Chapter 9: The Confederation and the Constitution Flashcards
(112 cards)
1
Q
What did the American revolution lack? 2 things
A
It wasn’t a revolution in a sense of a radical or total change
2
Q
How is the American Revolution different than the French and Russian revolution?
A
It did not suddenly and violently overturn the political and social framework.
3
Q
How did not American people felt about the revolution?
A
They went on playing, marrying, working, and praying.
Many were not seriously disturbed by the fighting. And MOST isolated communities did not know a war was on!!!
4
Q
What did changes ushered?
A
affecting social customs
political institutions,
and
ideas about society, government, and even gender roles
5
Q
How many Loyalists robbed the new ship of state of conservative ballast?
A
80,000
6
Q
The exodus of loyalists that robbed the new ship of state of conservative
ballast represented what?
A
The weakening of the aristocratic
upper crust, with all its culture and elegance
7
Q
The exodus of loyalists that robbed the new ship of state of conservative
ballast lead to what?
A
new, Patriot elites to emerge. It also
cleared the field for more egalitarian ideas to sweep
across the land.
8
Q
How was there an attempt for equality?
A
Most states reduced property owning requirments. And with republic fervor, most states sawed off primogeniture laws
9
Q
How was there still a sense of inequality?
A
Ordinary men and women
demanded to be addressed as “Mr.” and “Mrs.”—
titles once reserved for the wealthy and highborn.And Continental Army officers who formed an exclusive
hereditary order, the Society of the Cincinnati.
10
Q
What further stimulated social democracy?
A
by the growth of
trade organizations for artisans and laborers.
11
Q
What did the Anglican Church reformed into?
A
Protestant Episcopal Church
12
Q
Where was the struggle for divorce
between religion and government proved fiercest?
A
Virginia.
13
Q
What did the Philadelphia Quakers in 1775 found?
A
the world’s
first antislavery society.
14
Q
What was done with the slave trade or “black ivory?”
A
the Continental Congress in 1774 called for the complete abolition of the slave trade
15
Q
How did the states responded to Congress’s action in 1774?
A
Responded positively. Several northern states
went further and either abolished slavery outright
or provided for the gradual emancipation of blacks.
Even on the plantations of Virginia, a few idealistic
masters freed their human chattels—the first frail
sprouts of the later abolitionist movement.
16
Q
Why was the abolishing slavery incomplete?
A
No states south of Pennsylvania abolished
slavery
both North and South, the law
discriminated harshly against freed blacks and
slaves alike.
Emancipated African-Americans could
be barred from purchasing property, holding certain
jobs, and educating their children.
Could not inter marriage
17
Q
Why did abolishing slavery did not go further?
A
Because the founding fathers was sacrificed to political expediency
18
Q
What is republican motherhood?
A
selfless devotion of a mother
to her family was often cited as the very model of
republican behavior.
The idea went that the women raised the children and therefore held great power and responsibility with the future of the republic in their hands.
19
Q
In1776 what did the Continental Congress called for?
A
~colonies to draft new constitutions.
~the Continental Congress was actually asking the colonies to summon themselves into being as new states.
~The sovereignty of these new states, according to the theory of republicanism, would rest on the authority of the people.
20
Q
What did the states of Connecticut and Rhode Island do about the constitution?
A
retouched their colonial charters
21
Q
What did Massachusetts do about the constitution?
A
it called a special convention to draft its constitution and then submitted the
final draft directly to the people for ratification.
Once adopted in 1780, the Massachusetts constitution could be changed only by another specially called constitutional convention. This procedure was later imitated in the drafting and ratification of the federal Constitution.
22
Q
What made drafting the federal charter easier?
A
State constitutions had similarities
23
Q
What did Americans do that differed from the British constitution?
A
The documents they drafted were contracts
that defined the powers of government, as did the
old colonial charters, but they drew their authority
from the people, not from the royal seal of a distant
king.
24
Q
What the state constitutions consisted of?
A
~bills of rights, specifically guaranteeing long-prized liberties against later legislative encroachment.
~Most of them required the annual election of legislators, who were thus forced to stay in touch with the mood of the people.
~All of them deliberately created
weak executive and judicial branches,
25
Why was there a weak executive and judicial branch.
A generation of quarreling
with His Majesty’s officials had implanted a deep
distrust of despotic governors and arbitrary judges.
26
Who had the most power?
legislatures
27
The democratic character of the new state legislatures was reflected on what?
the presence of
| many members from the recently enfranchised poorer western districts.
28
Did the economic changes affect the states? Why or why no?
