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Declaration of Indpendance
The Declaration of Independence declared independence from Britain in 1776. The Declaration of Independence had 4 key ideals. These included Equality, Consent of the Governed, The Right to Alter or Abolish Government, and The Right to Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. -
Articles of Confederation
In 1777 the war had ended and a national government was needed to fight against the British. The states have too much power, other countries are picking on America. there is no president, and America is a disaster. -
Land Ordinance of 1785
The Land Ordinance of 1785 set up a system surveying and settling the Northwest territory. The purpose was essentially to repay debts. This was good because one section in a township was blocked for schools which promoted public education. -
Shay's Rebellion
In 1786 and 1787 Shays Rebellion took place in Massachusetts. Shays Rebellion was a protest by farmers against state and local enforcement of tax collection and debt following the Revolution. -
The Constitutional Convention
The Constitutional Convention met to address the problems of the weak central government under the Articles of Confederation. Although they met to revise the Articles of Confederation they ended up with a whole new constitution. -
Virginia Plan
Edmund Randolph and James Madison proposed the Virginia plan that called for three branches. Legislative would pass laws and consist of two houses. Seats in each house would be based on population. Executive branch would carry out laws, and the judicial branch would decide if laws were carried out fairly. This was good because Virginia knew that they had the biggest population and that if votes were by population they would have the best chance. -
New Jersey Plan
William Patterson proposed the New Jersey plan which had three branches of government, but only one house in legislature. In legislature each state had one vote regardless of population. This was good because for small states like NJ they had an equal vote with the bigger states rather than by population where they had the smallest population. -
The 3/5ths compromise
The 3/5’s compromise was southerners wanting slaves part of the population which would let those states have more representatives in the house.. But northerners had no slaves so they would have smaller population counts and therefore less representatives in the house. -
Slavery Agreement
The Agreement over slavery was northerners could not stop slaves being returned to their owner. southerners said that banning slaves would ruin their economy. They could not outlaw the slave trade for 20 years. -
Northwest Oridnance
The Northwest Ordinance was a law that set up a government for the Northwest territory, it guaranteed basic rights to settlers, outlawed slavery and provided for the vast region to be divided into separate territories in the future. It was good because this provided a way to admit new states to the nation, and guaranteed that new states would be treated the same as the original 13 states. -
The Great Compromise
Roger Sherman proposed two house legislature. House of Representatives would be elected by popular vote, seats in lower house would be awarded to states according to population, Senate would be chosen by state legislatures and each state would have two senators. This was a good compromise because it accommodated for both the small and large states no matter what population. -
Constitution is signed
After the constitution was signed states must ratify and 9 of the 13 endorse it if the constitution should go into effect. -
The Federalist Position
James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and John Jay were the main federalists. The federalist position gave too much power to each state. It also made the confederation government unable to function. -
The Anti Federalist Position
Patrick Henry,the main anti federalist, and other people thought that the constitution gave the president to much power. -
The States Vote to Ratify
One by one the states signed to ratify the constitution, New York and Virginia were the last to ratify for constitution to be adopted which required approval of 9 of 13 states. But at the end all the state ratify. -
The Amendment Process
The framers had set up a way to amend the constitution, they didn’t want people to take the changes lightly. Thus made it very difficult to amend the constitution. ¾ of the states must approve to amend the constitution before it goes into effect. -
The Bill of Rights
The first ten amendments are also known as the Bill of Rights. The Bill of Rights just prevents the government from taking these rights away. This was important because it gives us freedom and shows us our limits of what we can do.
