Chapter 8: Confederation to Constitution Section 1: The Confederation Era

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Chapter 8 Confederation to ConstitutionSection
1 The Confederation Era
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So the war is over

• America is now an independent country, and has
  some decisions to make

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What does independence mean to you as a person?

• Good things

• Bad things

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What does independence mean for a country /
government?

• Some new responsibilities
• Borrow and coin money
• Deal with other countries
• War / Peace / Defense issues
• Develop and maintain an Army/Navy
• Develop a system of weights and measures
• Develop a Post Office / communications
• Figure out ways to deal with Indians
• Settle disputes between states
• Develop a system to maintain peace and order.

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Also, one result of winning the revolution was
more land

• What should the country do with it?
• The first place open to settlement was an area
  called the Northwest Territory
• The area we live in today is part of the
  Northwest Ordinance (21) of 1787

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• The Ordinance of July 13, 1787 provided "...there
  shall be formed in said territory, not less than
  three nor more than five states..." The original
  boundaries were defined as Eastern State
  (numbers 1,2,3,4) Middle State (numbers
  5,6,7,8,9) and Western State (numbers
  10,11,12,13,14,15). These divisions are marked by
  broken lines on the map.

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The big thing was

• This territory would be set up
• as new states
• With democratic governments -
• and would not be colonies to the other original
  states

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Our first new plan for running the United States
of AmericaThe Articles of Confederation (16)

• This plan pretty much set up the new government
  to run completely opposite of everything England
  and King George had done in running the colonies.
  
• Most people wanted a republic (12) form of
  government

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• (where the people choose representatives to speak
  for them)

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This plan had some positives and negatives

• (39-40)
• Governed the nation during the Revolutionary War
• Negotiated The Treaty of Paris
• Took care of the Northwest Territory

• (36-38)
• Lacked the power to enforce laws
• Lacked power to tax
• Lacked power to regulate trade
• Required approval of all 13 states to change the
  Articles

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Some people got real upset with the money
problems the new government was having

• The average family actually owed more in taxes
  each year than they made each year.
• If you couldnt pay your taxes, you could be put
  in prison. A group of farmers got so made they
  tried to steal some weapons and have a rebellion
  Shays Rebellion (46).

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The new government sent in troops and stopped the
uprising

• This was important.
• It showed the government would use force if
  necessary to keep people in line.
• It showed the government was serious about its
  new laws and taxes.

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One our 6 essential questions is Is the
American Dream available to everyone?

• Name two ways the Northwest Ordinance allowed
  some people to live the American dream.