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CONFEDERATION &
CONSTITUTION
The Formation of U. S.
Government—1781-1789
Which is better?
Freedom or rules?
The Revolutionary War involved more than
simply gaining independence from Britain.
It concerned the unprecedented nature of
establishing an elective system of
government. **The Americans had what
one historian describes as a euphoric sense
of “special destiny.” **The independent
thinking colonials called into question the
idea of “special aristocratic privilege.”
U.S. history is at one level a working out of
the tensions between the forces of liberty and
the forces of order
The Confederation Period (17811789)
The Second Continental Congress—First met on May 10,
1775. In addition to appointing George Washington as
Commander-in-Chief and approving the Declaration of
Independence (July 4th, 1776), this body drafted the
Articles of Confederation—a document that would serve
the rebellious colonies as a constitution until it was
replaced in 1789. The Congress drafted the Articles in
1776 and 1777. The Congress also acted as a national
government, issued currency, and conducted foreign
policy with other nations.
Articles of Confederation
The Articles
were rooted in
fear of
tyrannical
Ratification came
slowly
power
of the because the
central over boundaries
respective states disagreed
government—
to
the west
“power
Too much powercorrupts
given to&the states and too
little given to the
federal government
absolute
power
corrupts
Very little power
given to state
absolutely”
governors
Flaws Within the Articles
Who Was America’s First
President?
Article IX of the Articles provided for
an office of president. The “President”
came from a “Committee of the States”
appointed by Congress, the organ of
government that held all real central
power.
John Hanson, 1715-1783
(left)—the first of seven
presidents of the United States
under the Articles of
Confederation.
Congress
elected Richard
Henry Lee,
1732-1794
(right) as its
president for
1785.
Weaknesses in the
Articles
• Articles difficult to amend
•
•
•
Virtually no powers of taxation given to
the federal government
States could unilaterally erect barriers
to interstate commerce
States could enter into agreements with
foreign nations
American Difficulties and
Successes during the
Confederation Period
•
•
Diplomatic
humiliations
Closure of the
Mississippi River by
the—Spanish
unilaterally erect
barriers to interstate
commerce
Harassment of American
shipping in the Mediterranean
and North Africa by the
Barbary pirates
American ships
USS
Constitution
and USS Vixen
attack Tripoli
(above), August
3, 1803
Shays’ Rebellion (1787)
Shays’ rebellion (right) was
an armed uprising in
western Massachusetts led
by Daniel Shays (c. 17471825). The rebels vigorously
protested high taxes and
debts that the western
Massachusetts farming
community owed to the
eastern banking
establishment. The central
government put down the
rebellion.
Shays’ Rebellion showed
the dangers of what might
happen—of a breakdown
of law and order—without
a strong central
government.
The handling of the Western
Territories was the greatest
success of the era
Land
Ordinance
of 1785
Setting aside
“Section 16” in
every 6 square
mile unit to be
used for public
education
Established orderly
process for laying
out new
townships in the
Northwest
Territory and
marketing them
as public lands
Northwest Ordinance of
1787
Provided for
governing of
Northwest
Territory and
guaranteed
those who
settled there
the basic
American
rights
Monroe, who became
the 5th president
(1817-1824), was one
of several individuals
who made a
significant
contribution to the
long-term
development to the
Northwest Territory.
The Framing of the
Constitution (17871789)
Constitutional Convention of
1787
Described by Thomas Jefferson
(in France) as an “assembly of
demi-gods
In all, 55 delegates attended the
Constitutional Convention in
Philadelphia. Of those, only 39
actually signed the final
document. Some of America’s
most prominent leaders were not
at the Convention, including
Thomas Jefferson, Richard Henry
Lee, Patrick Henry, John Adams,
Samuel Adams, and John
Hancock
The Makeup of
the Delegation
1. Delegates were primarily of lawyers,
merchants, and planters
2. Motives of the delegates deemed by James
Madison as being principally pure
3. Involved a new practice of putting down in
writing the rules for governing the nation
4. Proceedings shrouded in secrecy—no notes
taken other than Madison’s notes
The Discussion and
Debate
The Virginia Plan—reduced the power of
the states and increased the power of the
federal government
Although Edmund Randolph (above left)
proposed this plan on May 29, 1787, the
written document was primarily the work
of his fellow Virginian, James Madison.
The New Jersey Plan—left states supreme over federal
government (favored by the smaller states)
Bi-cameral legislature modeled
on the plan of the
Massachusetts state
government
By creating a bi-cameral
legislature, the “Great
Compromise relieved the
concern that small states had
about being dominated by
larger ones
House of Representatives
One representative for every 30,000
residents in a state
Representatives to serve for 2 years
Senate
All states equally represented (with 2
people)
Senators served 6 year terms
Separation of powers
French aristocrat and political philosopher Charles
Louis de Secondat, Baron de la Brède et de
Montesquieu, 1689-1755 (left) wrote the multi-volume
Esprit de lois (The Spirit of Laws), 1748. Among many
other ideas, Montesquieu proposed the separation of
powers to insure fair and equitable government. The
Founding Fathers adopted the concept and applied it
in the American Constitution. While the Founding
Fathers accepted his idea of separation of powers,
they rejected Montesquieu’s position that “a
republican government could not flourish in a large
territory.”
Branches of
American
Government
Executive
Branch—
Execute the law
Legislative
Branch—Make
the law
Judicial
Branch—
Interpret the
law
The Slavery Issue
Dispute over whether
slaves counted as
population or
property
The “Three-Fifths
Compromise” declared
that states received
credit for 3 voters for
every 5 slaves
Electoral College to
select the president—
guaranteed that the
chief executive would
not be indebted to
Congress for his
office
“We the people. . .”
