A.P.
U.S. History Notes
Chapter 9: “The
Confederation and the Constitution”
~ 1776 – 1790 ~
I.
A Revolution of Sentiments
1.
The American Revolution was
more of an accelerated evolution than a revolution.
2.
However, the exodus of some
80,000 Loyalists left a great lack of conservatives.
3.
This weakening of the
aristocratic “upper crust” let Patriot elites emerge.
4.
The fight for separation of
church and state resulted in notable gains.
a.
The Congregational church
continued to be legally established by some New England states, but the
Anglican Church was humbled and reformed as the Protestant Episcopal Church.
5.
Slavery was a big,
problematic issue, as the Continental Congress of 1774 had called for the
abolition of slavery, and in 1775, the Philadelphia Quakers founded the world’s
first antislavery society.
a.
This new spirit of “all men
are created equal” even inspired a few slave owners to free their slaves.
6.
Another issue was women: they
still were unequal to men, even though some had served (disguised as men) in
the Revolutionary War.
a.
There were some achievements:
New Jersey’s 1776 constitution allowed women to vote (for a time).
b.
Mothers devoted to their
families were developed as an idea of “republican motherhood” and elevated
women to higher statuses as keepers of the nation’s conscience.
II.
Constitution Making in the
States
1.
The Continental Congress of
1776 called upon colonies to draft new constitutions (thus began the formation
of the Articles of the Confederation).
a.
Massachusetts contributed one
innovation when it called a special convention to draft its constitution and
made it so that the constitution could only be changed through another
specially called constitutional convention.
b.
Many states had written
documents that represented a fundamental law.
c.
Many had a bill of rights and
also required annual election of legislators.
d.
All of them deliberately
created weak executive and judicial branches (they distrusted power due to
Britain’s abusing it).
e.
In most states, the
legislative branch was given sweeping powers, though some people, like Thomas
Jefferson, warned that “173 despots [in legislation] would surely be as
oppressive as one.
2.
Many states moved westward,
like New Hampshire, New York, Virginia, the Carolinas, and Georgia.
III.
Economic Crosscurrents
1.
After the Revolution,
Loyalist land was seized, but people didn’t chop heads off (France…).
2.
Goods formerly imported from
England were cut off, forcing Americans to make their own.
3.
Still, America remained
agriculturalist by a lot.
4.
While, with Britain, Americans
had great trade, and now they didn’t, they could now trade with foreign
countries, and with any nation they wanted to, a privilege they didn’t have
before.
5.
Yankee shippers like the Empress
of China (1784) boldly ventured into far off places.
6.
However, inflation was
rampant, and taxes were hated; the rich had become poor, and the new rich were
viewed with suspicion; disrespect of private property became shocking.
IV.
A Shaky Start Toward Union
1.
While the U.S. had to create
a new government, the people were far from united.
2.
In 1786, after the war,
Britain flooded America with cheap goods, greatly hurting American industries.
3.
However, the states all did
share similar constitutions, had a rich political inheritance form Britain, and
America was blessed with men like Washington, Madison, Jefferson, Hamilton, and
John Adams, great political leaders of high order.
V.
Creating a Confederation
1.
Even during the war, the
states had created their individual currencies and tax barriers.
2.
The Articles of the
Confederation was finished in 1777, but in was finally completely ratified
(that was needed) by the last state, Maryland, on March 1, 1781.
3.
A major dispute was that
states like New York and Virginia had huge tracts of land west of the
Alleghenies that they could sell off to pay off their debts while other states
could not do so.
a.
As a compromise, these lands
were ceded to the federal government, which pledged to dispense them for the
common good of the union (states would be made).
b.
The Northwest Ordinance later
confirmed this.
VI.
The Articles of the
Confederation: America’s First Constitution
1.
The Articles had no executive
branch (hence, no single leader), a weak Congress in which each state had only
one vote, required 2/3 majority on any subject of importance, and a fully unanimous
vote for amendments.
2.
