APUSH Period 3 Chapter 7

What was the original preamble? Why was it changed?

"We the people of the States of New Hampshire, Massachusetts," etc., he substituted the far more powerful, "We the people of the United States."

Define "Federalism."

"division of powers," and the system of "checks and balances" between the different branches of the national government, also known as the "separation of powers."

Why was the new national government less of a "perpetual union" but a 'firm of league of friendship."?

- 13 states retained individual sovereignty, freedom, and independence - nation. govern. consisted of 1 house congress where each state cast one vote no matter the size - no president to enforce laws/ judiciary to interpret them - major decision required approval of 9 states than majority

what factors seemed to jeopardize the nation's prospects in the early years?

- Control of its vast territory was by no means secure. Nearly 3.9 million Americans lived near the Atlantic coast. Large areas west of the Appalachian Mountains remained in Indian hands. - The British retained military posts on American territory and there were fears that Spain might close the port of New Orleans to American commerce on the Mississippi River. - Away from navigable waterways, communication and transportation were primitive. The country was overwhelmingly rural—fewer than one American in thirty lived in a place with 8,000 inhabitants or more. - The population consisted of numerous ethnic and religious groups and some 700,000 slaves, making unity difficult to achieve.

What powers did the Federal government have under federalism?

- It charged the president with enforcing the law and commanding the military. - It empowered Congress to levy taxes, borrow money, regulate commerce, declare war, deal with foreign nations and Indians, and promote the "general welfare." - The Constitution did, however, declare national legislation the "supreme Law of the Land.

Why could it be said that the election of the President with the Electoral College was not so democratic?

- The president would be chosen either by members of an electoral college or by the House of Representatives. The number of electors for each state was determined by adding together its senators and representatives. A state's electors would be chosen either by its legislature or by popular vote. In either case, the delegates assumed, electors would be prominent, well-educated individuals better qualified than ordinary voters to choose the head of state. - The actual system of election seemed a recipe for confusion. Each elector was to cast votes for two candidates for president, with the second-place finisher becoming vice president. If no candidate received a majority of the electoral ballot the president would be chosen from among the top three finishers by the House of Representatives, with each state casting one vote. The Senate would then elect the vice president. The delegates devised this extremely cumbersome system of indirect election because they did not trust ordinary voters to choose the president and vice president directly.

What impact did Shay's Rebellion have on the debate over the effectiveness of the Articles of Confederation?

- Thomas Jefferson saw it as "a good thing..." and that "The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time..." - The uprising was the culmination of a series of events in the 1780s that persuaded an influential group of Americans that the national government must be strengthened so that it could develop uniform economic policies and protect property owners from infringements on their rights by local majorities. The actions of state legislatures, followed by Shays's Rebellion, produced fears that the Revolution's democratic impulse had gotten out of hand. - The danger to individual rights that came to believe now arose not from a tyrannical central government, but from the people themselves

What were the economic problems in congress?

- To finance the W.O.I, Congress borrowed large sums of money by selling interest-bearing bonds and paying soldiers/suppliers in notes to be redeemed in the future. Lacking a secure source of revenue, it found itself unable to pay either interest or the debts themselves. - With the United States now outside the British empire, American ships were barred from trading with the West Indies. Imported goods undercutting the business of many craftsmen, driving down wages, and draining money out of the country.

How does Jefferson reflect the divided minds of his generation on the topic of Africans?

- White Americans increasingly viewed blacks as permanently deficient in the qualities that made freedom possible. These were the characteristics that Jefferson, claimed blacks lacked, partly due to natural incapacity and partly because the bitter experience of slavery had rendered them disloyal to the nation. He therefore voiced the idea "as a suspicion only," that blacks "are inferior to the whites in the endowments both of body and mind." Yet this "unfortunate" circumstance, he went on, "is a powerful obstacle to the emancipation of these people." - His belief that individuals' abilities and achievements are shaped by social conditions inclined him to hope that no group was fixed permanently in a status of inferiority. He applied this principle, as has been noted, to Indians, whom he believed naturally the equal of whites in intelligence. In the case of blacks, however, he could not avoid the "suspicion" that nature had permanently deprived them of the qualities that made republican citizenship possible. - Black Americans, Jefferson affirmed, should eventually enjoy the natural rights enumerated in the Declaration of Independence, but in Africa or the Caribbean, not in the United States. He foresaw Indians merging with whites into a single people, but he was horrified by the idea of miscegenation between blacks and whites. Unlike Indians, blacks, he believed, were unfit for economic independence and political self-government. Freeing the slaves without removing them from the country would endanger the nation's freedom.

