebellion (1786-87)

*MASSACHUSETTS SOUGHT TO PAY OFF ITS WAR DEBT BY RAISING TAXES AND REQUIRING PAYMENT

IN SPECIE (GOLD/SILVER) 

*WESTERN MASSACHUSETTS FARMERS COULD NOT AFFORD TO PAY THE TAXES AND LACKED

ADEQUATE REPRESENTATION IN THE MASSACHUSETTS ASSEMBLY

*DANIEL SHAYS LED FARMERS IN A REBELLION AGAINST THE MASSACHUSETTS GOVERNMENT 

*THIS CRISIS LED NATIONALISTS TO CALL FOR ADDITIONAL MEASURES TO STRENGTHEN THE CENTRAL GOVERNMENT

Shays’s Rebellion

Seeds of Rebellion:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ImIEcsTEVo

Taking Up Arms:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23vQjYzyx9Q

Before you leave…

• Keep your class notes in your binder

• Complete Homework 5 for next class

• Revise your PSI for next class as needed

• If you signed up for a unit test retake, make sure you are eligible for it – either your name is checked as eligible or you will turn in your “Colonial America” binder materials today