Economic changes begotten by the war were likewise noteworthy, but not overwhelming.
~States seized control of former crown lands
~many of the large Loyalist holdings were confiscated and eventually
cut up into small farms.
29
What became the sharp stimulus in economic democracy? How?
manufacturing by
the prewar nonimportation agreements and later by
the war itself.
Goods that had formerly been imported
from Britain were mostly cut off, and the ingenious
Yankees were forced to make their own.
30
What were the drawbacks of economic Independence
~commerce of Britain was still reserved for the loyal parts of the empire.
~American ships were now barred from
British and British West Indies harbors.
~Fisheries were disrupted
~bounties for ships’ stores had abruptly ended. ~Some respects the hated British
Navigation Laws were more disagreeable after independence
than before.
31
How did trade changed?
New commercial outlets, fortunately, compensated
partially for the loss of old ones.
Americans could now trade freely with foreign nations
32
Where did Enterprising Yankee
| shippers ventured to?.
Enterprising Yankee
shippers ventured boldly—and profitably—into the
Baltic and China Seas.
33
How did the war affect the economic democracy?
War had spawned demoralizing ~extravagance,speculation, and profiteering.
~Runaway inflation had been ruinous to many citizens.
~Congress had failed in its feeble attempts to curb
economic laws.
~The average citizen was probably
worse off financially at the end of the shooting than
at the start.
34
Second CC lacked what and controlled what?
without constitutional authority
| control over military affairs and foreign policy
35
Shortly before declaring independence in 1776,
| the Congress did what?
appointed a committee to draft a written
constitution for the new nation. The finished
product was the Articles of Confederation. Adopted
by Congress in 1777
36
How did the states felt about the Articles?
The chief apple of discord was western lands.
Six of the jealous states, including Pennsylvania and Maryland, had no holdings beyond the Allegheny Mountains.
Seven, notably New York and Virginia,
were favored with enormous acreage
37
What was done withe the trans-Allegheny tracts owned by the states?
Congress pledged itself to dispose of these vast areas for the “common benefit.’’
It further agreed to carve from the new
public domain not colonies, but a number of
“republican’’ states, which in time would be admitted
to the Union on terms of complete equality with all the others.
Maryland at length gave in when New York surrendered
its western claims and Virginia seemed
about to do so.
38
What was the Articles of Confederation?
The Articles of Confederation—some have said
“Articles of Confusion’’—provided for a loose confederation or “firm league of friendship.’’ '
~Thirteen independent states were thus linked together for joint action in dealing with common problems, such as foreign affairs.
~A clumsy Congress was to be the chief agency of government.
~There was no executive branch
~the vital judicial arm was left almost exclusively to
the states.
39
Was there fairness in voting bills?
Yes, Each state had a single vote.
All bills dealing
with subjects of importance required the support of nine states; any amendment of the Articles themselves required unanimous, whole ratification.
40
Could you change the Articles?
Unanimity
was almost impossible, and this meant that the
amending process, perhaps fortunately, was
unworkable. If it had been workable, the Republic
might have struggled along with a patched-up Articles
of Confederation rather than replace it with an
effective Constitution.
41
What two thing Congress could not do?
1) It had no power to regulate commerce, and this
loophole left the states free to establish conflictingly
different laws regarding tariffs and navigation.
2) Nor could the Congress enforce its tax-collection program.
It established a tax quota for each of the states
and then asked them please to contribute their
share on a voluntary basis.
42
What did the Articles proved to be?
Yet the Articles of Confederation, weak though
they were, proved to be a landmark in government.
This involved the yielding by the states of their sovereignty
to a completely recast federal government,
which in turn would leave them free to control their
local affairs.
43
What were the benefits of the Articles?
Articles of Confederation were a significant stepping-stone toward the present Constitution.
~They clearly outlined the general powers that were to be exercised by the central government, such as making treaties and establishing a postal service.
~As the first written constitution of the Republic, the Articles kept alive the flickering ideal of union and held the states
together
44
What is Old Northwest?
This area of land lay northwest
of the Ohio River, east of the Mississippi River, and
south of the Great Lakes.
45
What was the Land Ordinance of 1785?
It provided that the acreage of
the Old Northwest should be sold and that the proceeds
should be used to help pay off the national
debt.
46
To forestall endless confusion
| and lawsuits, what was done to the land settlements?
The vast area was to be surveyed before sale and settlement
It was to be divided into townships six
miles square
~each of which in turn was to be split
into thirty-six sections of one square mile each.
