Chapter 7: Founding a Nation

America Under the Confederation

Article of Confederation

• first frame of govt for the US; in effect from 1781-1788, it provided for a weak central authority and was soon replaced by the constitution

• only powers granted to govt was declaring war, conducting foreign affairs, and making treaties w/ other govts

• lacked ability to levy taxes or regulate commerce

• only after the land-rich states ceded their western claims to central govt did the Articles win ratification

Congress and the West

• Congress believed that by aiding to British, Indians had forfeited the right to their lands

• Peace conferences at Fort Stanwix, NY (1784) & Fort McIntosh, PA (1785): American representatives demanded and received large surrenders of Indian land north of the Ohio Valley River

• treaties soon followed, securing national control of a large part of the country’s western territory

• many leaders believed that the economic health of the new republic required that farmers have access to lands in the west

  • but fear of unregulated settlements → endless conflicts w/ Indians

  • land as potential source of revenue

Settlers and the West

• rapid settlement in frontier areas

• Ohioans petitioned Congress in 1785: “Grant us liberty”

• many leaders viewed frontier settlers as disordering and lacking in proper respect for authority

• establishing law and order in the west seemed essential

  • attract better settlers and less discord between frontier and settled

Land Ordinances

• Ordinance of 1784: regulated land ownership and defined the terms by which western land would be marketed and settled; established stages of self-govt for the west

  • 1st Congress would govern a territory; then the territory would be admitted to the Union as a full state

• Ordinance of 1785: law that regulated land sales in the Old Northwest

  • land surveyed was divided into 640-acre plots and sold at $1/acre

  • promised to control and concentrate settlement and raise money for Congress but settlers violated the rules

• 1787: Congress decided to sell off large tracts to private groups

• price of land was hefty; Americans found it difficult to regulate desire for new land

• Homestead Act of 1862: offered free land in the public domain

• Northwest Ordinance: law that established northwest territory (North of Ohio River → west of PA), established conditions for self-govt and statehood, Bill of Rights, and permanently prohibited slavery

  • first official recognition that Indians continued to own their land

  • empire of liberty: US would not rule its new territories as colonies, but rather would eventually admit them as full member states (equal members of political system)

Confederation’s Weakness

• worsening economic problems

• during war of independence, Congress had borrows large sums of money by selling interest-bonds and paying soldiers and suppliers in notes to be redeemed in the future

• lacking a secure source of revenue, congress was unable to pay either interest or debt; America cut ties w/ Britain and were barred from trading w/ west Indies and major imported goods → drained the moneys

• some looked for new areas to trade

  • 1785, financed by NY & Philly merchants, Empress of China

• states adopted new economic policies due to Congress’ inability to act

  • tariffs from imported goods abroad

  • printing of large sums of paper money

    • make it easier for people to pay debts

  • postponing debt collection

Shay’s Rebellion

• attempt by MA farmer Daniel Shays and 1200 compatriots, seeking debt relief through insurance of paper currency and lower taxes to prevent courts from seizing property from indebted farmers (1786-1787)

• persuaded an influential groups of Americans that the national govt must be strengthened so that it could develop uniform economic policies and protect property owners from infringements on their rights by local majorities

• private liberty could be abused by public liberty

Nationalist of the 1780s

• Madison and Hamilton: nation builders

  • America, they believed, depended on enhancing national authority

• army officers, congress members, diplomats

• John Marshall: developed “the habit for considering America as my country, and Congress as my govt"

• influential economic interests desired a stronger national govt

• Annapolis Convention (Sept 1786): delegates from 6 states met in Annapolis, MD to improve regulations on interstate and international commerce

  • outcome: proposed another convention in Philly to amend articles of Confederation

• Shay’s rebellion → led to the creation of the US Constitution

  • highlighted the weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation

  • James Madison noted that the rebellion in MA emphasized the need for stronger federal govt

    • argued that without change, the country faced the risk of either anarchy or monarchy

• Philly Convention (May 1787)

  • all states except Rhose Island sent delegates

  • Rhode chose not to participate due to its debtor relief and trade policies

  • delegates decided to abandon the Articles of Confederation and instead draft a new constitution

