Download Building a Nation

Building a Nation
The early years of the
United States
• After the States
declared
Independence,
they needed to
form a new
government
• Each state had
its own
Republican form
of government
What is a Republic??
• When people
choose
representatives
to make the
laws
Articles of Confederation
• The plan for a
national
government,
called the
Articles of
Confederation,
was written in
1776
• Around this time,
Daniel Boone and
other trailblazers
crossed the
Appalachian
Mountains into
Kentucky on the
Wilderness Road.
Revolution
• The States were governed by the Articles
of Confederation during the War for
Independence
• The governing body was called the
Continental Congress
• The states held most of the power
• The national government had very little
power
• Each state had one vote
The newly
formed
United
States won
the war with
Britain
American
soldier, 1776
• The Treaty of
Paris was
signed in Paris
in 1783.
• The British
recognized the
Independence of
the United
States
• Western
expansion
nearly doubled
the size of the
United States
But, what to do
with the new
land in the
west?
The Land Ordinance of 1785
• Divided the land
into townships
• The land became
known as the
Northwest territory
• The Northwest
Ordinance
described how the
land would be
governed
Problems?
• Debt
• The war for Independence was expensive
• The national government had no way to
raise money to pay for it
• The states had very little money to give to
the national government
Shays’s Rebellion
•
•
•
•
1787
Farmers protest unfair taxes
Led by Daniel Shays
The rebellion was put down
by Massachusetts militia –
the very men who had fought
King George over unfair
taxes
People knew they needed a
stronger national government