Foreign Relations Problems under the Articles of Confederation

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Foreign Relations Problems under the Articles of
Confederation
Problems with England

• England did not abandon her forts in the west
• The states courts did see to it that debts to
  England were paid
• The states treated loyalists harshly
• We werent allowed to trade with British
  colonies
• Our ships were allowed to enter English ports
  only with the products of their home states

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Foreign Relations Problems continued
Problems with Spain

• The border between Georgia and Spanish territory
  was unclear
• Spain stirred up the Indians against us
• Spain controlled the mouth of the Mississippi
  River

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Foreign Relations Problems...
Foreign Relations Problems...

• We owed them money and were having a hard time
  paying
• Problems with Pirates
• American merchant shippers had to deal with
  pirates and got no help from the government

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Which do you think was our biggest foreign
relations problem?

1. Presence of the British on our western lands.
2. Poor trade terms with Britain.
3. Border and Indian problems with Spain
4. Not having control of New Orleans
5. Pirates

1 2 3 4 5
5
Which do you think was our biggest domestic
problem?

• 1. Boundary disputes between states
• 2. Taxing of goods traveling between states
• 3. Our currency was worthless, and states had
  their own
• 4. Too weak to deal with the Indians
• 5. Too weak to deal with Shays' Rebellion

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Here are some weaknesses of the government under
the Articles of Confederation

• Provided for a weak national government
• Gave Congress no power to tax or regulate
  commerce among the states
• Provided for no common currency
• Gave each state one vote regardless of size
• Provided for no executive or judicial branch

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Which state would you guess failed to participate?

1. New York because they were big enough to take
   care of themselves.
2. Maine, distant isolated, they just wanted to
   mind their own business.
3. South Carolina, which was afraid that a stronger
   national government would keep them from killing
   the Indians
4. Rhode Island, the smallest statethey were afraid
   that they would lose power relative to the more
   populous states.

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Disputes Lead to a call for a Constitutional
Convention
--Meeting of delegates from VA MD held at
Mount Vernon --A meeting of representatives from
five states met at Annapolis --Twelve states
met in Philadelphia to Amend the
Articles of Confederation
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Notable Virginians and the Constitutional
Convention

• George Washington, Chairman of the Convention
• Washington presided at the Convention and,
  although seldom participating in the debates,
  lent his enormous prestige to the proceedings.
• James Madison, Father of the Constitution
• Madison, a Virginian and a brilliant political
  philosopher, often led the debate and kept
  copious notes of the proceedingsthe best record
  historians have of what transpired at the
  Constitutional Convention.
• At the Convention, Madison authored the Virginia
  Plan,
• He later authored much of the Bill of Rights.

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The Delegates disagreed about...
Representation

• Large States (with large populations) figured
  they should get more votes in Congress
• Small states (with small populations) figured
  all states should get equal representation in
  Congress

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Other disputes

• How much power should the central government
  have?
• Big states wanted to give it more power
• Small states wanted to keep it weak
• How should slaves count?
• Northern states didnt think slaves should count
  when figuring representation in Congress
• Southern states thought slaves ought to count
• How powerful should the executive branch be?
• Some wanted a group executive
• Hamilton wanted a single executive--for life

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Disputes resolved--Compromises reached
The Great Compromise

• In the House of Representatives larger states get
  more votes
• In the Senate, all states have two votes

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Compromises
Slavery Compromise

• Slaves count as 3/5ths of a person both for
  representation and for taxation

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(No Transcript)
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The Executive Branch

• A single President elected for four year terms,
  and chosen by members of the Electoral College

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Other provisions of the Constitution

• Made federal law the supreme law of the land, but
  otherwise gave the states considerable leeway to
  govern themselves
• Avoided a too-powerful central government by
  establishing three co-equal brancheslegislative,
  executive, and judicialwith numerous checks and
  balances among them
• Limited the powers of the federal government to
  those identified in the Constitution

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With the new Constitution, all states have the
same number of votes in the House of
Representatives.

1. True
2. False

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Photo Credits

• The picture of Mount Vernon is by Phil Wherry and
  you can find out all about what sort of camera he
  used, etc. by going tohttp//www.wherry.com/photo
  s/2001-07-22-mount-vernon/info.htmlDSCN0253.jpg
• The photo of Independence Hall is from
  unitedstreamingIndependence Hall in
  Philadelphia.. IRC. 2005.unitedstreaming. 6
  November 2006lthttp//www.unitedstreaming.com/gt
• The graphic organizer on the compromises is from
  an old Milliken transparency booklet the rest of
  the book has been disposed of, so I cant give
  you particulars. However, this was certainly
  less than 10 of the entire work.