What powers did the national government have under the Articles of Confederation?

- declare war - conduct foreign affairs - make treaties with other governments

How were Indians viewed by Americans?

- deemed Indians savages unfit for citizenship. - Indian tribes had no representation in the new government, and the Constitution excluded Indians "not taxed" from being counted in determining each state's number of congressmen. The treaty system gave them a unique status within the American political system. - But despite this recognition of their sovereignty, treaties were essentially ways of transferring land from Indians to the federal government or the states

What factors did the U.S. have going for them in early years?

- exceed in size of Great Britain/ France/ Spain combined - physical isolation from the Old World - youthful population certain to grow - distribution of property ownership - literacy among white citizens

Like English colonial officials before them, why did many American leaders fear unrestrained westward expansion?

- feared that an unregulated flow of population across the Appalachian Mountains would provoke constant warfare with Indians. - Moreover, they viewed frontier settlers as disorderly and lacking in proper respect for authority - Establishing law and order in the West and strict rules for the occupation of land there seemed essential to attracting a better class of settlers to the West and avoiding discord between the settled and frontier parts of the new nation.

What groups of people tended to be anti-federalist?

- small farmers in more isolated rural areas such as the Hudson Valley of New York, western Massachusetts, and the southern backcountry.

What did the Constitution create?

... framework for American Development - By assigning to Congress power over tariffs, interstate commerce, the coining of money, rules for bankruptcy...and by prohibiting states from interfering with property rights, it made possible a national economic market. It created national political institutions, reduced the powers of the states, and sought to place limits on popular democracy.

What was the last measure of the northwest ordinance?

A final measure, the Northwest Ordinance of 1787, called for the eventual establishment of from three to five states north of the Ohio River and east of the Mississippi. Thus was enacted the basic principle of what Jefferson called the "empire of liberty"—rather than ruling over the West as a colonial power, the United States would admit the area's population as equal members of the political system. Territorial expansion and self government would grow together

What was the 2nd ordinance

A second ordinance, in 1785, regulated land sales in the region north of the Ohio River, which came to be known as the Old Northwest. Land would be surveyed by the government and then sold in "sections" of a square mile (640 acres) at $1 per acre. In each township, one section would be set aside to provide funds for public education. The system promised to control and concentrate settlement and raise money for Congress. But settlers violated the rules by pressing westward before the surveys had been completed

What were the land ordinances of 1780s?

A series of measures approved by Congress during the 1780s defined the terms by which western land would be marketed and settled

What powers/things the states forbidden from doing?

And it included strong provisions to prevent the states from infringing on property rights. They were barred from issuing paper money, impairing contracts, interfering with interstate commerce, and levying their own import or export duties.

What did the Constitution lack according to Anti Federalist?

Anti-Federalists also pointed to the Constitution's lack of a Bill of Rights, which left unprotected rights such as trial by jury and freedom of speech and the press.

What arguments did these anti-federalists use to attempt to refute the "extend the sphere" argument?

Anti-Federalists repeatedly predicted that the new government would fall under the sway of merchants, creditors, and others hostile to the interests of ordinary Americans. They insisted that "a very extensive territory cannot be governed on the principles of freedom." Popular self-government, they claimed, flourished best in small communities, where rulers and ruled interacted daily. Only men of wealth, "ignorant of the sentiments of the middling and lower class of citizens," would have the resources to win election to a national government.

How did Americans speak of their nation?

As a "rising empire" destined to populate and control the entire North America continent

Which of nation identities did the Constitution subscribe to at the outset of the United States? Civic Nationalism or Ethnic Nationalism?

At first glance, the United States appears to conform to the civic model. It lacked a clear ethnic identity or long-established national boundaries—the political principles of the Revolution held Americans together. To be an American, all one had to do was commit oneself to an ideology of liberty, equality, and democracy. From the outset, however, American nationality combined both civic and ethnic definitions

What checks does each branch have on each other?

