The document summarizes the key aspects of the Articles of Confederation, including that it created the first national government of the 13 colonies as a "league of friendship" with limited powers. It established Congress as the sole national body but with limited authority over areas like war, treaties, currency and postal service. Congress faced weaknesses due to its inability to tax, regulate commerce, or raise armies independently of states. This framework proved inadequate and led to calls for reform, including the Constitutional Convention to draft a new governing document.

1. The First
National
Government,
1777-1789
Chapter 2

2. The Articles of Confederation
 The Second Continental Congress drafted the Articles of
Confederation, a written statement of rules and principles
to guide the first continent-wide government in the
colonies during the war and beyond.
 Although the document was initially adopted by Congress in 1777,
it was formally ratified by all thirteen states in 1781.
 The Articles created a “league of friendship” among the
states.
 Each state remained sovereign and independent with the power and
authority to rule the colonists’ daily lives.

3. The Articles of
Confederation
and Perpetual
Union
On June 12, 1776, the
Second Continental
Congress resolved to
appoint a Committee of
Thirteen to prepare a
draft of a constitution for
the union of the states.

4. Congress
 The sole body of the new national government was the
Congress, in which each state had one vote.
 The Congress enjoyed only limited authority to govern the
colonies; it could:
 wage war and make peace
 coin money
 make treaties and alliances with other nations
 operate a postal service
 manage relations with the Native Americans

5. Presidents of the Congress
 Having no national executive authority, the Congress of
the Confederation was led by the President of the
United States in Congress Assembled.
 According to the Articles of Confederation, the president
was the presiding officer of the Congress and chaired the
Committee of the States when Congress was in recess.
 He was not, however, an executive in the way the successor
President is the chief executive.

6. President of
Congress
Entrance
to Office
Exit of
Office
Samuel Huntington March 1, 1781 July 6, 1781
Thomas McKean July 10, 1781 November 4, 1781
John Hanson November 5, 1781 November 4, 1782
Elias Boudinot November 4, 1782 November 3, 1783
Thomas Mifflin November 3, 1783 June 3, 1784
Richard Henry Lee November 30, 1784 November 23, 1785
John Hancock November 23, 1785 June 6, 1786
Nathaniel Gorham June 6, 1786 November 13, 1786
Arthur St. Clair February 2, 1787 October 29, 1787
Cyrus Griffin January 22, 1788 March 4, 1789

7. Weaknesses of Congress
 However, Congress had no power to:
 raise troops
 regulate commerce
 levy taxes
 It was left dependent on state legislatures to raise and
support armies or provide other services.
 Congress’s inability to raise funds significantly hampered
the efforts of George Washington and the Continental
Army during the war against Britain.
 Congress employed a “requisition system,” which essentially asked
that states voluntarily meet contribution quotas to the federal
government.

8. Weaknesses of Congress
 The limited powers of the central government posed many
problems, but changing the Articles to meet the needs of
the new nation was no easy task.
 The Articles could be amended only by the assent of all thirteen
state legislatures, a provision that made change of any kind nearly
impossible.
 The difficulties did not disappear when the war ended with
the American’s victory in 1783.
 Instead, an economic depression, partially caused by the loss of
trade with Great Britain and the West Indies, aggravated the
problems facing the new nation.
 All proposals to revise the Articles fell on deaf ears.

9. Notable Achievements
 The Northwest Ordinance (1787) is considered to be the
greatest achievement under the Articles of Confederation.
 The ordinance authorized the creation of three to five
states from the Ohio Valley to be admitted to the Union as
full equals to the original thirteen.
 Congress would appoint a governor and a council to rule each
territory until the population reached 5,000.
 At that point, settlers could elect an assembly to pass laws; however,
the governor still retained the power of an absolute veto.
 When the population reached 60,000, the settlers could adopt their
own constitution and petition Congress for statehood.

11. Notable Achievements
 The United States was able to secure the Treaty of Paris
(1783), which ended hostilities with Great Britain and
secured our recognition as an independent nation.
 Congress established four cabinet departments, each under
a single permanent secretary:
 Department of Foreign Affairs
 Department of War
 Department of Marine
 Department of the Treasury
 The Articles provided that each State give “full faith and
credit” to legal acts of the other States and to treat one
another’s citizens without discrimination.

12. Annapolis Convention
 Then in September 1786, nine states accepted invitations
to attend a convention in Annapolis, Maryland, to discuss
interstate commerce.
 Yet when the Annapolis Convention opened on September 11,
delegates from only five states attended.
 A committee led by Alexander Hamilton issued a report
calling upon all thirteen states to attend a convention in
Philadelphia the following May.
 The purpose of that convention was to discuss all matters
necessary “to render the constitution of the federal government
adequate to the exigencies of the Union.”