A New Constitution

• prominent men from wealth attended constitutional convention

• George Washington, George Mason, Ben.
  Frankin

• lawyers, merchants, planters, s large
  Farmers

• Social status s politicial experience made them well educated → belief on national authority

Structure of Government

• 3 branches: legislative, executive, and judicial

• congress would have rights to raise money without relying in the states

• states were prohibited from infringing the rights of property

• disputes between balance of power between federal & state govt —> VA plan

  • two-house legislature with state population determining its representations in each

• fear that MA, VA, & PA would dominate new govt —> NJ plan

  • single-house congress in which each state cast 1 vote

• compromise: two house congress consisting of a senate in which each state had two members, and a house of representatives apportioned according to population

  • senators chosen by state legislatures every six years

  • representatives chosen every two years by the people

Limits of Democracy

• under articles of confederation, no national official had been chosen by popular vote

  • HOR = democracy

• constitution = left states to set voting rules

• new structure of govt was less than democratic

  • shield national govt from popular enthusiasm and to ensure that the right kind of men held office

    • people would choose among elites to staff new govt

    • delegates assumed that Senste would be composed of each state’s most distinguished citizens

    • HOR was small due to assumption that only prominent individuals could win elections in large districts

• electors were to be prominent, well-educated individuals “better-qualified” than ordinary voters to chose the head of the state

  • indirect elections of federal judges or presidents

    • voters would vote; if no majority —> president would be chosen from among top 3 finishers by HoR

    • senate elect VP

Division & Separation

• constitution embodies

  • federalism

    • division of power between central govt and state

  • checks and balances

    • separation of powers between three branches so that no national govt dominates the other two and endangers citizens’ liberties

Debate Over Slavery

• Luther Martin of MD prohibited congress from abolishing slavery for 20 years

• 3/5 clause: 3/5 of the slave population would be counted in determining each states representation in the HOR and its electoral votes for president

• SC influence

  • came to defend slavery

  • insisted stricter limits on congress to levy taxes within states due to fear of future efforts to raise revenue by taxing slave property

  • threatened the disunion if Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade was prohibited

  • delegates chose SC side to secure to national unity

Slavery in the Constitution

• slave trade clause allowed a commerce condemned by civilized society to continue until 1808

• Jan 1, 1808: Congress prohibited the further importation of slaves

• 170k Africans were brought back as slaves to replace runaways or labor

• fugitive slave clause: the condition of bondage remained attached to a person even if they escaped to a state where slavery had been abolished

• 3/5 clause allowed white southerners to exericse far greater power in national affairs than the size of its population

  • enhanced number of voters in HOR and therefore in the electoral college

Final Document

• national central govt power —> national economic market

• last convention Sept 17, 1787

• national political institutions, reduced powers of state, and sought to place limits on popular democracy

The Ratification Debate and Origin of the Bill of Rights

The Federalists

• the Federalists written in 1788 by Hamilton, James Madison, s Jay

• advocated for the constitution

• Hamilton → Madison said Constitution protected liberties of American citizens

• Hamilton thought govt was an expression of freedom, in response to fear of tyranny, he assured the checks s balances and division of power made political tyranny impossible

“Extend the Sphere”

• Madison's Federalist n. 10 argued the size of America's sizes diversity would be its source of stability → "extend the sphere"

• So many district interests would rise

• So that no single one would ever be able to take over the govt s oppress the rest

• argument of size of America reinforced the tradition that saw continuous westward expansion as essential to freedom o major-shift away from republicanism

• Madison helped to popularize the "liberal" idea that men are motivated by self-interest, and that the good of society arises from the clash of interests

Anti-Federalists

• opponents who saw constitution as a limitation of on individual s states right

• claimed popular self-government Flourished best in small communities (risers s rulet interacted daily)

• way of life was viewed grounded in local, democratic institutions

• lack of Bills of Rights —> left unprotected rights like trial by Jury & Freedom of Speech

• Pro-constitution: Flourished in the nations cities 3 in rural areas closely tied to the commercial market

