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Chapter 2: Origins of American
Government
Objectives
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Students Will Be Able To:
a. explain the significance and impact of the English on the government in the USA
b. identify the steps that led to the independence of the colonies
c. explain the weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation
d. summarize the major compromises made at the Constitutional Convention
e. identify the opposing sides in the fight for ratification of the Constitution
Essential Understandings
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1. The United States constitutional system incorporates democratic elements that were developed
in Athens and Rome.
2. The United States constitutional system incorporated ideas from the Magna Carta, the English
Petition of Rights, and the English Bill of Rights.
3. Principles of government and law developed by leading European political thinkers—Thomas
Hobbes, John Locke, and Montesquieu—may be found in the Constitution of Virginia, the
Declaration of Independence, and the Constitution of the United States of America
4. The charters of the Virginia Company of London extended the rights of Englishmen to the
colonists.
5. The Declaration of Independence is an expression of natural rights philosophy.
6. Virginians played key roles in securing individual liberties.
Essential Questions
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1. What elements of the United States constitutional system evolved from Athens and Rome?
2. What elements of the Constitution of the United States of America are derived from the Magna
Carta, the English Petition of Rights, and the English Bill of Rights?
3. What were the fundamental principles of American government and law developed by leading
European political thinkers?
4. Why are charters of the Virginia Company of London significant?
5. How are the natural rights philosophies, expressed by John Locke and Jean- Jacques
Rousseau, reflected in the Declaration of Independence?
6. What role did George Mason, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison play in the adoption of the
Bill of Rights?
English Heritiage
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Ancient Roots
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1. the concept of a democracy originated in Ancient Athens – direct democracy
2.Ancient Rome improved the concept of the indirect democracy and republic
Basic Concepts of Government
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1. ordered government - first English colonists based their government of those they knew in
England
a. sheriff, coroner, grand jury, counties, etc
2. Limited government - the concept that government is not all powerful
3. representative government - government in which people elect delegates to
make laws and conduct government
Landmark English Documents
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1.The Magna Carta
a. barons forced King John to sign it in 1215
b. first document to establish a limited government
c. right to a trial by jury, due process of law,
2.The Petition of Right
a. the barons transformed into Parliament
b. Parliament forced King Charles I to sign the Petition of Right in 1628
c. challenged the divine right of kings and further limited the king's powers
3.The English Bill of Rights
a. passed by William and Mary in 1689
b. required that elections be free, the king could not raise taxes without the consent of
Parliament, right to a fair trial, freedom from cruel and unusual punishment
King John signing the Magna Carta
Magna Carta
Fundamental rights:
Trial by jury
Due process of law
Petition of Right
Guarantee of trial by jury
Protection against martial law
Protection against quartering of
troops
Protection of private property
William and Mary
English Bill of Rights
Limited power of the monarch
Guarantee of no standing army in
peacetime
Guarantee of free elections
Guarantee of right of petition
Parliamentary checks on power
The Colonies on Their Own
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The Thirteen Colonies
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1. The basic rights of Englishmen were guaranteed to the colonists by the charters of the Virginia
Company of London.
2. Virginia was first with the settlement at Jamestown in 1607; was settled as a
business charter
3. Massachusetts was first settled by those looking for religious freedom
4. the colonies governed as they pleased for 150 years
a. 3,000 miles from Britain - 2 months by sea
b. first document of self-rule in the colonies was the Mayflower Compact
The Thirteen Colonies
3,000 Miles
Growing Colonial Unity
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French and Indian War
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1.Britain won and France was forced to give up all claims in the “United States”
2.colonists no longer needed protection from France
3.Britain was bankrupt – expected colonies to pay debts
The French and Indian War
The Thirteen Colonies
The colonies after the FrenchIndian War
King George III
The Albany Plan
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1.Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Pennsylvania and Rhode
Island attended
2.discussed the growing problems with the French and Native Americans
3.Ben Franklin proposed the formation of an annual congress made up of delegates from the 13
colonies
a. have the power to raise military and naval forces; make war and peace with
the native Americans, regulate trade with them...
b. denied by the colonies and the Crown
Stamp Act Congress
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1.formed in response to the Stamp Act (1765) – first direct tax on colonists
2.argued they had no representation in Parliament, so the Stamp Act was illegal
3.first open political act of defiance
Boston Tea Party
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1.colonists dressed as Mohawk Indians (led by Samuel Adams) dumped 342 chests of British tea
into the Boston Harbor
First Continental Congress
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1.met in response to the Intolerable Acts (1774) – called Coercive Acts by Parliament
a. stated Mass could no longer govern itself and closed Boston Harbor
b. united the colonies
2.delegates from all colonies except Georgia imposed an embargo on British goods
3.King George III declared “The New England governments are in a state of rebellion.”
4.April 19, 1775 first shots of Revolutionary War are fired in Lexington and Concord,
Mass
a. "the shot heard 'round the world"
Revolutionary War Battle
Second Continental Congress
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1.May 10, 1775 – delegates from all thirteen colonies met in Philadelphia
2.assumed powers of a central government
3.John Hancock was named its president, George Washington was named the
commander of the Continental Army
4.acted as government throughout the war
Independence
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June 6, 1776
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1. Richard Henry Lee introduced a resolution stating the “that these united
Colonies are, and of right out to be, free and independent states.”
