Unit 4: Articles of Confederation and Constitution Part 1

Declaration of Independence

A document drafted by the Second Continental Congress which discussed natural rights, how the colonies had tried to solve their problems with England, and lastly that the colonies were an independent nation called the united States of America. It set forth the guiding principles that men are born with natural rights that cannot be taken away by the government. According to the document a government is created when the people of a nation form a social contract and agree to give up some of their power to the government; in return the government must protect their citizens natural rights. This was a guiding document for the framers of the U.S. Constitution.

Republic

A form of government where people rule through popular sovereignty. Constituents (people) vote for elected officials who make laws that follow the people's interests. If the elected official does not do what the people want the people can choose another official the next election. These elected officials are called representatives. This is also known as an indirect democracy or representative democracy.

Popular sovereignty

Power of the people through their votes.

constituent

A person who lives in the United States. A constituent has the duty to obey the law, pay taxes, defend the nation, serve on juries, serve as a witness in a trial if necessary, and go to school. The responsibilities of a constituent are that they need to be well informed, know their rights and help to preserve them, respect the rights of others, vote, and contact their representatives about the issues they are concerned about, take part in public meetings or political rallies.

Articles of Confederation

This was the first guiding constitution written by the Second Continental Congress during the American Revolution. Under this document each state agreed to a loose union, but each state would function as its own separate country. The "federal/national" government was given little power to regulate the states. The authors of the document were afraid if the gave the national government too much power the government would become tyrannical like Great Britain. Under this document there would only be one branch of government called the Confederation Congress, a legislative body. Each state would have 1 vote regardless of population.

Shays's Rebellion

A revolt of local farmers lead by Daniel Shays in Massachusetts. Soldiers who came home from the war experienced low crop costs, increased state taxes, and failure of the Confederation Congress to pay them owed wages. Many of these farmers started losing their farms to creditors. Daniel Shays organized other farmers to capture a federal arsenal of weapons and block officials from entering the court house. The Massachusetts militia was able to put the rebellion down after some bloodshed. The Confederation Congress was unable to do anything about the problem and highlighted the need for a stronger federal/national government.

Amending the Articles of Confederation

In order to amend the Articles of Confederation a unanimous vote/all 13 states needed to pass the Amendment. This made it difficult to amend and no proposed amendments were every passed.

Passing a bill under the Articles of Confederation

9 out of 13 states needed to pass the bill in order for it to become a law.

The Land Ordinance of 1785

An ordinance passed by the Confederation Congress to divide the land west of the Appalachian Mountains up for sale. It defined a 6 X 6 mile plot as a township and sold the land in sections to the highest bidder to earn money. Each section was 640 acres and one plot was to be sold to support public schools. This was a success of under the Articles of Confederation.

The Northwest Ordinance of 1787

This ordinance was passed by the Confederation Congress to dictate how United States territories were to be governed before they became a state. It also established the requirements and process for a territory to become a state. Territories were to create republic representative governments and after 60,000 people lived in the territory it could apply to become a state. Under this ordinance slavery was banned in the Northwest Territory which would further complicate issues over slavery later in United States history. This was also a success of the Articles of Confederation.

Constitutional Convention of 1787

After Shays' Rebellion more leaders believed that the Articles of Confederation needed to be amended. Delegates from 12 states met at Philadelphia to discuss amending the Articles of Confederation. After some debate the delegates believed that the U.S. needed a stronger federal/national/central government. From May 25th to September 17, 1787 delegates debated and compromised to create the United States Constitution. This meeting was originally called the Federation Convention or Grand Convention but later was renamed the Constitutional Convention.

United States Constitution

A document created by delegates at the Constitutional Convention. This created a stronger plan for the federal/national/central government. The document includes a preamble and Articles 1 - 7. The framers separated powers into three branches: legislative, executive, judicial. It dictated how laws were to be made and general requirements for representatives at various levels. It was a framework for how the federal/national/central government should be run.

Framers of the Constitution

Someone who helped to come up with the guiding ideas put into the Constitution. A framer IS NOT a farmer.

Separation of Powers

A government principle in which power is divided among the different branches. The United States Constitutions separated powers into the Legislative Branch, The Executive Branch, and the Judicial Branch. The Legislative Branch makes the laws and power is further separated into the House of Representatives and the Senate. The Executive Branch enforces the laws. The Judicial Branch interprets the laws.

Checks and Balances

The system in which each branch of government has the ability to limit the power of the other branches to prevent any from becoming too powerful. The legislative branch is able to override a presidential veto. The executive branch is able to veto a bill passed by Congress. The judicial branch is able to rule a law or executive action unconstitutional.

New Jersey Plan

A plan created by William Patterson to protect small states. It was a modified version of the Confederation Congress. Congress would be made up of a single house and each state would be equally represented. It gave Congress the power to raise taxes and regulate trade.

Virginia Plan

A plan created by James Madison based on the Virginia Government. The plan proposed a strong national government that divided power into three branches and the divided the legislative branch into a bicameral/two house legislative. Each state would be represented by their population in both houses.

The Great Compromise

Also know as the Connecticut compromise this was created by Roger Sherman. It proposed that there would be three branches of government and that the legislative branch would be divided into two houses. One house, the House of Representatives, would be based on population. In the other house, the Senate, each state would have equal representation. Voters in each state would elect their House of Representative members and state governments would select their senators.

3/5 Compromise

A compromise created to make please the North and South. Southerners wanted enslaved people to count towards their population but did not want to pay taxes for them. Northerners objected to this because slaves could not vote and should not be represented. Eventually they came to a compromise to count every 5 enslaved people as 3 free people for representation and taxes.

Slave Trade Compromise

Southerners did not want exports to be taxed and did not want the slave trade to be banned. Northerners wanted imports to be taxed but wanted to ban slavery. They eventually came to a compromise which said that the slave trade could not be banned until 1808 and that the federal government could only tax imports.

Federalism

A political system in which power is divided between the national and state governments. The United States Constitution delegates or enumerates specific powers to the national/central government and reserves powers not specifically listed to the states. Framers used federalism to limit the power of the central government so that it could not become tyrannical like Great Britain.