Chapter 8

Question 1

What three problems did the confederation government face?

Answer 1

1. Paying down the large war debt
2. Making formal peace with the Indians
3. Dealing with western settlement

Question 2

What three issues did congress struggle with in 1784-1786?

Answer 2

1. Some feared that the Articles were too Weak
2. Others liked the Articles and said it was the best guarantee of liberty because it was governing at a state level
3. Outbreaks of civil disorder propelled the critics of the Articles

Question 3

How did congress hope to resolve the problem of no taxing?

Answer 3

1. The congress would request money to be paid into the common treasury
2. Each state legislature would levy taxes within its borders to pay the requisition

Question 4

What were some of the features of the Articles of Confederation?

Answer 4

Unicameral congress
9/13 votes to pass a law
13/13 votes to change constitution
Couldn’t tax or raise armies
No executive or judicial branches

Question 5

What are some features of State Constitutions?

Answer 5

Republicanism (having elected officials)
Strong governors with veto power
Most had bicameral legislatures
Property required to vote
Some had universal white male suffrage
Most had bills of rights

Question 6

What was the Northwest Ordinance of 1787?

Answer 6

Divided new northern territories into new states, created a new government for them, made a method for admitting new states into the union, had a guaranteed bill of rights in the territories

Question 7

What were the steps to achieve statehood?

Answer 7

1. Congress appointed 3 judges and a governor to govern the territory
2. When population reached 5,000 adult male landowners they elected a territorial legislature
3. When population reached 60,000 they elected delegates to a state constitutional convention

Question 8

What was the Constitutional Convention?

Answer 8

Meeting held in Philadelphia in 1787, basically to rewrite the Articles of Confederation, Rhode Island didn’t attend, they discarded the AofC and started from scratch while leaving Rhode Island out of it

Question 9

What was included in the Virginia Plan?

Answer 9

1. Strong national government
2. Two chamber legislature
3. Lower chamber chosen by the people
4. Upper chamber chosen by lower chamber
5. Executive chosen by congress
6. Court system appointed by congress

Question 10

What was included in the New Jersey Plan?

Answer 10

1. One chamber legislature
2. One vote for each state
3. Congress gets the power to regulate trade and tax
4. Weak executive selected by congress
5. Court system selected by congress

Question 11

What was included in the Connecticut Compromise/Constitution?

Answer 11

1. Two chamber legislature (house of rep and senate)
2. Lower chamber based of population of state (house of reps)
3. Upper chamber equal representation (senate)
4. 3/5 compromise (slaves are 3/5 of a human)

Question 12

What came from the Constitutional Convention?

Answer 12

Federalists and Antifederalists

Question 13

What did Federalists want?

Answer 13

More power to national government
Thought AofC was too broken
Ratify new Constitution

Question 14

What did Antifederalists want?

Answer 14

More power to states
Fix AofC instead of scrap it
Against ratifying Constitution (thought it was too strong)
Wanted a Bill of Rights to protect citizens

Question 15

How did Federalists interpret the Consitution?

Answer 15

Loosely, Government should be allowed powers not banned by the constitution

Question 16

How did Antifederalists interpret the Constitution?

Answer 16

Strictly, Government can’t do anything not mentioned in constitution

Question 17

What started Shays’ Rebellion?

Answer 17

In Western MA 1786
Shay doesn’t get paid money for his military work because congress doesn’t tax
Now he can’t pay his property taxes
So he’s homeless, unemployed, and owns a gun
So him and a group of guys protest

Question 18

What was the Requisition of 1785?

Answer 18

When the confederation needed revenue to pay debts so they asked the states for 3 million dollars

Question 19

What were some pros about the Northwest Ordinance?

Answer 19

Ensured the US wouldn’t become a colonial power
Allowed successful and orderly expansion of the US

Question 20

Was slavery allowed in the new territories under the North Ordinance?

Answer 20

No

Question 21

What was the Treaty of Fort Stanwix?

Answer 21

A peace treaty between the Americans and Iroquois and secured Indian lands farther west

Question 22

What was the Newburgh Conspiracy?

Answer 22

A plan by Continental Army officers to challenge the authority of the Confederation Congress from their frustration with Congress’s inability to meet its financial needs

Question 23

What sped up the gradual emancipation in the North?

Answer 23

The prohibition of slavery

Question 24

What did Shays’s Rebellion cause many leaders to worry about?

Answer 24

The confederation’s ability to handle civil disorder

Question 25

What two states were the most economically critical?

Answer 25

Virginia and New York

Question 26

What state provided the decisive ninth vote for the ratification of the Constitution on June 21, 1788?

Answer 26

New Hampshire

Question 27

What were the most important factors to which why the AofC failed?

Answer 27

-paying war debt
-peace with Indians
-Dealing with western settlement

Question 28

Why was the confederation government’s authority so limited?

Answer 28

States wanted a lack of authority, league of states with rotating personnel, no executive branch, no power to tax