First Government of USA
Federalist vs Anti-federalist
Articles of Confederation
Ratified: March 1, 1781
Created: November 15, 1777
The Articles of Confederation were established after the the revolutionary war between Great Britain against everyone else. It was the very first government for the americans after they separated from England. The AoC was very weak with only a few rules, making the Americans more free than ever. Some weakness of the AoC are
-9 out of 13 states had to agree to make a law
-needed all 13 states to change the AoC
-the states had the most power
-federal government couldn't create or collect taxes
-and etc.
After Daniel Shays, a farmer, started a rebellion (all farmers refused to pay taxes) a a lot of people began to feel as if they needed a stronger federal government. Some of the others thought that this wasn't a good idea because they were afraid that it was going to be like England all over again. Starting the constitutional debate.
Why we need a Stronger Federal system...
Dear Editor,
We have no executive branch or federal courts so how will the people know what they've done wrong or how they will suffer their punishment? How will we gather a miltia if its need when we are broke? There is no money to do anything even if the states wanted to. So why not a nice strong system we can stand by and love? A system that collects taxes for the neccesities of our country? A system that has a executive branch to make the laws and a federal courts to enforce the laws?
-John Adams
Why we should have a Weak Federal system...
We just broke awayfrom the strict controlling rules of Great Britain, why would we want any kind of government like that again? No one wants to be taxed on unnecessary stuff such as paper and tea. So what if we need a militia, we can just get some of our strongest men to volunteer. Nobody wants to be told that we can go into certain territory, we like to be free and we want it to stay this way. No more, no less.
-Patrick Henry
Ratification of the Constitution
The Constitutional Convention held in 1787 was the ratification of the constuitution. The new constitution consisted of...
-Executive branch
-Legislative branch
-Federal court systems
-Citizens rights
The bill of rights
1. Freedom of religion, speech, and the press; rights of assembly and petition
2. Right to bear arms
3. Housing of soldiers
4. Search and arrest warrants
5. Rights in criminal cases
6. Rights to a fair trial
7. Rights in civil cases
8. Bails, fines, and punishments
9. Rights retained by the people
10. Powers retained by the states and the people
The National supremacy, which basically stated that no law in the states are above the federal law, giving the states less power than the federal system.
The Virginia Plan was an idea that the bigger states had stating that the more people they have, they more representatives they should have. The smaller states didn't think that was fair so they came up with the New Jersey Plan, stating that each state should have one representative. Since everyone was having a hard time coming up with they should do they came up with the The Great Compromise also known as the Connecticut Plan, this stated that Congress will be bicameral; meaning each state will have 2 senators and at least one representative which is based on population. When this came about the northern states and southern states had a debate on whether the slaves should count as humans. The North felt like that wasn't fair because how could they count the slaves as humans when they don't even treat them like humans? So to solve this quarrel they came up w the 3/5ths compromise. The compromise stated that every slave is counted as 3/5ths of a person.
With a new executive branch, legislative branch and federal court systems, they came up with something called checks and balance which means that each branch is limited to the amount of power they have. The executive branch could only make laws official, legislative branch can only make the laws, while the federal court system could only enforce the laws.