Goal 1.05 Identify the major domestic problems of the nation under the Articles of Confederation (A of C) and assess the extent to which they were resolved by the new Constitution

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Goal 1.05 Identify the major domestic problems
of the nation under the Articles of Confederation
(A of C) and assess the extent to which they were
resolved by the new Constitution
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The Articles of Confederation

• Characteristics of the Articles, a weak central
  government
• 9 of 13 votes needed to pass a law
• no power to enforce laws
• 13 of 13 to amend
• no military
• no power to tax
• unicameral, one branch, weak, central government
• could not regulate trade

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The Articles of Confederation

• The advantages / the achievements of a weak
  central government
• Treaty of Paris 1783
• ended the Revolutionary War, gave land to the US
• Land Ordinance of 1785
• organized the new territory for settlement
• one section was set aside for public education
• Northwest Ordinance 1787
• provided a way for the territories to become
  states

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The Articles of Confederationspecifics of the
Land Ordinance 1785
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The Road to the Constitution of 1787, the
Constitutional Convention

• Shayss Rebellion
• a Massachusetts farmer, Daniel Shays, led farmers
  who were unable to pay their mortgages on a march
  to an arsenal to get weapons to prevent courts
  from holding session and taking their farms away.
• the Massachusetts militia was eventually able to
  put down the rebellion
• the central government, the A of C, was powerless
• many leaders decided to call a convention to
  rewrite the Article of Confederation to give the
  central govt power

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The Road to the Constitution of 1787, the
Constitutional Convention

• at the convention, competing plans were suggested
  and compromises needed
• the Virginia Plan
• a bicameral legislature, based on population
• the New Jersey Plan
• a unicameral legislature, based on equality
• the Great Compromise / Connecticut Plan
• a bicameral legislature, the upper house based on
  equality and the lower house based on population

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The Road to the Constitution of 1787, the
Constitutional Convention

• 3/5s Compromise
• a slave counts as 3/5s a person for tax and for
  representation purposes (for the House of
  Representatives)
• the Commerce and Slave Trade Compromise
• the slave trade will continue until 1808
• Congress can regulate interstate and foreign
  trade
• Electoral College
• President elected indirectly by electors from
  each state.
• Each state has a number of electoral votes based
  on their number of Senators and Representatives
  combined and most states operate on the winner
  take all principle.
• Winner Take All Principle Whomever wins the
  popular vote in that state gets ALL of that
  states electoral votes.
• The 23rd amendment gave electoral votes to
  Washington D.C.

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The Road to the Constitution of 1787, the
Constitutional Convention

• the major problems of the Articles of
  Confederation included deciding how much power a
  central government would have and how to deal
  with the new land
• the new land was dealt with effectively
• the power of a central government proved too weak
  and the Constitutional Convention and its
  compromises created a new, more powerful govt
• opposing leaders will demand a Bill of Rights