Declaration of Independence
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1. committee of five was supposed to write it; Ben Franklin, John Adams, Roger
Sherman, Robert Livingston and Thomas Jefferson
a.
mostly written by Thomas Jefferson
2. July 4, 1776 – the Congress approved the Declaration of Independence
a. John Hancock was the first to sign it
3. it’s a blend of political ideas that have been around for a long time
4. 3 Parts
a. begins with a statement of the purpose of the Declaration
b. middle consists of complaints against King George III
c. ends with statement of how determined Americans are to break free
First State Constitutions
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1. two months later – 8 colonies had drafted state constitutions; all colonies had
constitutions within a few years
2. Common Features
a. popular sovereignty
b. limited government
c. civil rights and liberties
d. separation of powers and checks and balances
Virginia Declaration of Rights
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1. written by George Mason in 1776
2. States that all Virginians should have certain rights, including freedom of religion and the
press
3. Basis for the Bill of Rights of the Constitution of the United States of America
Virginia Statute for Religious
Freedom
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1. written by Thomas Jefferson in 1779
2. States that all people should be free to worship as they please.
3. First time religious freedom was protected by law
4. Basis for the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America, which
guarantees religious freedom
The Articles of
Confederation
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Governmental Structure
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1. the first constitution of the entire US; more like “a firm league of friendship”
2. Congress was the sole body created
a. it was unicameral and the States could choose their delegates in whatever way they wanted
3. established no executive or judicial branch
4. each state had one vote in Congress
The United
States under the
Articles of
Confederation
Achievements
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1. Northwest Ordinance – established a fair policy for the development of land west of the
Appalachian Mountains and declared that newly admitted states would be equal to the older
states
2. treaty with Great Britain
3. set up departments of Foreign Affairs, War, Marine and Treasury
a. still exist today as State, Defense, Navy and Treasury
4. each state to treat each other’s citizens equally
The United
States under the
Articles of
Confederation
Weaknesses
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1. one vote for each State, regardless of size
2. Congress was powerless to lay and collect taxes or duties
3. Congress was powerless to regulate foreign and interstate commerce
4. no executive branch to enforce the acts of Congress
5. no national court system
6. Amendments could be made only with the consent of all States
7. nine of the 13 states were required to pass laws
8. The Articles were only a “firm league of friendship”
The Critical Period, the 1780s
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1. the new nation was in debt
2. Shay’s Rebellion – Mass. Farmers, led by Daniel Shays, tried to take over the
Springfield arsenal for weapons; they failed
Daniel Shays
Need for a Stronger Government
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1. Mount Vernon
a. Virginia and Maryland were in a dispute over trading rights to the Potomac
b. George Washington invited them to talk at his home
2. Annapolis Convention
a. representatives from five of the States met and agreed to meet in Philadelphia “for the
sole purpose of revising the Articles of Confederation…”
The Constitutional
Convention
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The Framers
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1. Rhode Island was the only state not to send anyone
2. average age was 42
a. Ben Franklin was 81
3. Thomas Jefferson, John Adam, John Hancock, Patrick Henry and Richard Henry Lee
did not attend
Organization and Procedure
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1. George Washington – was the president of the convention
2. each state delegation would have 1 vote
3. needed a majority of the States to conduct business
a. a majority of the votes cast would carry any proposal
4. adopted a rule of secrecy to protect themselves from outside pressure
5. threw out the Articles and decided to create a new Constitution
The Connecticut Compromise
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1. blend of the Virginia Plan (by James Madison) and the New Jersey Plan (by
William Patterson)
a. Virginia Plan
called for a government with three branches
bicameral legislature – lower house based off of population, lower house chooses the upper
house
Congress would choose the National Executive and the National Judiciary
goal was the creation of a truly national government with greatly extended powers
b. New Jersey Plan
unicameral legislature with each of the States equally represented
weak federal executive of two or more people chosen by Congress the federal judiciary
would be composed of a ”supreme Tribunal” appointed by the executive
2. legislative branch to have 2 parts
a. House of Representatives – membership based on state population
b. Senate – 2 from each state
James Madison and Roger Sherman
The Three-Fifths Compromise
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1. argument between the Northern and Southern states as to whether or not slaves
should be counted as citizens
2. all “free persons” should be counted, and so too, should “three-fifths of all other persons”
3. win for the South because they have now have a larger population
4. win for the North because there was a direct tax based on population paid to Congress
Three Fifths Compromise
Commerce and Slave Trade
Compromise
1. Congress agreed not ban the slave trade until 1808 and that it would regulate
interstate and foreign commerce, but it could not tax exports
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Signing the Constitution
Ratifying the Constitution
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Federalists and Anti-Federalists
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1. Federalists
a. favored ratification
b. led by the Framers
c. stressed the weakness of the Articles
2. Anti-Federalists
a. opposed ratification
b. didn't like that God wasn't mentioned
c. two biggest sources of contention
the lack of a bill of rights
greatly increased the powers of the central government
Ratification
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1. Delaware was first (Dec. 7, 1787)
2. ratified on June 21, 1788 when New Hampshire became the 9th state to ratify it
3. Virginia was 10th (June 25, 1788)
4. New York City was selected as a temporary capital
5. George Washington was elected president and John Adams was the first vice president