Confederation Government Problems

Confederation Government Problems

1. Debt

   • Confederation Government borrowed money from states and private citizens to fund the Revolutionary War
     • the US was no longer a part of the British Empire
       • no trade, no access to New Orleans
       • Massachusetts farmers rebelled, demanding tax relief and no more imprisonment for debt
         • Shays' Rebellion
           • forced Congress to finally meet and discuss changes in 1787
     • no money to repay those debts

2. Weak Foreign Relations

   • British were not obeying the Treaty of Paris
     • United States could not enforce the Treaty of Paris
     • British refused to remove their soldiers from British forts in the US after the war ended

3. Weak Military

   • the Barbary Coast pirates were taking US ships and sacking them
     • demanded a toll in exchange for passage
       • US had no money or warships

4. Governing New Territories

   • 120,000 people moved West by 1790 into territories with no government or system
     • wanted protection, courts, access to markets
     • Land Ordinance of 1785 - land survey and sale into townships of 36 square miles for national government income
       • became a model for the future
       • Northwest Ordinance of 1787 - turning territories into states over three stages
         • 1) a territory with a governor and three judges appointed by Congress
           • 2) when the population reached 5,000 free males, it could elect a territorial legislature
             • 3) when the population reached 60,000 free males, it could submit a constitution and be granted equal power to the original 13 states

5. Result: Creating the Constitution

   • Alexander Hamilton and James Madison called for a convention, which was ignored until Shays' Rebellion
     • May 1787 - a balanced government was proposed
       • listed powers, not left up to Congress; two houses (Senate and House of Representatives); three branches (legislative, executive, judicial); more powers, but limited
         • approved on September 17, 1787
           • Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maryland, South Carolina, and New Hampshire made the 9 votes
             • New York was convinced by the Federalist Papers, followed by Virginia - Rhode Island and North Carolina did not ratify until after the first election
               • George Washington is President, John Adams is Vice President, the Bill of Rights is written