Chapters 8-10: The Confederation, Constitution, and Jefferson Presidency Flashcards
List the weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation.
- It was difficult for Congress to enact laws because nine votes out of thirteen were required.
- Congress had no power to levy taxes but could only request funds from the states. The states ignored three-fourths of these requests.
- Congress could issue money but couldn’t prevent states from issuing their own. Rhode Island, for example, issued its own inflated and nearly worthless paper currency and then passed laws mandating that creditors accept this paper money for payment of all debts. Six other states also issued large quantities of paper money.
- Congress couldn’t control interstate or foreign commerce. As a result, states competed for control of commerce by levying their own tariffs on trade with foreign countries and even on trade with other states.
- There was no provision for an independent executive branch or for a national court to handle disputes between citizens of different states.
What did the Land Ordinance of 1785 do?
The Land Ordinance of 1785 provided that the acreage of the Old Northwest (the area north and west of the Ohio River) should be sold and the proceeds used to pay off the national debt.
The ordinance provided for surveying the frontier to make settlement simpler and prevent confusing legal disagreements over land.
What was the significance of the Land Ordinance of 1785?
The ordinance made provision for funding public education.
What did the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 do?
The Northwest Ordinance established the procedures for territories becoming states on an equal basis with existing states. These procedures were applied to other territories acquired later. The ordinance also forbade slavery in the Old Northwest (that area north and west of the Ohio River).
What happened in Shay’s Rebellion?
Led by Captain Daniel Shays, the rebellion began in western Massachusetts; backcountry farmers were losing their farms through mortgage foreclosures and tax delinquencies.
They demanded cheap paper money, lower taxes, and a suspension of mortgage foreclosures.
What did Shay’s Rebellion demonstrate?
This rebellion struck fear in the hearts of the propertied class. It demonstrated the need for a stronger central government.
What and when was the Annapolis Convention?
Virginia called the Annapolis convention in 1786 because of interstate squabbling over regulation of commerce. Only five states were represented. With such a poor showing, nothing could be done.
However, the Annapolis Convention followed Alexander Hamilton’s recommendation and called upon Congress to summon a convention to meet in Philadelphia the next year to deal with not only commerce but also the whole structure of the Articles of Confederation.
Describe the Virginia Plan.
Known as the “large state plan,” the Virginia plan stated that representation in both houses of a bicameral legislature should be based on population, an arrangement that would naturally give the larger states an advantage.
Describe the New Jersey Plan.
Known as the “small state plan,” the New Jersey Plan provided equal representation in a unicameral congress by states regardless of size and population. The weaker states feared that under Virginia’s plan the larger states would control the rest.
What was the Great Compromise?
How many senators did each state have?
Where do taxes originate?
Also known as the Connecticut Plan, this plan gave the larger states representation by population in the House of Representatives, and the smaller states equal representation in the Senate. Each state had two senators.
The large states would have to bear the major burden of taxation, so the delegates agreed that every tax measure must originate in the House where population counted more heavily.
What was the Three-Fifths Compromise?
What did the Southern and Northern states want?
Southern states wanted slaves counted for purposes of apportioning representation in the House but for not taxation. Northern states wanted slaves counted for taxation but not representation.
The compromise was to count slaves as three-fifths of a free person for both representation and taxation.
What was the Slave Trade Compromise?
The agreement was that Congress could not ban slave trade (not slavery) until 1808.
In addition, the Constitution forbade any state’s people from blocking the return of runaway slaves to another state. It also continued the earlier ban on slavery in the Old Northwest.
Explain the separation of powers.
As a means of limiting the power of any one part of the government, the Constitution provided that the powers of the federal government be separated among three distinct branches.
The legislative branch, Congress, makes the laws. The executive branch headed by the president carries out the laws. The judicial branch, the court system, settles disputes by interpreting the meaning of the laws.
Explain the checks and balances.
The president can veto legislation, nominate judges, and grant pardons.
Congress can override vetoes, confirm or reject presidential appointments (e.g., nominations to the Supreme Court or nominations of ambassadors), ratify or reject treaties, and impeach members of the other two branches.
The judicial branch can declare actions of the executive branch unconstitutional and declare laws made by Congress unconstitutional.
What are expressed powers?
What is one example?
These are powers explicitly granted to the federal government by the Constitution, e.g., the power to coin money.
What are implied powers?
What is one example?
These are powers not explicitly granted by the Constitution but are powers derived from the elastic clause plus one or more of the expressed powers. For example, Congress has the expressed power to declare war. This implies that Congress has the power to establish a draft to provide soldiers for the military.
What is the necessary and proper clause, and what was it used to authorize?
Also known as the elastic clause, the Constitution grants Congress the power “to make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the foregoing powers.” This is the basis of implied powers. For example, it was used to authorize a national bank.
What are reserved powers?
What part of the government do they limit?
The powers not granted to the federal government by the Constitution nor prohibited to the states are given to the states or people. For example, the states, not the federal government, control education, traffic laws, and laws regarding marriage and divorce.
This is another way the power of the federal government is limited.
What are concurrent powers?
Concurrent powers are those powers given to both the federal government and the states. These include levying taxes, borrowing money, building roads, and maintaining courts.
What is Federalism?
