America's First National Government-The Articles of Confederation
The weakness of the national government was...
originally seen as good because it eliminated tyranny
Slavery was...
outlawed in the Northwest
After Shay's Rebellion...
people like Hamilton and Madison began calling for a stronger national government
they wanted to...
protect citizens and individual states from a powerful national government
When a territory had...
5000 residents, it could create a self-governing legislture
When a territory had...
60,000 residents, it could apply to become a US state
they wanted to form...
A Republic where citizens vote for elected leaders to represent them
*America's 1st national government was the...
Articles of Confederation (1777-1789)
congress passed the...
Land Ordinance of 1785 to create an orderly way to divide the west into township and farms
But the USA needed...
a national government to do things that states could not, like sigh treaties and form a military
Poor farmers in western Massachusetts were...
angered over high taxes and the prospect of debtors jail
First states had to...
cede (give up) their claims to lands in the west to the national government
The inability of the government to...
collect taxes led to problems
each state had its own...
constitution, legislature and an elected governor; 8 states had Bills of Rights
Shay's Rebellion proved to be the...
convincing event that led to the Constitutional Convention of 1787
In 1787...
delegates meet in Philadelphia to discuss ways to improve the Articles of Confederation
Structure:
each state could send between 2-7 representatives to the nation Congress, but each state had only 1 vote; To pass a law, 9
The Articles established a...
good system of settling Western lands
When Americans declared...
independence in 1776, they needed to form a new government
This "Confederation" style government...
loosely connected the states under a weak national government
Selling western lands was the only way the...
national government to the territories
Americans did not want to...
re-create a powerful government like the ones they just fought in the Revolutionary War to break away from; So, the national government had no president and could not tax the states or citizens
When independence was declared...
the 13 colonies became independent states
Instead of revising the Articles of Confederation...
the delegates replaced it with the Constitution
Later these same weaknesses kept...
the government from solving serious national problems
Powers:
the national Congress could make laws, settle disputes between states, negotiate treaties, handle Indian affairs, oversee a military; But all other powers were left up to the states
Property foreclosures led an...
uprising among among Massachusetts farmers called Shay's Rebellion in 1787 but the government could not pay for an army to stop it
Daniel Shay led an...
uprising and closed debt courts and threatened a federal arsenal