Constitution Convention Flashcards
What are the Articles of Confederation
A “firm league of friendship.” It is a loose union where the thirteen colonies cooperated for a common purpose. Each state had one vote. They could declare war and raise an army and a navy, print money, and set up a postal system. The problem with the Articles of Confederation was that their power was limited by their inability to collect taxes. The states fought among themselves about taxes before the war even ended.
What was the one thing that Congress could agree on?
What was this called?
How to develop the western lands acquired from the Treaty of Paris.
The Western Lands Development
What is the Lance Ordinance Act of 1785?
It divided the land into six mile squares called townships. Each township was divided into 36 sections of 640 acres each. One of the sections was set aside for school. The other thirty five were sold to settlers. The territory was known as the Northwestern Territory.
What is the Northwestern Ordinance of 1787?
It divided the northwest territory into smaller territories each governed by a territorial governor. Once the territory had five thousand free adult males, it could elect its own legislature. When the population reached sixty thousand the territory could apply to congress to become a state.
Who was Daniel Shay?
A hero from the Battle of a Bunker Hill
What was Shay’s Rebellion?
In Massachusetts judges ordered farmers to sell their land and livestock to pay off their debt. Daniel Shay led the Massachusetts farmer rebellion. In 1786 Shay’s followers closed down courthouses to keep judges from taking their farms. They marched on the national arsenal at Springfield to seize weapons stored there. Congress could not stop them because they had dismantled the Continental Army.
How and when did Shay’s Rebellion end?
The Massachusetts government ended the rebellion in 1787 by sending militia troops to restore order.
What did Shay’s Rebellion show to the U.S.?
Many Americans saw the uprising as disturbing, a sign that the nation they fought to create is falling apart.
Shay’s Rebellion led to Congress doing what?
The rebellion shocked congress into calling for a convention to consider the situation of the United States. Each state was invited to send delegates to Philadelphia in May 1787 for the purpose of revising the Articles of Confederation.
Where did the Constitutional Convention first meet?
What else happened there?
In the east room of the Pennsylvania State House (Independence Hall). The Declaration of Independence had been written there eleven years earlier.
Why was James Madison more prepared than others for the convention?
James Madison was ready. He spent the previous year studying governments (modern and ancient). He learned that a nation made up of many separate groups needed a strong central government or it would be torn apart by quarrels.
When did the Constitutional Convention first meet?
May 25, 1787
Was the convention’s first action?
Electing George Washington as president of the convention
How many delegates attended the convention?
55
Which state did not attend the convention?
Why?
Rhode Island
They feared a strong central government so they boycotted the convention
