Lesson 4-1: The Articles of Confederation

Question 1

What was one of the main issues that the Founding Fathers had to face when creating a new government?

Answer 1

The relationship between the state and national governments.
- Who would have more power?
- How would population factor into representation and taxes?

Question 2

What did each colony have?

Answer 2

Its own…
1) Governor
2) Council
3) Assembly

Question 3

What was an effect of this style of government in the colonies?

Answer 3

Residents of each colony saw their colony as its own political unit, and therefore they were loyal not to the entire country, but only to the colony in which they lived.

Question 4

Main challenge ahead of the Founding Fathers:

Answer 4

Develop a system that balanced the interests of the states with those of the entire nation.

Question 5

What was the problem with democracy according to most early Americans?

Answer 5

A DEMOCRACY is a government directly by the people.
- This placed too much power in the hands of “uneducated masses.”

Question 6

Republic

Answer 6

A government in which citizens rule through their elected representatives

Question 7

(Fun fact) Many people consider the modern America to be a democracy. Why is this false?

Answer 7

We are a republic (though some people call America a republican democracy), because the citizens elected their representatives.

Question 8

Republicanism

Answer 8

The idea that governments should be based on the consent of the people.

Question 9

Republicanism should NOT be confused with what?

Answer 9

The modern day republican (or conservative, GOP) party.

Question 10

There were two differing beliefs about a republic. What were they?

Answer 10

1) A republic required a virtuous people; good of the nation > self-interest.
2) A republic would benefit from self-interest; Adam Smith’s The Wealth of Nations.

Question 11

States began creating their own constitutions. What was similar about all of these individual constitutions?

Answer 11

1) Limited powers of government leaders.
2) Gave specific rights to citizens (freedom of speech, religion, and the press)
3) Liberty > equality
4) Feared centralized authority

Question 12

What was one main differing point between state constitutions?

Answer 12

The right to vote; African Americans, women, and Native Americans were NOT allowed to vote.
- Some states required that you own land in order to vote.

Question 13

What was significant about New Jersey’s voting rights?

Answer 13

It stated that all free property owners could vote, but didn’t specify males.
- Therefore, some free property-owning women began to vote; until 1807, when the right was revoked.

Question 13

What was ANOTHER issue that the Founding Fathers faced when creating a government for a new, free nation?

Answer 13

Kings ruled most nations, and so, because the Founding Fathers wanted a republic-style government, there was not much of an example for the Founding Fathers to go off of.

Question 14

(1) The Founding Fathers looked throughout history to try and find an example for them to follow. What did they find?

Answer 14

A “short-lived” republic was formed in England after the execution of Charles I (the English Civil War!)

Question 15

(2) What else did they find?

Answer 15

Middle Ages - Many cities such as Florence, Pisa, and Venice were their own self-governing city-states.

Question 16

(3) What else did they find?

Answer 16

Swiss communities rejected royal control, and they formed their own alliances, that ultimately created the Swiss Confederation.

Question 17

Once again, what was the one factor that made all of these example non-applicable to the United States of America?

Answer 17

The fact that the United States government was to strike a balance between the concerns of the both the state and national governments.

Question 18

What is necessary, also, for a successful democratic republic?

Answer 18

Participatory citizenship; how average people participate in their government (can include voting, joining the military, and attending community meetings).

Question 19

The delegates at the Continental Congress had to answer three questions. They are…

Answer 19

1) Representation by population or state?
2) Can supreme power be divided?
3) Western lands: Who gets them?

Question 20

1) Representation by population or equality?

Answer 20

• The states were equal political units, but differed in size, wealth, and population.
• Should the states with larger populations have more representatives than those with smaller populations?

SOLUTION: Each state would have one vote regardless of population.

Question 21

Was this a poor decision? What can we relate it to (occurred later in history)?

Answer 21

YES!
- The Estates General during the French Revolution.

Question 22

2) Can supreme power be divided?

Answer 22

• Many believed that supreme power could NOT be shared with smaller units.

SOLUTION: The Articles of Confederation, which proposed a government where two levels of government (national and states) shared fundamental powers.

Question 23

Who did the power go to according to the Articles of Confederation?

Answer 23

In some cases, the states held supreme power, while, in other cases, the national government held the supreme power.

Question 24

How long did the Second Continental Congress debate on whether or not to adopt the Articles of Confederation? When did they finally do this?

Answer 24

More than a year; 1777

Question 24

What are some actions that the Articles of Confederation allowed the national government to do?

