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US History Chapter 5

Terms in this set (53)

Continental Congress of 1776
- Approved the Declaration of Independence
- No one wanted a full-time government
- The people thought that Congress was just a wartime necessity
- People of the US considered themselves as "are", being separated as individual states, not as "is", being one country in total
Confederation
An alliance of separate governments that work together
Articles of Confederation
- In 1777, the Continental Congress adopted a set of laws to govern the United States.
- Approved in 1781, the Articles established a limited national government
- Only had one branch: the legislature branch, or Congress
Legislative Branch
- AKA: Legisture, or Congress
- Part of the government responsible for making laws
- Only branch made in the Articles of Confederation
Executive Branch
- Headed by the President
- execute: puts into action
- the President executes the laws passed by Congress
Judicial Branch
- Made up of the courts and judges who interpret and apply the laws in cases brought before them
More on the Articles of Confederation
- Congress carried out both legislative and executive branch duties
- the Articles didn't create a judicial branch
- Each state maintained their own court system
- states were allowed to send as many representatives to Congress as they wished
- there was only one vote to Congress though
- changes to the Articles themselves could be made only if all 13 states agreed.
Today's Congress vs. Articles Congress
Articles Congress:
- it could declare war and borrow money
- couldn't tax
- had to petition to get money from the states
- it had no power to force the states to get money
Constitution
a plan of government that describes the different parts of government and their duties and powers
State Constitutions
- during the Revolution and afterward, state governments had more power than the national government of the United States
- the state constitutions were created during the Revolution, way before the U.S. adopted the federal Constitution
- the state constitutions were a model for the US Constitution that was created later on
Pennsylvania Constitution of 1776
- introduced bold new ideas for government
- gave voting rights to all white men 21 years old or older who paid taxes
- created a state legislature that was unicameral
- it only had one house, which was the House of Representatives
Democracy
a government by the people
Republic
a government run by the people through their elected representatives
Economic Problems with the Articles of Confederation
- educated men worried about the Articles giving too much power to the less educated ordinary citizens
- by 1786, the US was still in 50$ million debt, a large sum at the time
- state and national governments had to borrow money from foreign countries and from their own citizens to pay for the war
- paper money was now worth nothing, had to pay everything now silver and gold
- upper-class critics of the Articles believed that these troubles were because citizens had too much power in their state legislatures.
Concerns About a Weak Government with the Articles of Confederation
- by 1780, a new group called the Nationalists sought to strengthen the national government
- included several former military officers, many members of Congress, merchants, planters, and lawyers; also George Washington, James Madison, and Alexander Hamilton
- many americans disagreed with the Nationalists and they were saying
- the Americans thought the Articles were doing a good job in keeping a democratic republic
- they thought that it was better that the government made mistakes, than living under a tyrant government
Backstory on Nationalists
- they were well educated in European history
- said that history had shown that people were not naturally wise enough to have so much power over their own affairs
- Nationalists agreed with Thomas Paine that America was a model for the world
The Annapolis Convention in 1786
- a Nationalist convention in Maryland
- Maryland and Virginia had met to resolve their trade disputes
- only 12 delegates out of 5 states attended
- they called another convention in Philadelphia in 1787 to fix the government
Shays' Rebellion
- it was a crisis in Massachusetts that boosted support for the Nationalist's cause
- in the years after the war, merchants and the wealthy demanded their money back from the loaning states
-they pushed impoverished states to pass higher taxes in order to collect the money to pay off the debts
- lawmakers and merchants who supported the tax generally lived in eastern coastal regions of the state.
- farmers in the western part of the states opposed this; they were mostly hit hard by the tax
Specie
a gold or silver coin, far more scarce than paper money, which was worth almost nothing at the time
Daniel Shay
- a war veteran who was in the possibility of being jailed for not paying his debts
- in 1786 he led a rebellion that spread through the local area; citizens drove off tax collectors and protested the new taxes with petitions and public meetings
- Congress was powerless, it couldn't created an army because it had no money and couldn't force the states to pay for one
- the state government silenced the rebellion in January 1787
Effects of Shays' Rebellion
- for the rebels: the rebellion showed determination to defy the authority of any government when it acted against the people's wishes
- also demonstrated to many prominent Americans that steps had to be taken to strengthen the national government and avoid all civil unrest
Constitutional Convention
a historical meeting where in 4 months the convention created the document that has been governed the U.S. for over 200 years
United States Constitution
- James Madison is the "Father of the Constitution"
-
James Madison
- 36 year old bachelor who arrived to Philadelphia to help rescue the struggling government
- his home is in Blue Ridge Mountains, Virginia
-studied governments, history, and law books
- was a young and early leader for the independence movement
Divisions at the Convention
- first act at the convention was to elect George Washington as its president in an unanimous vote, a vote where everyone agrees
- some people in the convention wanted to amend the Articles of Confederation, and some people just wanted to drop it all together
- everyone agreed in a stronger government, but no one wanted to start from scratch
Amend
revise
Virginia Plan
- submitted by Edmund Randolph of Virginia, the Virginia Plan called for the creation of a bicameral, or two-house, national legislature
- each state would send representatives in proportion of the amount of citizens in the state; the bigger the state, the more representatives, and a greater voting power
What was Covered in the Virginia Plan?
1. The new legislature would have added powers, including the right to tax and to regulate foreign and interstate commerce.
2. The national legislature would have the power to veto from becoming law, any act of a state legislature. Should a state defy national authority, the national government would have the power to use force
3. In addition to the legislative branch, the proposed government would have an executive branch and a judicial branch.
- States with large populations stood to benefit from the Virginia Plan because they would gain the most representatives in the legislature
New Jersey Plan
- came from the small states, in opposition to the Virginia Plan
- the smaller states feared that they would have little power over the new government
- created by William Paterson of New Jersey
- aimed to keep the state governments more powerful than the national government
- also stated that overly populated states will not overpower smaller states
What was Covered in the New Jersey Plan?