~ The sixteenth section of each township was set aside to
be sold for the benefit of the public schools—a
priceless gift to education in the Northwest
47
What was the Northwest Ordinance
| of 1787?
First stage, there would be two evolutionary territorial
stages, during which the area would be owned by the federal government.
2. Called application status ~Then, when a territory could boast sixty thousand inhabitants,Write it own constitution and sent it to Congress for approval.
It might be admitted by Congress as a state, with all the privileges of the thirteen charter members.
~The ordinance also forbade
slavery in the Old Northwest—a pathbreaking gain
for freedom.
3. Statehood--if congress approved constitution.
48
What did Lord Sheffield urged?
Lord Sheffield
argued persuasively in a widely sold pamphlet that
Britain would win back America’s trade anyhow.
Commerce would naturally follow old
channels.
The British also officially shut off their profitable
West Indies trade from the United States
49
Why was there redcoats on US soil?
to hold a chain of trading posts on U.S. soil, and
there they maintained their fur trade with the Indians.
~the main purpose of Britain in hanging on was probably to
curry favor with the Indians and keep their tomahawks lined up on the side of the king as a barrier against future American attacks on Canada
50
how did Spain affect the Americans?
It controlled the mouth of the all-important Mississippi, down
which the pioneers of Tennessee and Kentucky were
forced to float their produce.
~In 1784 Spain closed the river to American commerce, threatening the West with strangulation.
~Spain likewise claimed a large area north of the Gulf of Mexico, including Florida, granted to the United States by the British
in 1783.
~At Natchez, on disputed soil, it held an
important fort.
~It also schemed with the neighboring
Indians, grievously antagonized by the rapacious
land policies of Georgia and North Carolina,
to hem in the Americans east of the Alleghenies.
51
How did France affect America?
French demanded the repayment of money loaned during the war and restricted trade with their
bustling West Indies and other ports.
52
How did the Pirates of North Africans states like Dey of Algiers affect American trade?
The British purchased protection for their
own subjects, and as colonists the Americans had
enjoyed this shield. But as an independent nation,
the United States was too weak to fight and too poor
to bribe.
53
What was the Shay's Rebellion?
western Massachusetts in 1786.
~Impoverished backcountry farmers, many of them
Revolutionary War veterans, were losing their farms
through mortgage foreclosures and tax delinquencies.
~Led by Captain Daniel Shays, a veteran of the
Revolution, these desperate debtors demanded
cheap paper money, lighter taxes, and a suspension
of property takeovers.
~Hundreds of angry agitators,
again seizing their muskets, attempted to enforce
their demands.
54
What was the drastic action by MA authorities?
Supported partly by contributions from
wealthy citizens, they raised a small army.
~Several skirmishes occurred—at Springfield three Shaysites were killed, and one was wounded—and the movement collapsed.
~Daniel Shays, who believed that he
was fighting anew against tyranny, was condemned
to death but was later pardoned.
55
What did Conservatives wanted?
They were eager to persuade their fellow citizens to amend the Articles of Confederation in favor of a muscular central government.
56
What touched off the chain raction that led to a constitutional convention?
Control of Commerce
57
When and where was the constitutional convention?
1786 that
Virginia, taking the lead, issued a call for a convention
at Annapolis, Maryland. Nine states appointed
delegates, but only five were finally represented.
58
Who saved the convention? How?
A charismatic
New Yorker, thirty-one-year-old Alexander
Hamilton, brilliantly saved the convention from
complete failure by engineering the adoption of his
report.
~It called upon Congress to summon a convention
to meet in Philadelphia the next year, not to
deal with commerce alone, but to bolster the entire
fabric of the Articles of Confederation.
59
How did they select group of
| propertied men?
Every state chose representatives, except for
independent-minded Rhode Island (still “Rogues’
Island’’), a stronghold of paper-moneyites.
~These leaders were all appointed by the state legislatures, whose members had been elected by voters who
could qualify as property holders.
60
When was the meeting? who came?
at Philadelphia on
May 25, 1787, in the imposing red-brick statehouse.
A quorum of the fifty-five emissaries from
twelve states
61
Most of the men in the meeting were?
Lawyers
62
Who were the main leaders in the secret Convention?
~George Washington was the chairsmen.
~Benjamin Franklin
~James Madison, the Father of the Constitution
~ Alexander Hamilton
63
The 55 delegates in Philadelphia were?
~Conservatives: lawyers, merchants, shippers, land speculators, and moneylenders.
~Nineteen of the fifty-five owned slaves
~Not a single spokesperson was present from the poorer debtor groups.
~Above all, they were
nationalists, more interested in preserving and
strengthening the young Republic than in further
stirring the roiling cauldron of popular democracy.
