AN02a Unit 02: A New Nation Ch.05 - Ch.

08
Timeline: Late 18th - Early 19th C.
FQ: What issues regarding the creation of a government gave our Founding Fathers fits?
I. Let the building of a government begin!
A. What would become of the colonies? => free, independent, and sovereign States
B. How would the new States work together?
13 sovereign states can barely find common ground.
Who pays for defense?
Why should a smaller State not be entitled to the same political support that a larger
one gets?
Should a neighboring State be allowed to tax the goods coming from my State just to
protect their local merchants?
Does the country stay forever at 13 States? Are there any plans for adding new
States? From where would those new States come?
Whats important to my State may not be important to your State. Which takes
precedence?
C. What role should the People play in government?
How to choose office-holders?
Who should have access to political offices?
For how long can office-holders serve?
II. Solution #1: Republic
A. Governmental power is wielded by duly elected representatives of the People.
B. The People elect their representative via the Vote.
III. Solution #2: State Constitutions
A. Guaranteed rights to the People. An important one being Voting.
B. Limited the power of the State government.
IV. Solution #3: A National Body
A. The Continental Congress during the Revolutionary Period. Each member State had
one vote regardless of population or physical size/ wealth.
B. By 1787, The Articles of Confederation formalized the relationship between the States
and the national body that they all belonged to, Congress.
V. Solution #5: Land Ordinance of 1785, Northwest Ordinance of 1787
A. Provided a plan and procedure for organizing western lands.
B. Former State claims to western frontier lands that stretched as far as the Mississippi
River, were now under the jurisdiction of the national body- Congress.
C. Western lands can enter the union of States in a three-part process.
Become a territory with a territorial governor assigned by Congress.
With at least 5,000 resident voters, a territorys settlers can elect representatives to a
territorial government. That government can then write a temporary constitution.
Upon reaching 60,000 free inhabitants, the settlers can create a State constitution
that must then be approved by Congress before the territory can be accepted into
the union as a member State.
VI. Despite the Solutions, Problems Appeared Everywhere.
A. Political: Each State is functioning as an independent country. The States were more
concerned about their interests than that of the national union.
B. Economic: The huge debts assumed by Congress during the Revolutionary Period
could only be paid by raising funds via taxes. But Congress had no authority to impose taxes
AN02a Unit 02: A New Nation Ch.05 - Ch.08
without the approval of the member States. Since taxes are historically hated, just one No vote
by a State (Rhode Island) derailed Congress plan to repay its debt to foreign creditors.
C. Foreign Policy: Its inability to pay its foreign debt gave countries like Great Britain
reason to hold onto its forts in the Great Lakes region. Spain, a western border neighbor, closed
the Mississippi River to American farm goods.
All of the colonial powers (Britain, Spain, France), seeing the young nation wobbling
economically and politically, waited for the eventual failure of this experiment and its ultimate
collapse.