Also, Congress was pitifully
weak, and could not regulate commerce or enforce tax collection.
3.
Congress could only call up
soldiers from the states, which weren’t going to help each other.
a.
Example: in 1783, a group of
Pennsylvanian soldiers harassed the government in Philadelphia, demanding back
pay. When it pleaded for help from the
state, and didn’t receive any, it had to shamefully move to Princeton College
in New Jersey.
4.
However, it was a model of
what a loose confederation
should be, and was a significant stepping-stone towards the establishment of
the U.S. Constitution.
5.
Still, the states wielded an
alarmingly too great amount of power.
VII.
Landmarks in Land Laws
1.
The Land Ordinance of 1785
provided the acreage of the Old Northwest should be sold and that the proceeds
be used to pay off the national debt.
a.
This vast area would be
surveyed before settlement and then divided into townships six miles square,
which would then be divided into 36 square sections with one set aside for public
schools.
2.
The Northwest Ordinance of
1787 made admission into the union a two stage affair:
a.
There would be two
evolutionary territorial stages, during which the area would be subordinate to
the federal government
b.
When a territory had 60,000
inhabitants, Congress as a state might admit it.
c.
It worked so well to solve a
problem that others had plagued many other nations.
VIII.
The World’s Ugly Duckling
1.
However, Britain still
refused to repeal the Navigation Laws, and closed down its trading to the U.S.
(proved useless to U.S. smuggling); it also sought to annex Vermont to Britain
with help from the Allen brothers and continued to hold a chain of trading
posts on U.S. soil.
a.
One excuse used was that the
soldiers had to make sure the U.S. honor its treaty and pay back debts to
Loyalists.
2.
In 1784, Spain closed the
Mississippi River to American commerce.
3.
It also claimed a large area
near the Gulf of Mexico that was ceded to the U.S. by Britain.
a.
At Natchez, on disputed soil,
it also held a strategic fort.
4.
Both Spain and England, while
encouraging Indian tribes to be restless, prevented the U.S. from controlling
half of it territory.
5.
Even France demanded payment
of U.S. debts to France.
6.
The pirates of the North
African states, including the arrogant Dey of Algiers, ravaged U.S. ships in
the area and enslaved Yankee sailors; America was too weak to stop them.
IX.
The Horrid Specter of Anarchy
1.
States were refusing to pay
taxes, and national debt was mounting as foreign credibility was slipping.
2.
Boundary disputes erupted
into small battles while states taxed goods from other states.
3.
Shays’ Rebellion, which
flared up in western Massachusetts in 1786, attacked tax collectors, etc… and
caused all sorts of violence.
a.
Shays was convicted but later
pardoned.
b.
The fear of such violence
lived on, though, and paranoia existed.
4.
People were beginning to
doubt republicanism and this Articles of the Confederation.
5.
However, many supporters
believed that the Articles merely needed to be strengthened.
6.
Things began to look
brighter, though, as prosperity was beginning to emerge, Congress was beginning
to control commerce, and overseas shipping was regaining its place in the
world.
X.
A Convention of “Demigods”
1.
An Annapolis, Maryland
convention was called, but only five states were represented.
2.
On May 25, 1787, 55 delegates
from 12 states (Rhode Island wasn’t there) met in Philadelphia to “revise the
Articles only.”
a.
Among them were people like
Jefferson, Hamilton, Franklin, and Madison.
b.
However, people like
Jefferson, John and Sam Adams, Thomas Pain, Hancock, and Patrick Henry were not
there (for various purposes).
XI.
Patriots in Philadelphia
1.
The 55 delegates were all
well-off and young, and they hoped to preserve the union, protect the American
democracy from abroad and preserve it at home, and curb the unrestrained
democracy rampant in various states (like rebellions, etc…).
XII.
Hammering Out a Bundle of
Compromises
1.
Some people decided to
totally scrap the Articles and create a new Constitution.
a.
