Download The Financial Crisis and Rebellion in the Early American Confederation - Prof. Janet P. Sm and more Study notes World History in PDF only on Docsity! HIST 2010 Supplement notes: Chapter 8 The Confederation’s Problems The Confederation’s Problems 262 Financial Chaos and Paper Money 263 Remember, the Confederation government had severe financial problems. Continental dollars had almost no real value. The colonial economy was devastated by the war. Inflation began and prices soared. There was not much hard cash (currency). Continental dollars lost value. (Inflation usually occurs when currency loses its value, its worth). *Debt -Some estimates were that the US owed as much as 50 million. The real problem with the Articles of Confederation was that the states had all the economic functions. The government could do nothing. The Government was paralyzed. They had no source of money, there was no way to regulate trade and we had large trade deficit. Shay’s Rebellion 269 The trouble began in Massachusetts. Western farmers were close to ruin. The lower house of Massachusetts tried to ease their problems with a law containing relief measures. Massachusetts had one of the strongest and fiscally conservative upper houses in the country, and continually vetoed laws passed by the lower house to ease farmers plights. In 1786, as more and more farmers were losing their farms because they could not pay the taxes, a tax revolt began. Daniel Shay, a small farmer who was in debt, led it. 2,000 farmers rose in armed rebellion, stormed county court houses to burn the mortgages. They were stopped, but the event scared the founding fathers of our country. The farmers were respectable members who felt mistreated by their government who had failed to protect their property. See page 271 about the reaction of the older reactionaries such as George Washington and Benjamin Franklin. The United States Constitution 271 From Annapolis to Philadelphia 271 Constitutional convention: carefully read pages 271 – 273. Note who attended the Constitutional Convention. The delegates to this Convention created a Constitution based upon many compromises. Compromises: (In text book read page 274 carefully) *Representation – Large States vs. Small states. The Virginia and New Jersey plans were proposed as a solution to the questions about how to balance representation fair to both large and small states and northern and southern states. The Great Compromise proposed by Ben Franklin finally resolved this. Representation would be equal in the Senate (each state would have two), and in the House of Representatives, representation would be based on population. *Representation – Slave vs. Free The discussion about population brought up a debate on exactly who would be counted. The decision was the “three/fifth clause” - a slave was to count as three/fifths of a free person in the calculation of population. (this became a euphemism for slavery. The word doesnot appear in the constitution. Slavery as an institution Certain decisions were made in an attempt to appease both slave owners and non-slave owners. There would be no ban on importation for 20 years (international slave trade). This would stop after 20 years. Fugitive provisions were included. The return of runaway slaves was guaranteed. Democracy vs. republicanism 275 The electorate would have total decision via elections for congressmen which would be held every 2 years. There would be limited decision via the Senate. Initially, Senators were to be elected for a 6 year term, by the state legislators. The Electoral College was established for the election of the President. Each state would have their total number of senators plus representatives determining the Number of electors. These would then elect the president Christianity and the Constitution 280 Provisions of the Constitution: See A7 Please carefully note: Preamble Article I, Sections 1, 8 Article II, Sections 2, 3 Article III, Sections 1, 2 Ratification of the Constitution 275 It was agreed that the constitution would go into effect after 9 states approved it. Special conventions were held where the people could vote directly on it. The Phrase "we the people, in order to form a more perfect union" began the constitution, as a way of explaining it. In three of the most populous states, many opposed the idea of creating a strong national government. Two groups emerged: The Federalists This group was strongly in favor of the constitution. Among their members were: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, John Jay The federalists supported a strong central government.