Congress enacts laws, but the president can veto them, and a two-thirds majority is required to pass legislation over his objection. Federal judges are nominated by the president and approved by Congress, but to ensure their independence, the judges then serve for life. The president can be impeached by the House and removed from office by the Senate for "high crimes and misdemeanors."

What issues arose because of lack of power in the national government?

Congress had no real financial resources and they lacked power to levy taxes of regulate commerce - revenues came from states

What position did Congress take as far as Native American's rights to land in the west?

Congress took the position that by aiding the British, Indians had forfeited the right to their lands

What were the main causes of Shay's Rebellion?

Crowds of debt-ridden farmers closed the courts in western Massachusetts to prevent the seizure of their land for failure to pay taxes. They called themselves "regulators". The uprising came to be known as Shays's Rebellion, a name affixed to it by its opponents, after Daniel Shays, one of the leaders and a veteran oft heWar for Independence. Massachusetts had firmly resisted pressure to issue paper money or in other ways assist needy debtors. The participants in Shays's Rebellion believed they were acting in the spirit of the Revolution.

What does his exclusion of Africans from his idea say about the status of blacks (free or slave)?

Crèvecoeur was well aware of what he called "the horrors of slavery." But when he posed the famous question, "What then is the American, this new man?" he answered, "a mixture of English, Scotch, Irish, French, Dutch, Germans, and Swedes. . . . He is either a European, or the descendant of a European." This at a time when fully one-fifth of the population (the highest proportion in U.S. history) consisted of Africans and their descendants.

What issue almost prevented the Articles of Confederation from getting ratified?

Disputes over access to western land almost prevented ratification of the Articles

What was the 1st ordinance?

Drafted by Thomas Jefferson, the Ordinance of 1784 established stages of self-government for the West. The region would be divided into districts initially governed by Congress and eventually admitted to the Union as member states

Instead of a danger to liberties, what features of the Constitution in fact protect those liberties?

Hamilton's essays sought to disabuse Americans of their fear of political power. Government, he insisted, was an expression of freedom, not its enemy. Any government could become oppressive, but with its checks and balances and division of power, the Constitution made political tyranny almost impossible.

Why was Madison so skeptical of the Bill of Rights as a check on power?

He was convinced that the balances of the Constitution would protect liberty that he believed a Bill of Rights "redundant or pointless." He believed that, amendments restraining federal power would have no effect on the danger to liberty posed by unchecked majorities in the states, and no list of rights could ever anticipate the numerous ways that Congress might operate in the future. "Parchment barriers" to the abuse of authority, he observed, would prove least effective when most needed

Although President Washington and his Secretary of War Henry Knox wanted minimum warfare with the Native Americans, what happened in the Ohio Valley in 1791?

In 1791, Little Turtle, leader of the Miami Confederacy, inflicted a humiliating defeat on American forces. With 630 dead, this was the costliest loss ever suffered by the United States Army at the hands of Indians. In 1794, 3,000 American troops under Anthony Wayne defeated Little Turtle's forces at the Battle of Fallen Timbers.

What idea did Henry Crevecoeur popularize in his book Letters from an American Farmer?

In Letters from an American Farmer, Crèvecoeur popularized the idea of the United States as a melting pot. "Here," he wrote, "individuals of all nations are melted into a new one." The American left behind "all his ancient prejudices and manners [and received] new ones from the new mode of life he has embraced."

What did the delegates at the Philadelphia convention agree to do in 1787?

In September 1786, delegates from six states met at Annapolis, to consider ways for better regulating interstate and international commerce. The delegates proposed another gathering, in Philadelphia (1787), to amend the Articles of Confederation and draft a new constitution for the United States. Shays's Rebellion greatly strengthened the nationalists' cause. Without a change in the structure of government, either anarchy or monarchy was the likely outcome, bringing to an end the experiment in republican government.

How did this "extend the sphere" argument reinforce westward expansion as essential to freedom?

In arguing that the size of the republic helped to secure Americans' rights, they reinforced the tradition that saw continuous westward expansion as essential to freedom. - his essays represented a major shift away from the "republican" emphasis on a virtuous citizenry devoted to the common good as the foundation of proper government. Madison helped to popularize the "liberal" idea that men are generally motivated by self-interest, and that the good of society arises from the clash of these private interests.

