1. Daily Lecture and Discussion Notes Chapter 7, Section 1
I.Thirteen Independent States
A. Americans needed to establish its own government and gain Britain's respect. British
believed the new government was weak and ineffective.
B. States organized their governments and adopted their own state constitutions. States
wanted to prevent abuses of power and keep power in the hands of the people.
C. State constitutions limited the power of the governor to avoid giving one ruler too much
power. Pennsylvania replaced the office of governor with an elected council of twelve
members.
D. States constitutions divided functions between the governor (Pennsylvania's council)
and the
legislature and courts.
1. The legislature was the more powerful branch. States limited powers of the
governor. Most states had a bicameral, or two-house, legislature to make sure it
wasn't to powerful.
2. Legislatures elections were frequent. State legislatures
disagreements about taxes.
E. In most states only white males, 21 years of age could vote. They also had to
be property owners. In some states free African
American males could vote but usually didn't own enough land.
2.
3. II. Forming a Republic
A. Americans agreed that the country should be a democratic republic, a government
with elected representatives. What they could not agree on was the powers of the new
republic.
B. At first most Americans favored a weak central government with the powers being
given to the states to function independently except for the power to wage war and
handle relations with other countries.
C. In 1777 the Articles of Confederation were adopted to provide for a central
government. At the time the country needed a central government to fight the war
against Britain. The Articles were America's first Constitution. The states, though, gave
up little of their power. Each state kept "its sovereignty, freedom, and independence."
8. D. Under the Articles of Confederation, the government, which was the
Confederation
Congress, had the authority to
1. conduct foreign affairs with countries and Indians
2. maintain armed forces
3. borrow money
4. issue currency
5. Post office
6. Declare war
7. Make treaties
E. The government did not have the authority to
1. regulate trade
2. force citizens to join the army
3. impose taxes
Congress needed to ask state legislatures to raise money and provide troops.
9. F. The government did not have a chief executive or figure head.
G. Each state had one vote in Congress. State population did not matter,
more populated states believed that they should have more votes.
H. States also argued about whether or not they claimed land in the West. Maryland
refused to ratify the Articles of Confederation until states abandoned their land claims.
Finally all 13 states approved the Articles on March I, 1781. The Confederacy formally
became the government of the United States.
I. The Confederation government had its weaknesses, but it won Americans their
independence, expanded foreign trade, and provided for new states in the West.
1. It had limited authority.
2. It could not pass a law unless nine states voted for it.
3. To change the Articles of Confederation, all 13 states had to give consent.
It was difficult, therefore, for Congress to pass laws when there was any opposition.
10.
11. III. New Land Policies
A. The Articles of Confederation had no provision for adding new states.
Congress realized it had to extend its authority over the frontier and bring
order and stability to the territory where western settlers reached almost
120,000 by the 1790.
B. In 1784 Congress divided the Western territory into self-governing
districts.
C. In 1785 the Confederation Congress established a new law the Land
Ordinance of 1785 that divided the Western territories into larger townships
and smaller sections. Each smaller section would be sold at auction for at
least $1 an acre. This was called the Ordinance of 1785. Land speculators
bought large pieces of land cheaply.
12. Land Ordinance of 1785Congress
surveyed the
land into
squares 6
miles on
each side.
(townships)
Each town
was divided
into 36
smaller
sections, 640
acres each.
(the cost was
a minimum of
$1 per acre)
• People pooled their money in order to be able to
afford a piece of land.
13. D. Another ordinance passed in 1787 was the Northwest Ordinance.
1. It created a Northwest Territory out of the lands north of the Ohio River and
east
of the Mississippi River.
2. It divided the lands into three to five smaller territories.
3. It stated that when the population of a territory reached 60,000 citizens, that
terri-tory could apply for statehood. Each new state would enter as an equal to the
original 13 states.
4. It included a bill of rights to protect the settlers that guaranteed freedom of
reli-gion and trial by jury. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude were permitted
in the new territories.
14.
15. IV. Trouble on Two Fronts
A. The Confederate government had trouble with finances, and with Britain and
Spain
over land and trade. Many Americans felt the country needed a stronger
government to deal with the problems.
B. The government had a large debt from fighting the war. Congress had
borrowed money from American citizens and foreign governments. It owed
soldiers their wages. Congress had no power to tax, so it did not have a way to
raise revenue and payoff this debt.
C. Money was almost worthless. The paper money printed during the
Revolutionary War had fallen in value, while the prices of food and other goods
soared. In Boston, for example, high prices led to food riots. Because Congress
had no power to tax, it and the states issued their own paper money. Because
there were so many bills in circulation, the value of the money fell. No gold or
silver backed these bills.
D. To help solve the financial problems, the Confederacy created a department of
finance. Robert Morris, a financier, headed the department.
E. Robert Morris proposed a plan that called for collecting a 5-percent tax on
imported goods to help payoff the debt. Because of Rhode Island's opposition,
the measure did not pass. A second effort also failed five years later. The
country's financial situation worsened.
16. F. The problems with Britain concerned landholdings and trade.
1. British troops remained in several strategic forts in the Great Lakes Region
even
though Britain had promised to withdraw all troops under the Treaty of Paris.
2. British merchants closed Americans out of the West Indies and other
profitable British markets.
3. John Adams went to London in 1784 to discuss these issues. The British
claimed that because Americans had not paid Loyalists for the property taken
from them during the war, as agreed to under the Treaty of Paris, they were not
willing to talk. Congress recommended payment, but the states refused.
G. The problems with Spain were worse than those with England.
1. Spain closed the lower Mississippi River to American shipping in 1784 in
hopes of halting American expansion into their territory of Spanish Florida and
lands west of the Mississippi River.
2. A compromise was reached with an agreement in 1786 that limited American
ship-ping on the Mississippi. In return for this, Spain promised to accept the
border between Georgia and Spanish Florida proposed by the Americans. The
people of the South rejected the agreement because it did not include the right
to use the Mississippi River.
18. Therefore, in 1786, Daniel Shays led a group o
farmers in an attempt to capture a federal
arsenal.
19. The U.S., without an organized army, was
powerless. Massachusetts sent a militia to stop
the rebellion.
Shays’ Rebellion convinced many people that the
U.S. needed a new, stronger government.