1. It would give Congress the power to tax and to regulate foreign and interstate commerce.
2. It would create executive and judicial branches.
3. It would give every state an equal vote in unicameral Congress. Smaller states thus would have the same voting power as larger states.
The Great Compromise
- it created the legislative branch made up of 2 houses, as called in the Virginia Plan
- each state would have the same number of representatives-- in the Senate
- in the House of Representatives, the number of seats are based on each state's population
- approved on July 16, 1787
The 3/5's Compromise
- When calculating a state's population, should enslaved people be included?
- Madison thought that slaves were immoral (he had slaves though)
- under this compromise, 3/5s of a state's slave population would be counted when determining representation
- didn't mean that the slaves were allowed to vote or that their interests would be represented in Congress. They were excluded from participating in the government, although in some states some African Americans were allowed to vote
Constitution Finally Approved
- the convention approved the final draft of the United States Constitution on September 17, 1787
- its stayed the same for over more 200 years
- it has been able to adapt to social, economic, political, and technological changes that its creators scarcely have imagined
- it continues to inspire people around the world
- many other foreign governments have modeled their documents like it, borrowing ideas not only about the structure of government but also about its goals
The Preamble
The Constitution's goals in the introduction
Government Structure
- government separated powers in two ways
- Federal and State Powers
Federal System of Government vs. State Government
- a system in which power is shared among state and national authorities
- establishing certain powers, like an educational system, is decided upon the state's government instead
- declaring war is for the delegated powers because they are delegated to the federal government
Separation of Federal Powers
- to keep power under control within the national government, the Constitution created a separation of powers among the 3 branches of government: the legislative, executive, and judicial branches.
- which means that every branch has its own area of authority, but no one branch has complete power over the government
Checks and Balances
- this system gives each branch the power to check, or stop, the other branches in certain ways
- prevents tyranny, or misuse of power, by any one branch of government
Congress
- population size determines the number of seats that each state receives in the House of Representatives
- its members serve a two-year terms so that voters have the opportunity to change the membership of the House relatively quick if they wished to
- originally, the Senate were originally elected by the state legislatures, not by the voters. (In 1913, the 17th Amendment changed this procedure, establishing direct election of senators by the people.)
- senators serve for 6 year terms
- the creators made the Senate more removed from the people so that it would be less likely to the whims of popular opinion
- they were granted several powers that were not given to the House, such as giving advice and consent to the President with regard to treaties and judicial appointments
The President
- Constitution created a strong executive officer, the President of the United States
- Presidents serve for a 4 year term, but can get elected as many times as the people want (Today the president is limited to 2 terms in office, a change made by the 22nd Amendment in 1951)
- the creators placed a shield between the government and the people by making the election of the President indirect
- the president is chosen by a vote of electors from each state
Electoral College
- a group of electors which determine with the majority of votes who becomes president
Presidential Powers
- was given enormous powers
- assigned the president to be the role of commander in chief of the armed forces, thus establishing the important principle of civilian control of the military
- has the power to veto acts of Congress
- with the advice and consent of the Senate, the President chooses judges for the national courts
Federal Courts
- the Constitution calls for a national court system
- the Constitution makes the removal of judges so that the people cannot directly control them
- federal judges hold office for life, as long as they do not act dishonorably
- it calls for one Supreme Court and several lesser ones, the details of the federal court system were left intentionally vague
The Federalist View
- for the Constitution to become law, 9 out of the 13 states had to ratify, or approve, it
- ratification votes would be cast not only by state legislature but by special conventions called in each state
Federalists
- those people who favored the Constitution
- they wanted a strong national government the Constitution provided
- included many Nationalists: George Washington, James Madison, and Alexander Hamilton
- they wrote 85 essays called The Federalists
- No. 10 Madison said, "... Those who feared that a federal government could come under the control of one powerful faction, a group that is concerned only with its own interests
Anti-Federalists
- those people who opposed the Constitution
- they believed that the Federalists' plan posed a threat to state governments and to the rights of individuals
- they rallied behind the leadership of older Revolutionary figures, such as Patrick Henry of Virginia
Why the Federalists Won
1. The Federalists drew on the widespread feeling that the Articles of Confederation had serious flaws. The young nation's economic problems and Shays' Rebellion convinced many Americans that something had to be done.
2. The Federalists were united around a specific plan- the Constitution. The Anti-Federalists, in contrast, were united only in their opposition to the Constitution. They had no constructive plan of their own to offer.
3. The Federalists were all a well-organized national group in regular contact with one another. The Anti-Federalists tended to consist of local and state politicians who did not coordinate their activities on the national level.
4. Finally, the Federalists had George Washington's support. In 1786, Washington had foreseen the type of chaos that would erupt from Shays' Rebellion. The following year, 1787, Washington had served as head of the Constitutional Convention.
Washington's Support
- everyone expected that Washington was going to be the first president
- during the war, he proved himself his ability to lead in spite of defeat and discouragement
The Bill of Rights
- the states did adopt the Constitution
- many americans believed that a constitution should include a clear declaration of the rights of the people
- the Bill of Rights are also known as the first 10 amendments to the Constitution
Against the Bill of Rights
- Federalists found no need for the Bill of Rights
- contains the freedom of speech, press, and religion
Inauguration
- official swearing-in office ceremony
The New Leaders
- Washington had been elected President in early 1789 by the new electoral college in an unanimous vote
- the government had no other new federal officers beyond Washington, Adams, and the newly elected Congress
Secretary of State: Jefferson
- he was involved in domestic affairs
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