Describe the compromise that all states ended up agreeing on. Why was this called the GREAT COMPROMISE?

In the end, a compromise was reached—a two-house Congress consisting of a Senate in which each state had two members, and a House of Representatives apportioned according to population. Senators would be chosen by state legislatures for six-year terms. They were thus insulated from sudden shifts in public opinion. Representatives were to be elected every two years directly by the people.

What three populations does the Constitution identify as inhabitants of the United States? Which groups got rights?

Indians, treated as members of independent tribes and not part of the American body politic; "other persons"—that is, slaves; and the "people. Only the 3rd were entitled to American freedom.

What became the watchword of the Anti-Federalist movement?

Liberty; America's happiness, they insisted, "arises from the freedom of our institutions and the limited nature of our government," both threatened by the new Constitution

What did Madison emphasize in his essays?

Madison emphasized how the Constitution was structured to prevent abuses of authority. He identified the essential dilemma, as he saw it, of the new republic—government must be based on the will of the people, yet the people had shown themselves susceptible to dangerous enthusiasms. Most worrisome, they had threatened property rights, whose protection was the "first object of government."

What was the Virginia plan? New Jersey Plan? Which states hated each plan and why?

Madison presented what came to be called the Virginia Plan. It proposed the creation of a two-house legislature with a state's population determining its representation in each. Smaller states, fearing that populous Virginia, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania would dominate the new government, rallied behind the New Jersey Plan. This called for a single-house Congress in which each state cast one vote, as under the Articles of Confederation.

What does Madison mean by "extending the sphere" and why would it be a source of strength?

Madison, the very size of the United States was a source of stability, not, as many feared, weakness. "Extend the sphere," he wrote. The multiplicity of religious denominations, he argued, offered the best security for religious liberty. Likewise, in a nation as large as the United States, so many distinct interests—economic, regional, and political—would arise, that no single one would ever be able to take over the government and oppress the rest. Every majority would be a coalition of minorities, and thus "the rights of individuals" would be secure.

What conflicting pressures did the Confederation face as far as disposing of this newly "opened" Western land?

Many leaders believed that the economic health of the new republic required that farmers have access to land in the West. But they also saw land sales as a potential source of revenue and worried that unregulated settlement would produce endless conflicts with the Indians. Land companies, which lobbied Congress vigorously, hoped to profit by purchasing real estate and reselling it to settlers. The government, they insisted, should step aside and allow private groups to take control of the West's economic development

Describe political beliefs of a "nationalist" in the 1780s. What do most of these men have in common?

Men like Madison and Hamilton were nation-builders. They came to believe during the 1780s that Americans were squandering the fruits of independence and that the country's future greatness depended on enhancing national authority (stronger national government). - Nationalists included army officers, members of Congress accustomed to working with individuals from different states, and diplomats who represented the country abroad.

What powers did the states actually have?

On the other hand, most day-to-day affairs of government, from education to law enforcement, remained in the hands of the state

Why did anti-Federalists oppose ratification of the constitution?

Opponents of ratification, called Anti-Federalists, insisted that the Constitution shifted the balance between liberty and power too far in the direction of the latter.

What state had a powerful impact on the final document of the Constitution on the issue of slavery?

South Carolina's delegate had a powerful impact on the final document. Their threats swayed many delegates. - They originated the fugitive slave clause, the three-fifths clause, and the electoral college. - They insisted on strict limits on the power of Congress to levy taxes within the states, fearing future efforts to raise revenue by taxing slave property. - They threatened disunion if the Atlantic slave trade were prohibited immediately, as the New England states and Virginia, with its abundance of native-born slaves, demanded.

Define "Checks and Balances" or "Separation of Powers."

The "separation of powers," or the system of "checks and balances," refers to the way the Constitution seeks to prevent any branch of the national government from dominating the other two.

What was the Articles of Confederation?

The Articles of Confederation, drafted in 1777, was the first constitution of the United States.

The Articles sought to balance the need for ________________________________________ of the War of Independence with __________________________________________________________________.