What part of the government does it limit?
This is the dual system of government set up by the Constitution. It allows both the states and the federal government to directly govern the people.
This is one way the power of the federal government is limited.
What did the Antifederalists oppose and why were they significant?
They opposed the ratification of the Constitution because it gave more power to the federal government and less to the states, and because it did not ensure individual rights. The Antifederalists were instrumental in obtaining the promise of a bill of rights as a condition for ratifying the Constitution.
What were the Federalist Papers and who wrote them?
This was a set of articles in New York newspapers by James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and John Jay. The intent was to persuade New York to ratify the Constitution.
What was in Federalist #10?
In Federalist #10, Madison explained that human nature follows self-interest and, as a result, people form factions or groups to pursue that self-interest. He argued that the Constitution set up a government likely to control the damaging effects of factions.
What was in Federalist #51?
In Federalist #51, Madison explained how the checks and balances system would prevent abuse of power by any one part of the government.
What did Republican Motherhood lead to?
This did not lead to political or legal equality for women. It did, however, lead to increased educational opportunities for women as they needed a certain amount of education if they were to educate their children and instill republican virtues.
What was the Judiciary Act of 1789?
The Judiciary Act organized the Supreme Court (with a chief justice and five associates) as well as federal district and circuit courts. It established the office of Attorney General. John Jay became the first chief justice.
What was the Tariff of 1789 and why was it passed?
This was the first tariff law; it was very low, just 8% on the value of dutiable imports.
It was passed to raise revenue for the federal government and was to protect infant industries.
Who introduced the amendments in the Bill of Rights? Who did it apply to?
In the first session of Congress, Representative James Madison introduced a set of amendments that were submitted to the states for ratification. Ten were approved in 1791.
Note that until 1925 when the Supreme Court began the process known as selective incorporation, the Bill of Rights did not apply to the states, only to the federal government.
When was the Excise Tax on Whiskey?
1791
What was the Excise Tax on Whiskey designed to do?
Who paid it?
This was designed to raise revenue for Hamilton’s funding and assumption program.
The tax was paid chiefly by farmers in the West where bad roads made it hard to transport bulky crops such as grain; they distilled the grain into more condensed and easily transported whiskey.
When was the Funding Bill?
1790
Describe the Funding Bill.
Who supported it?
Why was it important?
The Funding Bill regarded the nation’s domestic debt. Speculators had purchased government bonds from their original owners at prices far below face value. The original owners (and those who would be paying the taxes to repay the debt, e.g., western farmers) protested that repaying the domestic debt in full would enrich the speculators. Hamilton successfully argued that the measure was necessary to establish the nation’s credit.
The term funding “at par” meant that the federal government would repay the bonds at face value plus accumulated interest.
By doing this, Hamilton hoped to make the wealthy (who had purchased the bonds) financially interested in the success of the new government.
When was the Assumption Bill?
1790
What did the Assumption Bill intend to do?
Who supported it?
Hamilton argued that the federal government should assume and repay the Revolutionary War debts of the states. By doing so, he hoped to bind the states more closely to the federal government.
Southern states that had already taxed themselves and paid off their debts objected. Hamilton brokered a deal that located the national capital in the South in return for Southern support for his plan.
Describe the conflict over the Bank of the United States.
Alexander Hamilton, the first secretary of the treasury, proposed the Bank of the United States. This Bank would issue paper currency, sell government bonds, and assist in tax collection. Thomas Jefferson opposed this idea, pointing out that Congress was not specifically authorized to establish a national bank by the Constitution.
Hamilton pointed out that the Bank was “necessary and proper” for carrying out the delegated power “to coin money” and “regulate the value thereof.” George Washington, who signed the bill chartering the bank, accepted Hamilton’s loose interpretation of the Constitution.
This conflict between Hamilton and Jefferson over the Bank led to the development of competing political parties.
What is Loose Construction (in a constitutional sense)?
Where is its basis in the Constitution?
Loose interpretation allows the government to do anything that the Constitution does not specifically forbid it from doing.
Its constitutional basis is the elastic clause in Article I, Section 8.
What is Strict Construction?
What is its basis in the Constitution?
Strict interpretation forbids the government from doing anything except what the Constitution specifically empowers it to do.
Its constitutional basis is the Tenth Amendment.
When was the First Party System?
1796 - 1828
Describe the First Party System.
Who were the leading figures?
When did it end and why?
The framers of the Constitution hoped there would be no permanent political parties and Washington even warned against the dangers of parties, but the fight between Jefferson and Hamiltonover the Bank of the United States led to what became known as the First Party System (or Era).
Jefferson and Madison were the leading figures for the Democratic-Republicans (also known as the Republicans, the Democrats, the Jeffersonians, and the Anti-Federalists). They formed the basis of what eventually became today’s Democratic Party.
Hamilton and John Adams were the leading figures for the Federalists. This partycontinued through the War of 1812, but the Hartford Convention and the shift in population away from New England resulted in their demise.
With the disappearance of the Federalists, the country entered what became known as the Era of Good Feelings, a period with only one political party.
Which party did Madison and Jefferson support?
Democratic-Republicans (also known as the Republicans, the Democrats, the Jeffersonians, and the Anti-Federalists)