Answer 24

1) Declare war
2) Sign treaties
3) Make peace
4) Borrow money
5) Establish a postal service
6) Deal with the Native Americans

Question 25

What was the problem with the Articles of Confederation?

Answer 25

No executive branch - To carry out the laws
No judicial branch - To interpret the laws

Question 26

3) Western lands: Who gets them?

Answer 26

Brief overview: In 1779, 12 states had already agreed to accept the new government (that is, the Articles of Confederation). However, Maryland was reluctant. This was because some states held claims to lands west of the Appalachian Mountains, and Maryland was concerned that these states would become more powerful than the lands without such claims.

Question 27

What was done about this issue?

Answer 27

All states with land claims west of the Appalachian Mountains gave up their claims to the United States as a whole; Maryland agreed to accept the Articles of Confederation.

Question 28

When did the Articles of Confederation take effect?

Answer 28

March 1781

Question 29

The land west of the Appalachian Mountains and north of the Ohio River was called the…

Answer 29

Northwest Territory

Question 30

What was Congress’ first act in establishing how the Northwest Territory would be governed?

Answer 30

The Land Ordinance of 1785

Question 31

The Land Ordinance of 1785

Answer 31

• Made a plan for surveying the land
• Changed the landscape of the territory
• Ended several boundary disputes.

Question 32

Northwest Ordinance of 1787

Answer 32

Congress gave a procedure for dividing the land into territories.

Question 33

What did the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 do?

Answer 33

1) Promised settlers religious freedom
2) Barred slavery in this area
3) ONE Governor was put in charge of the ENTIRE territory
4) This area could become three to five states

Question 34

What states does the Northwest Territory cover today

Answer 34

1) Ohio
2) Minnesota
3) Illinois
4) Wisconsin
5) Indiana
6) Michigan

Question 35

The Northwest Ordinance of 1787 also established a procedure for becoming a state. What were the steps?

Answer 35

1) Congress would appoint a territorial governor and judges
2) A territory garnered 5,000 voting residents, the settlers could write their own (temporary) constitution and elected a government
3) When the territory reached 60,000 residents, it could write its own (official) constitution. Congress had to approve this so it could be granted statehood.

Question 36

The Northwest Ordinance ALSO…

Answer 36

called for public education to be provided in all new states.

Question 37

What was so important about the Land Ordinance of 1785 and the Northwest Ordinance of 1787?

Answer 37

They both:
1) Set a blueprint for the future growth of the nation
2) Set precedents for government

Question 38

What was the most serious problem of the Articles of Confederation?

Answer 38

The country lacked unity.
- States acted as individual units rather than pursuing the nation’s interests as a whole.

Question 39

The Articles could not be amended without how many votes?

Answer 39

One from every state

Question 40

What was the major financial problem that the Congress faced?

Answer 40

Debt from the Revolutionary War.
- The war cost the United States $190 million.

Question 41

What did the Congress do that did them in financially?

Answer 41

1) They borrowed money from other foreign powers
2) They printed their own money, which became useless after the war.

Question 42

What did the Congress propose they do about this financial situation?

Answer 42

Impose a tariff on imported goods. They would use the revenue to pay off foreign debt.

Question 43

One state rejected this idea, and so it was not set in motion. What state was this?

Answer 43

Rhode Island

Question 44

Financial problem #2 of the Congress:

Answer 44

Creditors and debtors
- After the war, wealthy people who lent the states money favored high taxes so that they could be paid back. However, these high taxes put farmers in debt.

Question 45

If a wealthy creditor brought a poor farmer to court for repayment and won the case, what happened?

Answer 45

The government took control of the farmer’s animals and farm, and sold them at auction.

Question 46

Debtors wanted to ________ the supply of money to __________ its value and ________________.

Answer 46

1) increase
2) lessen
3) enable them to pay off their debts with cheap currency

Question 47

Creditors wanted to keep the supply of money _________ to _____________ its value.

Answer 47

1) low
2) keep

Question 48

The Congress had virtually no support from the states regarding national concerns. This led to problems with which countries?

Answer 48

1) Britain
2) Spain

Question 49

Problems with Britain

Answer 49

1) The US did not pay off its debts to British merchants
2) The US would not compensate Loyalists for their losses during the war
3) Britain refused to evacuate its posts/forts on the Great Lakes

Question 50

Problems with Spain

Answer 50

1) Spain’s occupation of the US borders was threatening (the Spanish controlled Florida and the majority of South and Central America) to westward expansion.
2) 1784 - Spain closed the Mississippi River to American navigation.
- Western farmers could not ship their products to eastern markets through New Orleans