The Articles sought to balance the need for national coordination of the War of Independence with widespread fear that centralized political power posed a danger to liberty

The status of free blacks was somewhat undetermined and left up to the states. Describe the boundaries of liberty for blacks in the North

The North's gradual emancipation acts assumed that former slaves would remain in the country, not be colonized abroad. During the era of the Revolution, free blacks enjoyed at least some of the legal rights accorded to whites, including, in most states, the right to vote.

What position did the Ordinance take on the issue of slavery?

The Ordinance also prohibited slavery in the Old Northwest, a provision that would have far-reaching consequences when the sectional conflict between North and South developed. But for years, owners brought slaves into the area, claiming that they had voluntarily signed long-term labor contracts.

After the arrival of peace, from where and to where, did many Americans go?

The arrival of peace meanwhile triggered a large population movement from settled parts of the original states into frontier areas like upstate New York and across the Appalachian Mountains into Kentucky and Tennessee.

Why was the formation of the House of Reps also be seen as less democratic?

The delegates sought to shield the national government from the popular enthusiasms that had alarmed them during the 1780s and to ensure that the right kind of men held office. The people would remain sovereign, but they would choose among the elite to staff the new government. The delegates assumed that the Senate would be composed of each state's most distinguished citizens. They made the House of Representatives quite small (initially 65 members), on the assumption that only prominent individuals could win election in large districts.

Who were the people who attended and made decisions at the Constitutional Convention? Why were these folks not a true representation of American society at that time?

The fifty-five men who gathered for the Constitutional Convention included some of the most prominent Americans. John Adams described the convention as a gathering of men of "ability, weight, and experience and wealth." Few men of ordinary means attended. Although a few, like Alexander Hamilton, had risen from humble origins, most had been born into propertied families. They earned their livings as lawyers, merchants, planters, and large farmers. Nearly all were quite prosperous by the standards of the day. - At a time when fewer than one-tenth of1 percent of Americans attended college, more than half the delegates had college educations. A majority had participated in interstate meetings of the 1760s and 1770s, and twentytwo had served in the army during the Revolution. Their shared social status and political experiences bolstered their common belief in the need to strengthen national authority and curb what one called "the excesses of democracy."

What is the fugitive clause?

The fugitive slave clause accorded slave laws "extraterritoriality"—that is, the condition of bondage remained attached to a person even if he or she escaped to a state where slavery had been abolished

The status of free blacks was somewhat undetermined and left up to the states. Describe the boundaries of liberty in the rest of the USA.

The large majority of blacks, of course, were slaves, and slavery rendered them all but invisible to those imagining the American community. Slaves, as Edmund Randolph, the nation's first attorney general, put it, were "not . . . constituent members of our society," and the language of liberty did not apply to them

While Congress attempted to 'assimilate' Native Americans, what was the Natives version of freedom?

To pursue the goal of assimilation, Congress in the 1790s authorized President Washington to distribute agricultural tools and livestock to Indian men and spinning wheels and looms to Indian women. To whites, the adoption of American gender norms, with men working the land and women tending to their homes, would be a crucial sign that the Indians were becoming "civilized." To Indians, freedom meant retaining tribal autonomy and identity, including the ability to travel widely in search of game.

On what issues did the delegates agree upon as far as the structure and powers of the national government?

The new Constitution would create a legislature, an executive, and a national judiciary. Congress would have the power to raise money without relying on the states. States would be prohibited from infringing on the rights of property. And the government would represent the people. - Hamilton's proposal for a president and Senate serving life terms, like the king and House of Lords of England, received virtually no support. - Most delegates, however, hoped to find a middle ground between the despotism of monarchy and aristocracy and what they considered the excesses of popular self-government.

Although the word "slave" or "slavery" do not appear in the Constitution, how does the document approach the topic of slavery?

The words "slave" and "slavery" did not appear in the Constitution—a concession to the sensibilities of delegates who feared they would "contaminate the glorious fabric of American liberty." The document prohibited Congress from abolishing the African slave trade for twenty years. It required states to return to their owners fugitives from bondage. And it provided that threefifths of the slave population would be counted in determining each state's representation in the House of Representatives and its electoral votes for president.

Was the system of "annuity" established in the Treaty of Greenville beneficial to Native Americans or White Americans?