64
What did the delegates hoped for?
~hoped to crystallize the last evaporating
pools of revolutionary idealism into a stable
political structure that would endure.
~They believed in republicanism but sought to
protect the American experiment from its weaknesses
abroad and excesses at home.
65
What were the motives of the delegates?
Delegates were determined to preserve the union,
forestall anarchy, and ensure security of life and
property against dangerous uprisings by the
“mobocracy.’’
66
What was the "large state plan" or Virgina plan?
Its
essence was that representation in both houses of a
bicameral Congress should be based on population—
an arrangement that would naturally give the
larger states an advantage.
67
What was the "small state plan" or New Jersey plan?
This provided for equal representation in a unicameral Congress by states, regardless of size and population, as under the existing Articles of Confederation. The
weaker states feared that under the Virginia scheme,
the stronger states would band together and lord it
over the rest
68
What was the Great Compromise?
~The larger states were conceded representation by population in the House of Representatives
~the smaller states were appeased by equal representation in the Senate
~Each state, no matter
how poor or small, would have two senators.
~The big states obviously yielded more.
~the delegates agreed that every tax bill or revenue measure must originate in the House, where population counted more heavily
69
What could the president do?
~the new Constitution provided for a strong, independent executive in the presidency
~military commander in chief
~to have wide powers of appointment to domestic offices—including judgeships.
~The president was also to have veto power over legislation.
70
The Constitution is made up of what?
compromises;
71
How is a president elected
President indirectly by the Electoral College, rather
than by direct means.
~While the large states would
have the advantage in the first round of popular voting,
as a state’s share of electors was based on the
total of its senators and representatives in Congress,
~the small states would gain a larger voice if no candidate got a majority of electoral votes and the election
was thrown to the House of Representatives,
where each state had only one vote
72
What was the “three-fifths compromise?’’
As a compromise between total representation
and none at all, it was decided that a slave might
count as three-fifths of a person.
73
What was the view on having voteless slave of the southern states count as a person
in apportioning direct taxes and in according
representation in the House of Representatives
The South, not wishing to be deprived of influence,
answered “yes.’’
The North replied “no,’’ arguing that,
as slaves were not citizens,
74
What was done with the slave trade? Views?
Most of the states wanted to shut off the African
slave trade.
~But South Carolina and Georgia, requiring
slave labor in their rice paddies and malarial swamps,
raised vehement protests.
~By way of compromise the
convention stipulated that the slave trade might continue
until the end of 1807, at which time Congress
could turn off the spigot
75
Politically and economically, what did the members of the
| Constitutional Convention demanded?
Economically, they demanded sound money and the protection of private property.
Politically, they were in basic
agreement; they favored a stronger government,
with three branches and with checks and balances
76
What is the term for federal judges?
for life
77
Senators were to be chosen indirectly by ___________________
state legislatures
78
What two principles did the Constitution stood on?
that the only legitimate government was one based on the consent of the governed, and that the powers of government
should be limited
The virtue of the people, not the authority of the state, was to be the ultimate guarantor of liberty, justice, and order.
78
What were the views of the 42 signers?
no members of the convention were completely happy about the result.
~Three of the forty-two, refusing to do so,
returned to their states to resist ratification.
79
When would the Constitution would
| become the supreme law of the land?
when nine states had registered their approval through specially elected conventions
80
Who were part of the Antifederalists?
Samuel Adams, Patrick Henry, and Richard Henry Lee.
states’ rights devotees, backcountry dwellers, and one-horse farmers—in
general, the poorest classes.
They were joined by paper-moneyites and debtors
81
What were views of the Antifederalists?
~feared that a potent central government would force
them to pay off their debts—and at full value.
~Large numbers of antifederalists saw in the Constitution a
plot by the upper crust to steal power back from the
common folk.
They cried Constitution had been drawn up by
the aristocratic elements and hence was antidemocratic.
82
Who were the Federalists?
George Washington and
Benjamin Franklin.
Most of them lived in the settled areas along the seaboard, not in the raw backcountry.
83
Why were the Federalists better off than the Antifederalists
~federalists had power and influence on their side.
~they were wealthier than the antifederalists,
more educated, and better organized.
~They also controlled the press.
84
Who wanted the Bill of Rights?
Antifederalists, who believed sovereignty of the states was being submerged and that the freedoms of the individual were jeopardized by the absence of a bill of rights.
85
What did the Antifederalists wanted to drop?
