Chapter 9: Confederation and Constitution: 1776-1790 Flashcards
Society of Cincinnati
- Continental Army officers who formed an exclusive hereditary order
- ridiculed by Americans
Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom
*religious freedoms given to Virginia in 1786 by freethinkers Thomas Jefferson and some Baptists
Abigail Adams
- wife of John Adams
* teased that ladies were determined to format a rebellion if they were not given political rights
Republican Motherhood
- a sentiment that revered women as homemakers and mothers
* mothers are the cultivators of good republican values in young citizens
John Singleton Copley
*painted portrait of his own family, which revealed the mothers significance in the family and their republican motherhood
State Constitutions
- documents written by the state intended to represent fundamental law
- some were written from already formed charters (Rhode Island and Connecticut)
- Massachusetts drafted theirs from special convention and had the final copy ratified by the people
Fundamental Law
- law that is superior to the transient whims of ordinary legislation
- ex. Bill of Rights
Bill of Rights
- a fundamental law
- specifically guaranteed liberties against legislative encroachment
- created weak executive and judicial branch
Navigation Laws
*still existed and hated even more after independence
Speculation
- caused inflation over 300%
* forced the average citizen to be worse off than before the war
Natural Rights
*rights granted by a God not a government
Sovereignty
*the 13 colonies became states and were sovern because: they all coined their own money, raised their own armies/navies and created tariff barriers
Articles of Confederation
- a draft of the written constitution for the new nation
- formed by a committee appointed by congress
- translated into French to prove to France that America had a genuine government
- ratified by all 13 states in 1781
Old Northwest
- land Northwest of the Ohio river, East of the Mississippi river and South of the Great Lakes
- surveyed and split up into 36 square mile blocks up due to Land Ordinance of 1785
Land Ordinance of 1785
- provided the Old Northwest land to be sold in order to pay off debts
- blocked out Old Northwest into 36 square mile blocks (1 square mile kept for schools)
Northwest Ordinance of 1787
*allowed for territories to submit for statehood to congress once they had 60,000 inhabitants
Natchez
*held an important fort for Spain that was used to attempt to cut off American trade on the river
Shay’s Rebellion
- an uprising of backwoods farmers (most were veterans)
- rebelled against losing their farms to taxes and forecloses
- led by Captain Daniel Shay
- demanded cheap paper money, lighter taxes, and a suspension of property takeovers
Mobocracy
- created by the revolution
* the allusion that the new government was run by a mob
George Washington
- unanimously elected chairman
* enormous prestige as “the sword of the revolution” served to quiet overheated tempers
Benjamin Franklin
- added the urbanity of an elder statesman
* had chaperons to make sure he held his tongue to the secrecy of their deliborations
James Madison
- a profound student of government
* dubbed “the Father of the Constitution”
Alexander Hamilton
- an advocate of a super powerful central government
- even with his 5 hour speech, he had only convinced himself of this central government plan
- joined John Jay and James Madison in penning a series of articles for the New York newspaper
Patrick Henry
- ardent champion of states rights
* chosen as delegate from Virginia but declined the position declaring that he had “smelled a rat”
Virginia Plan
- large state
- pushed forward as framework of the constitution
- representation in both houses should be based on population
- would have given larger states an advantage
Bicameral Legislature
- a 2 part legislature
- in house of rep. larger states were satisfied by representation of population
- in senate smaller states were satisfied by equal representation (each state had two senators)
New Jersey Plan
- small state
- provided for equal representation in a unicameral Congress by states, regardless of size & population
- smaller states feared bigger states would band together and lord over the rest
Great Compromise
- compromise between small and large states
- in the bicameral legislature
- house of rep.: larger states were satisfied by representation of population
- senate: smaller states were satisfied by equal representation (each state had two senators)
- broke the logjam and success seemed reachable
Electoral College
- a way to elect the president indirectly
- votes taken from popular and electoral voting
- if no major victory, the election was thrown to house of representatives to decide
Three-fifths Compromise
*showed that a slave counted as 3/5th of a person in voting
Checks and Balances
*the fact that each branch of the government can cancel one another out so no one branch has all the power
Separation of Powers
*the government split between 3 branches that allows no one branch to have all the power (all branches have different ways of election and term limits)
Antifederalists
- leaders include revolutionaries like Samuel Adams, Patrick Henry, and Richard Henry Lee
- include poorer men and small scale farmers
- feared a central government would make them pay debts and take their powers
Federalists
- leaders include George Washington and Benjamin Franklin
- include richer, better educated, and more organized folk that lived along the coastlines
- were predominantly in charge of the press
John Jay
*joined by Alexander Hamilton and James Madison in penning a series of articles for the New York Newspaper
James Madison
*joined by Alexander Hamilton and John Jay in penning a series of articles for the New York Newspaper
The Federalist
*a book still sold containing a series of articles originally published in the New York newspaper *written by Alexander Hamilton, John Jay and James Madison
Nationalist School of Historians
- wrote in the late nineteenth century
- viewed constitution as the logical culmination of the revolution and a God given step in the progress of Anglo-Saxon people
Charles Beard
*historian that believed the constitution was an attempt of the elite to gain more wealth at the risk of other americans
Gordon Wood
*historian that believed the constitution was a new bold move to try and unite America in the need of a strong central government
