The Weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation and Shays' Rebellion

1
The Weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation
and Shays' Rebellion

• (and why money isn't worth the paper it's printed
  on)

2
It's All About Power!

• Why was the central government so weak?
• Look at the Americans' experience with the
  powerful central government of Britain
• Do the opposite!

3
But what if the government doesn't have enough
power?
Federal Rights
States' Rights

• BIG PROBLEMS!

4
One Major Weakness

• Congress did not have the power to collect taxes
  from the states.

5
Could I please have 1000?
NO!
NO!
NO!
NO!
6
What's a government to do?

• Hmmmm....why don't I just print some more money?

7
PRINTING MONEY NEVER SOLVES YOUR PROBLEMS!
8
Which would you rather have?
9
Money isn't worth the paper it's printed on!

• Money is only worth what other people will give
  you for it!

10
Paper money represents real things

One piece of gold
One piece of paper (1)
11
Paper money represents real things

One can of soda
One piece of paper (1)
12
Therefore...

One can of soda
One piece of gold
13
What if you don't have enough?What if someone
won't give you what you want for the piece of
paper that you have?Can you just print more
paper?
14
NO! It doesn't work that way!

• Remember...paper money represents real things.
  You haven't changed the number of real things,
  just the number of pieces of paper!

15
ACK! INFLATION!!!

• Now your paper money is worth less!

Soda used to cost 1. Now it costs 2!
16
PRINTING MONEY NEVER SOLVES A GOVERNMENT'S
PROBLEMS!

• Inflation was so out of control in Germany that
  in 1923, it cost 4 million of their dollars to
  buy a loaf of bread!

17
What we've learned so far...

1. Money is only worth what people will give you for
   it.
2. Printing more money doesn't solve your economic
   problems.

18
Weak Government Problems!

• Here's an explanation of how the weaknesses of
  the Articles of Confederation led to Shays'
  Rebellion, which led to the creation of the
  Constitution.

19
Daniel Shays

• Captain in the Revolutionary War
• Retired from the army
• Wanted to be a farmer in Massachusetts

20
Uh oh...no money!

• Remember! The Congress didn't have the power to
  tax states...they could only ask for money!
• The states said no!
• So Congress couldn't pay its bills!
• So they printed more money!
• So they caused inflation and made money worth
  less!

21
How can you be a farmer if you have no money?

• Get a loan from the bank!

Plant your seeds!
When your crops are grown, harvest them, sell
them, and pay your loan back!
22
Uh oh...problems!
What if the bank wants its money back NOW?
But your crops haven't grown yet?
23
THE REPO MAN COMES!

• The bank repossesses the farms and kicks the
  former soldiers out of their homes!

24
Why didn't they have any money?

• Inflation! The money they did have was
  worthless.
• Taxes! The state of Massachusetts had placed
  high taxes that hit the farmers very hard.

25
Who cares about having a farm anyway?

• Without property, you can't feed your family!
• Without property, you can't vote!
• Without property, you can't make money!
• Without making money, you get thrown into
  debtor's prison!

26
Give me my house!

• Daniel Shays and the farmers pick up their guns
  and go to the state courthouse to stop them from
  foreclosing on their homes.
• AND IT WORKED!!!

27
So they kept doing it...

• And made the people in the government afraid!

The government made new laws that were meant to
punish Shays and his followers.
28
The Congress can't help

• Since the Articles of Confederation did not give
  Congress the power to raise a standing army, the
  federal government could not help stop the
  rebellion.

29
The Climax

• The state of Massachusetts sets up an army.
• Shays and his followers try to take over a
  federal arsenal to get more guns so that they
  could fight the army.

30
Shays and his men lost the battle.Some of them
got the death penalty for having participated in
the rebellion.
31
To the Constitution...

• The failure of the federal government to solve
  the problem of Shays' Rebellion made people
  understand that the Articles of Confederation had
  made the government too weak.
• A Constitutional Convention was called to solve
  the problem.

32
The Constitution Is Born!

• After 16 weeks of arguments, the new Constitution
  was created.
• And that's the government that we still have
  today!

33
Bibliography for Images

• http//www.swirepacific.com/media/gallery/beverage
  s/download/cokecan.jpg
• http//www.esc13.net/flatonia/images/school_lunch.
  jpg
• http//dalesdesigns.net/dollar_front.jpg
• http//www.goldcitymall.com/prod_images_small/20gb
  ar.jpg
• http//www.mattives.com/_wsn/page3.html
• http//www.ecashnotes.com/images/moneywheelbarrel.
  gif
• http//www.octc.kctcs.edu/mmaltby/his108/Articles
  20of20Confederation.jpg
• http//people.bu.edu/wwildman/ben/mass/images/shay
  s_daniel.gif
• http//billhutton.tripod.com/sitebuildercontent/si
  tebuilderpictures/constitution.jpeg
• http//soilcrop.tamu.edu/photogallery/cornsorghum
  /images/corn20ears.jpg
• http//knoster.com/financial/images/foreclosure.jp
  g
• http//www.ysursa.com/history/US20Hist/shays.jpg
• http//www.us-coin-values-advisor.com/images/Shays
  20Rebellion.jpg
• http//odur.let.rug.nl/usa/images/2003/constituti
  on_signing.jpg