This led directly to the Treaty of Greenville of 1795, in which twelve Indian tribes ceded most of Ohio and Indiana to the federal government. The treaty also established the "annuity" system—yearly grants of federal money to Indian tribes that institutionalized continuing government influence in tribal affairs and gave outsiders considerable control over Indian life.

What was the purpose of "the Federalist" by James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and John Jay?

To generate support for ratification of the Articles of Confederation, they composed a series of eighty-five essays that appeared in newspapers under the pen name Publius and were gathered as a book, The Federalist, in 1788.

How did many settlers justify the sale and purchase of lands formerly held by Native Americans?

To settlers, the right to take possession of western lands and use them as they saw fit was an essential element of American freedom. settlers paid no heed to Indian land titles and urged the government to set a low price on public land or give it away. They frequently occupied land to which they had no legal title.

Why was the formation of the House of Representatives seen as an expansion of democracy?

Under the Articles of Confederation, no national official had been chosen by popular vote. Thus, the mode of choosing the House of Representatives represented an expansion of democracy. Popular election of at least one part of the political regime, Madison declared, was "essential to every plan of free government." The Constitution, moreover, imposed neither property nor religious qualifications for voting, leaving it to the states to set voting rules.

How did the National Congress' inability to act lead to poor economic conditions in the states?

With Congress unable to act, the states adopted their own economic policies. - Several imposed tariff duties on goods imported from abroad. - In order to increase the amount of currency in circulation and make it easier for individuals to pay their debts, several states printed large sums of paper money. Others enacted laws postponing debt collection. Creditors considered such measures attacks on their property rights. In a number of states, legislative elections produced boisterous campaigns in which candidates for office denounced creditors for oppressing the poor and importers of luxury goods for undermining republican virtue.

What groups were allowed to become citizens according to the Naturalization Act of 1790?

With no debate, Congress restricted the process of becoming a citizen from abroad to "free white persons." - only white persons in the entire world ineligible to claim American citizenship were those unwilling to renounce hereditary titles of nobility - "white" in the Naturalization Act excluded a large majority of the world's population from emigrating to the "asylum for mankind" and partaking in the blessings of American freedom.

What is the slave trade clause?

allowed a commerce condemned by civilized society—one that had been suspended during the War of Independence—to continue until 1808. On January 1, 1808, the first day that Congress was allowed under the Constitution, it prohibited the further importation of slaves. - To replace slaves who had escaped to the British and to provide labor for the expansion of slavery to fertile land away from the coast, some 170,000 Africans were brought to the new nation as slaves. South Carolina and Georgia imported 100,000.

What was ethnic nationalism?

defines the nation as a community of descent based on a shared ethnic heritage, language, and culture.

What is civic nationalism?

envisions the nation as a community open to all those devoted to its political institutions and social values

What did the Northwest Ordinance pledge? Why is this important?

pledged that "the utmost good faith" would be observed toward local Indians and that their land would not be taken without consent. This was the first official recognition that Indians continued to own their land. Congress realized that allowing settlers and state government simply to seize Indian lands would produce endless, expensive military conflicts on the frontier.

What groups of people tended to be pro-constitution?

pro-Constitution sentiment flourished in the nation's cities and in rural areas closely tied to the commercial marketplace. -most energetic supporters were men of substantial property.

What was the 3/5 clause?

slaves will be counted as 3/5 of a person for both taxation and representation

How are the bill of Rights viewed now?

the Bill of Rights aroused little enthusiasm on ratification and for decades was all but ignored. Not until the twentieth century would it come to be revered as an indispensable expression of American freedom

As apprenticeship and indentured servitude narrowed in the USA, how was slavery justified for a nation committed to freedom?

the Revolution widened the divide between free Americans and those who remained in slavery. Race, one among many kinds of legal and social inequality in colonial America, now emerged as a convenient justification for the existence of slavery in a land that claimed to be committed to freedom.

What is the electoral college?

the number of electors for each state was determined by adding together its number of senators and representatives

With the notion that the West should not be left in Indian hands, what three possibilities did the government hope to encourage?

the removal of the Indian population to lands even farther west, their total disappearance, or their incorporation into white "civilization" with the expectation that they might one day become part of American society.