The Founding Fathers added the introductory phrase,
“We the People,” at the last minute to indicate that the
new nation was a republic of the people rather than the
states.
Provision for amending the
Constitution
A Congressional proposal was
ratified by 3/4th of the states
A Constitutional Convention
called for by 2/3rd of the
states
Anti-Federalists
Led by Sam Adams and Patrick
Henry, they opposed ratification
because they believed that a strong
central government would become
evil
Patrick Henry also
opposed the
Constitution on
Anti-Federalist
grounds
The Federalists
Led by George Washington,
Alexander Hamilton, James
Madison, and John Jay, the
Federalists believed that the people
were evil and needed a strong
government to keep the peace
The greatest individual
contribution to the creation of
the Constitution
Ratification
James Madison
States were to ratify or reject the
Constitution through specially elected
state conventions
75% of the states had to approve
North Carolina did not ratify until
November 1789 and Rhode Island did
not ratify until May 1790 (under
threat of a tariff that would keep its
goods out of the other 12 states).
The Odd Men
Out
James Madison
drafted of
The
Bill
what became the first ten
Rights
amendments to that
document: the Bill of
The first ten amendments
the U.heS. Constitution were
Rights. A to
speech
ratified and adoption
on December
15, 1791
deliveredcertified
to Congress
in
1821 (see his notes to the
right) suggests that
Madison was less
enthusiastic
about
Protected basic
civil liberties
such as freedom of
securing
individual
rights
speech; right
to a speedy
trial and
an impartial jury;
and liberties
thanand
he in
freedom of assembly,
religion,
press; the right to
North Carolina
bear arms;inducing
and the freedom
from unlawful search
and Rhode
Island to
and seizure
ratify the Constitution.
An anti-Federalist legacy
“Free Exercise” Clause
vs. “Establishment”
Clause
The First Amendment
Congress shall make no law respecting an
establishment of religion, or prohibiting the
free exercise thereof; or abridging the
freedom of speech, or of the press; or the
right of the people to peaceably assemble,
and to petition the Government for a
redress of grievances.
These two clauses
James Madison
are the “Twin
(left)—a devout man
Pillars” of
who trained for the
religious freedom
clergy before
and liberty. They
Thischoosing
clause guarantees
Americans the right to mandate
practice the
law
that, in
faith of their choice freely.
instead— warned
religious matters,
against any
the government is
configuration that
neutral by law
allowed for free rein
of “the superior
of prevents
an interested
Thisforce
clause
the government from imposing religion
and any
overbearing
upon
individual. The Founding Fathers intended to
majority”
provide “maximum religious freedom to all people while
favoring no community of faith over others.
The Free Exercise Clause
The Establishment Clause
James
Madison’s View
Madison wrote “the religion then of every man
must be left to the conviction and conscience of
every man. . . . In matters of Religion, no man’s
right is abridged by the institution of Civil
Society and. . . Religion is wholly exempt from its
cognizance. . . . Religion, or the duty we owe to
our Creator, and manner of discharging it, can be
directed only by reason and conviction, not by
force or violence; and, therefore that all men
should enjoy the fullest toleration in the exercise
of religion, according to the dictates of
conscience, unpunished and unrestrained by the
magistrate, unless under color of religion any
man disturb the peace, the happiness or safety of
society, and that it is the mutual duty of all to
practice Christian forbearance, love and charity
toward each other.”
Thomas
Jefferson’s View
Jefferson proposed keeping
government out of the business of
religion by erecting a “wall of
separation between church and
state.”
In his First Inaugural Address in 1801, Thomas Jefferson
looked back on to the birth of the nation. He reminded his
listeners of the Founders’ intent to banish “from our land that
religious intolerance under which mankind so long bled and
suffered.”
In Jefferson’s Second Inaugural Address,
he further developed the ideas he presented
four years before, saying, “in matters of
religion I have considered that its free
exercise is placed by the Constitution
independent of the powers of the General
Government. . . . I am for freedom of
Religion, and against all maneuvers to
bring about a legal ascendancy of one sect
over another
“The Founding Fathers were well aware of the grief that
religious controversy had wrought in Europe. It was precisely
the kind of excesses represented by the St. Bartholomew’s Day
Massacre [in which some 3,000 French Huguenots died on
August 24, 1572, right] that the First Amendment seeks to
avoid. Consequently, the United States became the first nation
to construct a constitutional framework that officially
sanctioned the separation of church and state. It was a noble
experiment in the founding era and remains so today. The
experiment was undertaken by the Framers in the hope that it
would enable Americans to escape the persecutions and
religious wars that had characterized the Christian West since
the emperor Theodosius made Christianity the Roman
Empire’s official religion in 380 A.D
The challenge for the courts has been finding
the appropriate delicate balance—the proper
equilibrium—between the Establishment and
the Free Exercise clauses of the First
Amendment. The two sometimes collide or
overlap. The right to worship and the act of
worshipping are two distinct, although related,
activities. Neither the U.S. nor state
constitutions equate freedom of religious belief
with absolute freedom of religious practice—
especially if a practice conflicts with other
existing law.
If the Founding Fathers crafted a set of governing rules
that have weathered the test of more than two centuries of
time, the governmental formula that they created is far
from a hard and fast solution for all the conflicts that are
fated to emerge in a democratic society. Indeed, the
Framers of the Constitution consciously fashioned their
product leaving sufficient flexibility—even certain
intentional vagueness and ambiguity—making possible
adjustments and adaptations along the way. They placed
immense confidence in the court system to interpret the
“broad, general language” of the nation’s governing
documents. Because the Constitution permits considerable
room for change with evolving tastes, preferences, norms,
and times, it virtually foreordains a measure of legal
controversy.