The fall of the a. of c
- 1. The Articles of Confederation
- 2. Articles of Confederation Former colonies needed a form of government. What kind would it be? What kind did we have before? What kind would it be this time?
- 3. Articles of Confederation Weak central government States had the most power Why is this a good thing?...Bad? Measures passed by Congress, however, required the approval of 9 of the 13 states. Each state had the same number of votes…1
- 4. Articles of Confederation It could not raise money by collecting taxes; it had no control over foreign commerce; it could pass laws but could not force the states to comply with them. In addition, the articles were virtually impossible to amend, so problems could not be corrected.
- 5. Articles of Confederation Several failures illustrated the new governments weakness: The inability to pay off the debt from the war collectively Discord among states who began taxing each other. The government was powerless to put down Shay's Rebellion , a farmers revolt.
- 6. Foreign Policy No European Country would support the A. of C. Each State had sent Ambassadors to each European country… and they all tried to stab each other in the back! We owe $80 Million to them… who pays? ( which was 10 years taxes)
- 7. Nobody!! We haven’t been paying our debt…why? France wants the payments… Trade has NOT improved What about King George of England? If you lost a country, would you want it back? He did!
- 8. The King was planning on returning to retake the US when he had a rebuilt army. France was interested in Canada…and then the US. Spain was lurking to our west and south…
- 9. Indians were being used by all other countries to limit our move west. England/France gave Indians weapons and paid to keep the western lands free of American settlers. We couldn’t do much about it.
- 10. Economy We have a debt. 14 money systems No Gold supply- and $ was based on gold. Uneven taxes… Huge in Massachusetts, NONE in Virginia. Industrial war… by England
- 11. What Worked… Land Ordinance 1785 Land to be surveyed Divided into Townships 6 x 6 miles 36 sq miles (1 sq mile = 640 acres) Land to be sold $1/acre (640 min)
- 12. What Worked… Northwest Ordinances Plan for adding future states Area north of Ohio River/east of the Miss. River 3-5 states 5,000 males = a territory 60,000 = state New states were equal to older ones No slavery!
- 13. Last Straw Shays Rebellion If we decided to STOP paying taxes…what would happen? Today, the government has the power to compel…the A. of C. didn’t. Imagine if the government couldn’t enforce a law!!
- 14. Farmers had to pay taxes in Gold…but were paid for their crops in paper. If you didn’t pay.. Debtors prison Shays led groups to protect themselves They Tarred and feathered tax men Freed anyone in Debtors prison
- 15. The A. of C. couldn’t do anything!! This “revolt” lasted over a year!! What if other people in other states started to do as Shays did? The message was that if Shays couldn’t’ be stopped…This was the Death of the A. of C.
- 16. 2 Party System The population started to split into 2 groups- the people that LIKED the A. of C. and the people that wanted it removed. These people were called the Anti-Federalists And the Federalists
- 17. Which group LIKED the A. of C.? It makes sense if you think about it. Federalists- led by Washington and Hamilton…Adams, Madison… Anti Feds- Jefferson.