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Mr. Martin
Name:________________________
Freedom of Religion
The new concern with rights led to changes in the relationship between the church and
the state. Many of the Revolution’s leaders opposed “ecclesiastical tyranny”-the power
of a church, backed by the government, to make people worship in a certain way. After
the war, the idea that government should not aid churches became more accepted.
The new push to end state funding of churches began in Virginia, where Baptists
led a movement to abolish taxes collected to support the Anglican Church. In 1786
Governor Thomas Jefferson pushed the legislature to pass the Virginia Statute for
Religious Freedom. The statute declared that Virginia no longer had an official church
and that the state could not collect taxes for churches.
Articles of Confederation Notes
During the Constitutional Era, the Americans made two attempts to establish a workable
government based on republican principles.
How did America’s pre-Revolutionary relationship with England influence the structure
of the first national government?
American political leaders, fearful of a powerful central government like
England’s, created the Articles of Confederation, adopted at the end of the war.
What weaknesses in the Articles of Confederation led to the effort to draft a new
constitution?
The Articles of Confederation
-Provided for a weak national government
-Gave Congress no power to tax or regulate commerce among the states
-Provided for no common currency
-Gave each state one vote regardless of size
-Provided for no executive or judicial branch
Lacking the power to tax or regulate trade, the only way for the Confederation Congress
to raise money to pay its debts and finance its operations was to sell the land it controlled
west of the Appalachian Mountains.