13. Shays’s Rebellion
 Events in Massachusetts in 1786-1787 proved a turning
point in the creation of momentum for a new form of
government.
 During the 1780s, trade with Great Britain became weak
and unprofitable; France could not offer the same long-
term credit that Britain could so the United States entered
a depression.
 Many States began to issue paper money while others
passed “stay” laws to postpone the date on which private
debts would come due.
 Massachusetts rejected both options and raised taxes to new
heights.

14. Shays’s Rebellion
 Daniel Shays, a Revolutionary War veteran, was one of
the many debt-ridden farmers in Massachusetts.
 Shays and his men rebelled against the state courts’
foreclosing on the farmers’ mortgages for failure to pay
debts and state taxes.
 Shays’s rebels stormed two courthouses and a federal arsenal.
 Eventually, the state militia put down the insurrection,
known as Shays’s Rebellion, but the message was clear:
 a weak and unresponsive government carried with it the danger of
disorder and violence.

15. Daniel Shays
(1747-1825)
Having received no pay
for his military service in
the Revolutionary War,
General Lafayette
presented Captain Shays
with an ornamental
sword, which he later sold
to pay for his debts.

16. Constitutional Convention
 In February 1787, Congress endorsed the call for a
convention to serve the purpose of drafting amendments
to the Articles of Confederation.
 By May, eleven states had acted to name delegates to the
convention to be held in Philadelphia.
 The Constitutional Convention convened on May 25,
1787, with twenty-nine delegates from nine states in
attendance.
 Over the next four months, more than fifty-five delegates from
twelve states would participate.
 Rhode Island, in fear of any centralized power, sent no delegates.

17. Constitutional Convention
 The delegates were united by four common concerns:
 The United States was being treated with contempt by other
nations and foreign trade had suffered as a consequence.
 The economic radicalism of Shays’s Rebellion would spread
without a stronger central government.
 The Native-Americans had threatened frontiersman and land
speculators, and Congress was ill-equipped to protect its citizens.
 The postwar economic depression had worsened and Congress was
powerless to take any action to address it.

18. Constitutional Convention
 It quickly became evident that a convention originally
called to discuss amendments to the Articles of
Confederation would be undertaking a more drastic
overhaul of the American system of government.
 Members of the Virginia delegation got the ball rolling
when they introduced the Virginia Plan.
 Introduced on May 29, 1787, by Edmund Randolph of Virginia.
 This so-called “large states plan” was initially favored by delegates
from Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Massachusetts.

19. Edmund
Randolph
(1753-1813)
Edmund Randolph, an
American statesman and
lawyer, was an exceedingly
influential public figure
from 1780 to 1800.

20. The Virginia Plan
Branches Bicameral legislature with one house
elected by the people and the other
chosen by the first.
Legislature All representatives and senators
apportioned by population.
Other Powers Singular Executive chosen by the
legislature.
Congress can legislate wherever “States
are incompetent” or to preserve the
“harmony of the United States.”

21. Constitutional Convention
 To counter the Virginia Plan, delegates from less populous
states proposed the New Jersey Plan.
 Introduced on June 15, 1787 by William Paterson of New Jersey.
 This so-called “small states plan” was initially favored by
delegates from New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Maryland, and
Delaware.
 By July 2, 1787, disagreements over the design of the
legislature and the issue of representation had brought the
convention to a near dead end.
 The delegates then agreed to submit the matter to a
smaller committee in the hope that it might craft some
form of compromise.

22. William Paterson
(1745-1806)
William Paterson was a
distinguished public
servant during the early
years of the Republic
serving as governor of
New Jersey, a Framer of
the U.S. Constitution, a
U.S. Senator, and associate
justice of the U.S.
Supreme Court.

23. The New Jersey Plan
Branches Unicameral legislature elected by the
people.
Legislature Equal representation among states.
Other Powers Plural Executive chosen by the
legislature.
Congress has power to tax and regulate
commerce.

24. Constitutional Convention
 The product of that committee’s deliberations was a set of
compromises, termed the Great Compromise by
historians.
 Introduced by Roger Sherman of Connecticut and as such the
agreement is also known as the Connecticut Compromise.
 The Great Compromise was eventually approved by a
narrow 5-4 margin of the state delegations.
 Connecticut, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, and North Carolina
approved.
 Pennsylvania, Virginia, South Carolina, and Georgia opposed.
 New York and New Hampshire were absent.
 The Massachusetts delegation was deadlocked.

25. Roger Sherman
(1721-1793)
Roger Sherman was a
colonial and U.S.
politician and judge who
played a critical role at the
Constitutional
Convention of 1787,
devising a plan for
legislative representation
that favored both large
and small states.

26. The Great Compromise
Branches Bicameral legislature with one house
elected by the people and the other
chosen by State legislatures
Legislature Members of one house are apportioned
by population with five slaves counted
as three free men and members of the
other house are apportioned equally
among the States.
Other Powers Singular Executive elected through the
Electoral College.
Congress has power to tax only in
proportion to representation in the
lower house and all appropriation bills
must originate in the lower house.