They decried the dropping
of annual elections for congressional representatives,
the setting up of a federal stronghold ten miles
square (later the District of Columbia), the creation
of a standing army, the deletion of any reference to
God, and the highly questionable procedure of ratifying
with only two-thirds of the states.
86
Pennsylvania supported what group?
| Federalists or Antifederalists
Federalists
87
Massachusetts supported what group?
| Federalists or Antifederalists
Antifederalists
88
New Hampshire supported what group?
| Federalists or Antifederalists
Antifederalists
89
Virginia supported what group?
| Federalists or Antifederalists
Antifederalists
90
New York supported what group?
| Federalists or Antifederalists
Federalists
91
How many states had seceded from the Confederation
11
92
What fraction of the adult white males in the country, chiefly the propertied people, had voted for delegates to the ratifying conventions?
1/4
93
Antifederalists wanted how many branches?
single branch
| of government—the legislature
94
Federalists wanted how many branches?
every branch—executive, judiciary,
| and legislature—effectively represented the people.
95
What was the similarities between conservatives
| and radicals?
championed the heritage of
| republican revolution.
96
Why was it hard in building a nation?
Tearing down a nation was easy; but to build a new one and run it was much more difficult.
Unity existed largely only on paper. There was a deep desire by many states to keep to themselves rather than join a union that would rule over them.
The spirits of patriotism, freedom, and independence all worked against unity rather than for it.
97
What did England do that hurt the American industries in 1786?
England waged something of an economic war.
The Brits began to flood the American market with goods at slashed prices.
This struck hard at the infantile American industries that couldn't compete price-wise.
98
How was there still unity?
America did have a few things going for it in terms of unity.
The 13 colonies did share roughly the same type of state governments and a rich and similar political tradition.
America was blessed with leaders of the highest quality like Washington, Adams, Madison, Jefferson, and Hamilton.
99
Why did Jefferson called the delegates in the secret meeting "demigods?"
1. Demigods—George Washington (chairman), Ben Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, James Madison.
2. Revolutionaries overseas and absent from the meeting—Thomas Jefferson (in France on business), John Adams (in England on business), Thomas Paine (in Europe as well).
3. Patriots who were absent—John Hancock, Samuel Adams, Patrick Henry. These men, especially Adams and Henry, were independent-minded and didn't like the idea of strengthening the government. Their specialty was tearing down governments, not building them up.
100
Why did Jefferson called the delegates in the secret meeting "demigods?"
1. Demigods—George Washington (chairman), Ben Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, James Madison.
2. Revolutionaries overseas and absent from the meeting—Thomas Jefferson (in France on business), John Adams (in England on business), Thomas Paine (in Europe as well).
3. Patriots who were absent—John Hancock, Samuel Adams, Patrick Henry. These men, especially Adams and Henry, were independent-minded and didn't like the idea of strengthening the government. Their specialty was tearing down governments, not building them up.
101
What was the main issues at hand in the secret meeting?
the inability to maintain order, "runaway democracy" in various states, and pressure/threats from foreign nations.
102
Why was MA the most important state to ratify the Constitution?
1. Massachusetts ratified it with the promise that a Bill of Rights would immediately be written and adopted.
2. Massachusetts was a critical state, kind of a "tipping point." Had the Constitution failed here, it likely would not have been ratified by the other states.
103
Who were the four laggard states?
Virginia, New York, North Carolina, and Rhode Island
104
Why did VA finally ratified?
Close vote
| Because New Hampshire was about to adopt the Constitution as state number 9—the number needed to activate it.
105
Why did NY finally ratified?
(a) The Federalist Papers of John Jay, James Madison, and Alexander Hamilton
(b) the realization that a future on their own was pointless.
106
Why were the conservatives' minds at eased?
First, a stronger government that could deal with the "mobocracy" such as Shays' Rebellion.
Secondly, the elite or aristocracy had built in certain safeguards to their rule such as the electoral college, permanence of judges, and indirect elections of senators. All of these things meant stability—the number 1 thing on their mind.
107
The Articles was a intermediary b/t what?
State independence and the US constitution.
108
What was still continuing in mid 1780s?
Economic storm.
Where requisition system for raising money was breaking down!!
States did not want to pay to King Congress!!
109
As confederated free states could do anything they pleased. But it went out of hand. How so?
Quarrels over boundaries lead to pitch battles
States taxed other states-levied duties on goods.
States printed their own paper money--depreciated.
110
What was the impact of shays rebellion?
Distressed debtors struck fear I. The propertied class who began to suspect that the Rebellion had created a monster of "mobocracy"
112
What is the only branch of government directly elected by the ppl?
House of rep
