New republic

Question 1

What were the Articles of Confederation?

Answer 1

• 1776
• Congress acted as a central body, with each state having one vote regardless of size
• Congress could declare war, raise an army, create treaties and regulate NA affairs

Question 2

What were the limitations of the Articles of Confederation?

Answer 2

• Congress could not collect taxes or enforce laws leading to economic crisis by 1783
• amendments required unanimous consent
• no standing army, leaving US venerable
• Led to events like Shay’s rebellion

Question 3

What and when was Shay’s rebellion and why was it significant?

Answer 3

• 1786-87
• Massachusetts farmers protested high taxes and debt imprisonment
• Led by Daniel Shays, they shut down courts and attacked an arsenal
• the weak federal response highlighted the Articles failure

Question 4

What was the the Philadelphia Convention

Answer 4

• 1787
• originally created to revise the constitution but led to creating a new constitution
• Led to the Great compromise and three-fifths compromise

Question 5

Why did the US initially favour a weak national government

Answer 5

• Fear of tyranny following British rule
• led to preference for state sovereignty
• power derived from the people

Question 6

How did the revolution impact US economy?

Answer 6

• American trade devastated by British Blockade and fact American was no longer part of mercantilist system. Tabaco production reduced to 1/3 pre war levels.
• Hyper-inflation resulted of shortage of goods & vast printing of money
• large numbers of American merchant ships seized by Royal Navy.

Question 7

Positive economic aspects of the war

Answer 7

• Freed from constraints of navigations act, could export directly to European Markets
• Privateering was risky but very profitable for some towns & individuals. Privateers captured British vessels worth about £18 mill
• Reduction in imports of manufactures goods from UK stimulating effect on American iron, textile, paper, property & shoe making.

Question 8

What was the balance of payments issue in the 1780’s?

Answer 8

• USA currently spending more money on buying good products abroad (largely UK) than other countries spending on American goods (bad)

Question 9

What were the differences between Elitist and Democrats?

Answer 9

• 1783 - 1787
• elitists: wanted limited suffrage, strong executive power, feared ‘tyranny of the majority’ and excess democracy
• Democrats: favoured broad suffrage (apart from women and slaves), lower property qualifications, frequent elections and weak central power

Question 10

How did political representation shift after the war?

Answer 10

• by 1783, proportion of elite families in legislature had dropped to 22%
• farmers and artisans formed a majority in some Northern legislature
• In the South, wealthy elites still dominated

Question 11

Differences between cosmopolitans and localists

Answer 11

• cosmopolitans: wealthy, supported strong central government, large property owners
• localitics: rural, owned small businesses, suspicious of central gov

Question 12

How did the great compromise resolve the representation issues?

Answer 12

• Virginia (large states) wanted representation based on population
• New Jersey Plan (small states) wanted equal representation per state
• Compromise: HoR based on population. Senate 2 per sate, regardless of size

Question 13

What was the 3/5s compromise