27. The Slavery Issue
 The issue of representation collided with another thorny
issue looming over the convention proceedings: the issue
of slavery.
 Four southern states had slave populations of more than
100,000 each while four northern states had a combined
total of just 4,000 slaves within their borders..
 Elsewhere, two New England states had already banned slavery.
 Many delegates believed that any extensive discussion of
slavery would become so divisive that it would bring the
entire gathering to a standstill.

28. The Slavery Issue
 Southern delegates wanted slaves to be counted equally
with free people in determining the apportionment of
representatives.
 Northern delegates opposed such a policy for
representation because they feared it would give the
southern states more power.
 They did, however, want slaves counted equally for the purpose of
apportioning taxes among the states.
 In an effort to forestall the convention’s collapse, the
delegates crafted a series of compromises.

29. The Slavery Issue
 By the agreement known as the Three-Fifths
Compromise, five slaves would be counted as the
equivalent of three “free persons” for purposes of taxes
and representation.
 Once again, neither side got exactly what it wanted.
 The Constitution said nothing about either preserving or
outlawing slavery.
 The only specific provision about slavery was a time limit on
legislation banning slave importation.
 Not until the Civil War decades later would the conflict over slavery
be finally resolved.

31. The Ratification Battle
 Once Congress submitted the Constitution to the states
for approval, battle lines were formed between the
Federalists and Anti-Federalists.
 A Federalist supported the ratification for the new Constitution.
 An Anti-Federalist opposed the ratification for the new
Constitution.
 From the outset, the Federalists enjoyed a number of
structural and tactical advantages in this conflict.
 Between the fall of 1787 and the summer of 1788, the
Federalists launched an aggressive media campaign
through newspapers.

32. The Ratification Battle
 James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and John Jay wrote
seventy-seven essays explaining and defending the new
Constitution and its ratification.
 These essays are formally called the Federalist Papers.
 Signed under the name “Publius,” the essays were
collected, printed, and published in book form under the
title The Federalist.
 The pseudonym “Publius” was used in honor of Valerius
Publicola, a Roman aristocrat who overthrew the monarchy
and instituted the Roman Republic.

33. The Federalist
Papers
The Federalist Papers
appeared in three New
York newspapers – the
Independent Journal, the
New-York Packet, and the
Daily Advisor.
The high demand for the
essays led to their
permanent publication
titled, The Federalist.

34. The Ratification Battle
 The essays discussed the benefits of a new Constitution,
the inadequacies of the Articles, and the need for a strong
national government:
 Federalist No. 10 - Madison argued that by extending the scope of
federal action, you make it less possible for the majority to invade
the rights of the minority.
 Federalist No. 15 - Hamilton attacked the Articles by arguing the
inability of any resolute action by the federal government because
of the retained State powers.
 Federalist No. 46 - Madison defended the system of federalism by
arguing that the States had sufficient room to resist federal
encroachment.

35. The Ratification Battle
 Federalist No. 51 - Madison argued that the new Constitution
would prevent the government from abusing its citizens because of
the “multiplicity of interests.”
 Federalist No. 70 - Hamilton argued for a unitary, one-person
executive to play a critical role as a check on the legislative system.
 In late 1787 and early 1788, the Anti-Federalists counted
with a media campaign of their own.
 In letters written under the pseudonym “Brutus” and
“The Federal Farmer,” they claimed the new
government’s power to impose taxes on the states would
rival that of the British system of internal taxation.

36. The
Anti-Federalist
Papers
The major Anti-Federalist
authors included George
Clinton (Cato), Robert
Yates (Brutus), Samuel
Bryan (Centinel), and
Richard Henry Lee (the
Federal Farmer).
Speeches by Patrick
Henry were often
included as well.

37. The Ratification Battle
 Perhaps the Anti-Federalists’ most effective criticism was
that the Constitution lacked a bill of rights that explicitly
protected citizens’ individual rights.
 They rejected Madison’s Federalist No. 51 that limitations on the
central government provided those protections.
 Ratification ultimately succeeded but by the narrowest of
margins.
 Of the first five states to ratify, four did so with little or no
opposition:
 Delaware, New Jersey, Georgia, and Connecticut.

38. The Ratification Battle
 Pennsylvania ratified only after a bitter conflict at its
ratifying convention.
 Massachusetts became the sixth state to ratify when
proponents of the Constitution promised to push for a bill
of rights after ratification.
 By June, three more states had voted to ratify, providing
the critical threshold of nine states required under the
Constitution:
 Maryland, South Carolina, and New Hampshire.

39. The Ratification Battle
 Still, the Federalists worried that without ratification by the
major states of New York and Virginia, the new nation
would not succeed.
 Madison only gained the upper hand with an assist from George
Washington, whose eminent stature helped capture numerous
Federalist votes.
 With victory in Virginia, Hamilton and Jay capitalized on the
positive news and secured victory at the New York ratifying
convention.
 With more than nine votes, including the two most crucial
state, the Congress appointed a committee to prepare the
new Constitution on July 2, 1788.