• anti-federalist; Small farmers in more isolated rural areas

  • Hodson Valley, NY; west MA; southem backcountry

• Madison won support for constitution by promising the first congress went would add the Bill of Rights

• Only Rhode Island & NC voted against ratifications

Bill of Rights

• Madison was so convinced constitution would protect them of liberties, so he believed bill of rights as pointless

• 1st amendment: Freedom of Speech, Press, and assembly

  • Vital blocks of democratic public sphere

  • basic rights of citizens

• others prohibited abuses like arrests wlo warrants

• 9th: rights not specifically mentioned in constitution were "retained by the people"

• 10th: powers not delegated to nattonal govt or prohibited to the states continued tu reside wl the states

• 8th: excessive bail & cruel/unusual punishments

• right to RELIGIOUS freedom

“We the People”

National Identity

• The American Revolution helped create the idea of the "American people," who were meant to enjoy freedom as citizens in a new political community.

• American Freedom was only for the people who were part of this community (but did not include Native Americans or slaves).

• American Nationality combined both civic (legal) and ethnic (cultural or racial) elements.

• Throughout much of U.S. history, American citizenship has been defined by both bloodline (heritage) and political allegiance (loyalty to the nation).

Indians in the Norton

• treaties were essentially ways a of transferring land from Indians to the federal govt or the states

  • oten, a treaty was agreed to by only a small portion of a tribe, but then the whole tribe was then forced to accept it legitimately

• Henry Knox as a Secretary of war. who aimed for peaceful relations with Native Americans

  • 1794 acknowledgment: admitted that Us actions were more destructive tu

  • Nat Am. populations than Spanish actions in Mexico & Peru

  • passed law requiring federal approval for the transfer of Native Am. land

• 1794 - 3,000 American troops under Anthony Wayne defeated Little Turtle's forces at the Battle of Fallen Timbers —> treaty of greenville

• treaty of greenville established the annuity system

  • systems of yearly payments to Native American tribes by which the federal government justified and institutionalized interference in Indian tribal affairs

• many prominent figures rejected the Idea that the Indians were innately inferior to white Americans

• Congress in the 1790s authorized President Washington to distribute agricultural tools and livestock to Indian men and spinning wheels and looms to Indian women

• to whites, the adoption of gender voles would be a crucial sign that havans were becoming "civilized"

• to Indians, freedom meant retaining tribal autonomy and identity

• american notion requined Indians to change which is why many tibes rejected it

Blacks in the Republic

• the North's gradual emancipation acts assumed that former Slaves would remain In the country, not be colonized abroad

• northern statesmen worked for abolition and some helped to establish school for Black children

• Letters From An American Farmer (1782)

  • Hector St. John de Crèvecoeur

  • popularizer the notion that the US was a "meltina, pat" while excluding Poc from the process of assimilation

  • Naturalization Act of 1790 offered

  • the first legislative definition of American Nationality

    • Congress restricted the process of becoming a citizen from abroad to “free white people”

    • For 80 years, non-white immigrants could become a naturalized citizen

    • 1870 for Africans

    • 1940s for Asians

    • 1424 For Nat. Am

      • partial open-immigration to WHITES to immigrate and become naturalized citizens

Jefferson, Slavery, and Race

• saw blacks as inferior

  • Notes on the State of VA (1785)

    • natural incapability

    • bitter from Slavery

  • Jefferson's belief that individuals' abilities and achievements are shaped by social conditions made him hope that no group was fixed permanently in the Status of inferiority

    • Benjamin Banneker, a well educated AA MDS in maths pleaded for abolition of slavery

• Jefferson felt that America should have a homogeneous citizenry w/ common experiences, values, and inborn abilities

• Racists feared that free Black people in America would be a danger to white society and democracy

• Jefferson reflected divided mind of

• other VA Slave-owners

  • Some Freed Slaves after death or just willingly

  • Jefferson kept them until death

    • owed so much property → slave auctions → destroying slave communities he tried to keep in tact

Principles of Freedom

• race emerged as justifications for slavery

• Only white Americans held the principles or freedom