Download Articles to Constitution PowerPoint

From the
Articles of Confederation
and Perpetual Union
to the
Constitution
Republic – the people choose
representatives to govern them
The Articles of Confederation
•Created during the Revolutionary War to unite
the states.
•Based on the ideas of Benjamin Franklin and the
Albany Plan, which Franklin got from the League
of 6 Iroquois Nations.
•Created a weak national government and left
most important powers to the state
•George Washington called it a “Paper Tiger”
The Articles of Confederation
The Articles of Confederation were ratified on March 1,
1781. The document created the office of president to be
appointed by a Committee of the States and limited to a
term of one year. Presidential duties involved presiding over
the United States in Congress Assembled, executing laws,
treaties, and military orders, including military
commissions, receiving foreign dignitaries, assembling and
adjourning Congress, and other routine functions required
by the office. A new president, John Hanson of Maryland,
was selected on November 5th. Hanson served a one-year
term that ended on November 4, 1782. From 1782 until
1789, when George Washington took the oath of office,
seven more presidents were chosen. And, therefore, George
Washington was actually our ninth president.
The Articles of Confederation
Article I. The Stile of this Confederacy shall be "The United
States of America."
Article II. Each state retains its sovereignty, freedom, and
independence, and every power, jurisdiction, and right, which
is not by this Confederation expressly delegated to the United
States, in Congress assembled.
Article III. The said States hereby severally enter into a firm
league of friendship with each other, for their common
defense, the security of their liberties, and their mutual and
general welfare, binding themselves to assist each other,
against all force offered to, or attacks made upon them, or any
of them, on account of religion, sovereignty, trade, or any
other pretense whatever.
The Articles of Confederation Weaknesses
1) No separation of powers. (1 branch)
2) Majority of the power rested with the
states.
3) Did not have the power to tax, which
meant that they could never put their
finances in order.
4) They could ask states for troops and
money but could not force them.
The Articles of Confederation
Weaknesses
5) Could not resolve issues between states, enforce
laws, and maintain order. No Federal Judiciary.
6) In order to change or amend the Articles,
unanimous approval of the states was required
which essentially meant that changes to the Articles
were impossible.
7) For any major laws to pass they had to be approved
by 9 or the 13 states, which proved difficult, to do so
that even the normal business of running a
government was difficult.
Presidents
of the
Articles
Arthur St. Clair
1) Samuel Huntington (March 1, 1781 – July 9, 1781)
2) Thomas McKean (July 10, 1781 – November 4, 1781)
3) John Hanson (November 5, 1781 – November 3, 1782)
4) Elias Boudinot (November 4, 1782 – November 2, 1783)
5) Thomas Mifflin (November 3, 1783 – October 31, 1784)
6) Richard Henry Lee (November 30, 1784 – November 6, 1785)
7) John Hancock (November 23, 1785 – May 29, 1786)
8) Nathaniel Gorham (June 6, 1786 – November 5, 1786)
9) Arthur St. Clair (February 2, 1787 – November 4, 1787)
10) Cyrus Griffin (January 22, 1788 – November 2, 1788)
Land Ordinance of 1785
•Arthur St. Clair, president number seven,
issued the Northwest Ordinance that annexed
the Northwest Territory for future settlements.
•Surveyors staked out six-mile-square
plots, called townships, in the Western
lands
•The townships were broke down into 36
squares
• A township was 640 acres
•The sixteenth square was designated for
public education
Northwest Ordinance
• Under the Articles of Confederation, Congress did
not have the power to raise revenue by direct
taxation of the inhabitants of the United States.
Therefore, the immediate goal of the ordinance
was to raise money through the sale of land in the
largely unmapped territory west of the original
colonies acquired from Britain at the end of the
Revolutionary War.
• In addition, the act provided for the political
organization of these territories.
Northwest Ordinance
•Described how the Northwest Territory was to be
governed
•When there were 5,000 free males in an area , that
owned at least 50 acres of land a piece they could elect
an assembly
•They could apply to become a state when they
reached 60,000 people
•It also outlined the laws of the Northwest Territory
and set the pattern for growth in the United States
Northwest Territory
•The lands staked out under the Land
Ordinance of 1785 became known as
the Northwest Territory
•It included land that became the
states of Ohio, Indiana, Michigan,
Illinois, and Wisconsin
Constitutional Convention• 1787 Each state was invited to send
delegates to Philadelphia in May 1787, “for
the sole and express purpose of revising the
Articles of Confederation.”
• 55 delegates from 12 states showed (Rhode
Island no show)
• Took place at Independence Hall
• Secrecy was important
Virginia Plan
•Virginia Plan-Virginia Plan-1787 called for a strong
national government with three branches.
•Legislature had 2 house
•Representation would be based on population or
wealth
•Written mostly by James Madison, but presented by
Edmund Randolph
•Big states love it!
New Jersey Plan• Worried large states would have all the votes.
• Called for three branches of government
• legislative branch would have one house
• each state would have 1 vote
• Written and presented by William Patterson
• Little states loved it!
Great Compromise
• The delegates to the Constitutional
Convention came to a compromise.
• There would be 3 branches of government
• The legislative branch would have 2
houses
• One house would be based on population
(House of Representatives)
• The other house would be based on an
equal vote (Senate)
3/5 Compromise
• The question was should slaves be
counted as people for representation in
congress.
• And should the owners of those slaves
be taxed.
3/5 Compromise
• The north wanted slaves to be counted for tax
purposes only
• South wanted them counted for the number of
representatives each state would have.
• Delegates came up with the 3/5 CompromiseSlaves would be counted as 3/5 of a person
(3 out of 5) for paying taxes and representation
in congress.
Shay’s Rebellion
Federalism
Federalists and Antifederalists
Reasons for a Bill of Rights
Separation of Powers
Preamble
Constitution
Checks and Balances
Electoral College
Meets and Bounds