Virginia’s large state plan
called for Congressional representation based on state population, while New
Jersey’s small state plan called for equal representation from all states (in
terms of numbers, each state got the same number of reps.)
b.
Afterwards, the “Great
Compromise” was worked out so that Congress would have TWO houses, the House of
Representatives, were reps were based on population, and the Senate, where each
state got two reps.
i.
All tax bills would start in
the House.
2.
Also, there would be a
strong, independent executive branch with a president who would be military
commander in chief and could veto legislation.
3.
Another compromise was the
election of the president through the Electoral College, rather than by the
people directly.
4.
Also, slaves would count as
3/5 of a person in census counts.
a.
Also, the Constitution
enabled a state to shut off slave importation if it wanted after 1807.
XIII.
Safeguards for Conservatism
1.
The delegates at the
Convention all believed in a system with checks and balances, and the more
conservative people deliberately erected safeguards against excesses of mobs.
2.
Federal chief justices were
appointed for life.
3.
However, the people still had
power, and government was based on the people.
4.
By the end of the Convention,
on Sept. 17, 1787, only 42 of the original 55 were still there to sign the
Constitution
XIV.
The Clash of Federalists and
Antifederalists
1.
Knowing that state
legislatures were certainly veto the new Constitution, the Founding Fathers
sent copies of it out to state conventions, where it could be debated and voted
upon.
a.
The people could judge it
themselves.
2.
The American people were
shocked, because they had expected a patched up Articles of the Confederation
and had received a whole new Constitution (the Convention had been VERY well
concealed and kept secret).
3.
The federalists, who favored
the proposed stronger government, were against the antifederalists, who were
opposed.
a.
The antifederalists were
mostly the poor farmers, the illiterate, and states’ rights devotees; it was basically
the poorer classes.
b.
The federalists were more
respectable and generally embraced the cultured and propertied groups, and many
were former Loyalists.
4.
Antifederalists truthfully
cried that it was drawn up by aristocratic elements and was therefore antidemocratic.
5.
They decried the dropping of
annual elections of congressional reps and the erecting of what would become
Washington D.C., and the creation of a standing army.
XV.
The Great Debate in the
States
1.
Elections were run to elect
people into the state conventions.
2.
Four small states quickly
ratified the Constitution, and Pennsylvania was the first large state to act.
3.
In Massachusetts, a hard
fought race between the supporters and detractors (including Samuel Adams, the
“Engineer of Revolution” who now resisted change), and Massachusetts finally
ratified it after a promise of a bill of rights to be added later.
a.
Had this state not ratified,
it would have brought the whole thing down.
4.
Three more states ratified,
and on June 21, 1788, the Constitution was officially adopted after nine states
(all but Virginia, New York, North Carolina, and Rhode Island) had ratified.
XVI.
The Four Laggard States
1.
Virginia, knowing that it
could not be an independent state (the Constitution was about to be ratified by
the 9th state, New Hampshire, anyway), so it finally ratified by a
vote of 89 to 79.
2.
New York was swayed by The
Federalist Papers, written by John Jay, James Madison, and Alexander
Hamilton, and finally yielded after realizing that it could prosper apart from
the union.
3.
North Carolina and Rhode
Island finally ratified after intense pressure from the government.
XVII.
A Conservative Triumph
1.
The minority had triumphed
again, and the transition had been peaceful.
2.
Only about ¼ of the adult
white males in the country (mainly those with land) had voted for the ratifying
delegates.
3.
Conservationism was
victorious, as the safeguards had been erected against mob-rule excesses.
4.
Revolutionaries against
Britain had been upended by revolutionaries against the Articles.
a.
It was a type of
counterrevolution.
5.
Federalists believed that
every branch of government effectively represented the people, unlike
antifederalists who believed that only the legislative branch did so.
6.
In the United States,
conservatives and radicals alike have championed the heritage of democratic
revolution.
Please read Varying
Viewpoints – “The Constitution: Revolutionary or Counterrevolutionary?” on your
own, please.
