Founding Fathers of the newly formed United States of America



Founding Fathers of the newly formed United States of America

Situation: We have won the war for independence; we fought from July 4, 1776 until March 1781 and settled our war with England with the Treaty of Paris in September 1783.

How should we as founding fathers set up our newly formed nation?

Here is what we know – England’s form of Government

|Government in England in 1700’s |Issues with England brought up by the colonists |

| | |

|King George III has assumed the throne, and unlike his father and|Taxation without representation |

|grandfather, George desires a more powerful monarchy. He stacks |Mercantilism – limited our ability to trade with other nations |

|the Parliament in his favor, but meets with public disapproval. | |

| |Grievances (angers) of the colonists found in the Declaration of |

|Parliament: statutes passed by Parliament are the UK’s (Englands)|Independence |

|supreme and final source of law |obstruction of the administration of justice |

| |new offices, and sent swarms of officers to harass out people, |

|Parliament consists of House of Lords and House of Commons. House|and eat our substance |

|of Lords (hereditary) and House of Commons (non hereditary) |kept among us, in times of peace, standing armies without the |

| |consent of our legislature. |

| |he has quartered large bodies of troops among us |

| |taking away our charters (laws made in the colonies) and altering|

| |the forms of our government. |

| |took our government away by declaring us of his protection and |

| |waging war against us. |

How should we as founding fathers set up our newly formed nation?

As a group come up with 4 guiding principles for our new government:

example: only a body of representatives from the states can levy (put in place) taxes

(think about who should have more power – a king like figure? a congress? the states themselves?)

1)

2)

3)

4)

Add these to dot storming – one member of your pod… (attached to google classroom)

Article of Confederation – the United States of America’s new form of government

Confederation definition: a group of people, countries, organizations, that are joined together in some activity or effort – in our case it is the 13 states joining together to be one country

1. So how should they join together?

Should they have a powerful central government? Why do the colonists see that as a problem?

2. Instead they compromise with the Article of Confederation – which includes both a central government (weak) and strong individual state governments.

Article II of the Articles of confederation: Each State retains its sovereignty, freedom and independence, and every power jurisdiction, and right which is not…e expressly delegated to the US , in Congress assembled.

How powerful is the state?

3. The colonists did put in place a Congress (central government) yet it included a delegation form each state that meet once a year. There rights included: Declare war, raise armies, and sign treaties. Why is it important to have a congress that can declare war?

4. The Congress could not – impose taxes or regulate trade. Why is this a problem? What are taxes used for?

5. Therefore the Confederation (congress) raised money by selling the land west of the Appalachian Mountains. They created the Northwest Ordinances.

1. Congress would choose a governor, secretary, and three judges for each district.

2. When there were 5000 adult male citizens in a district, they could elect their own legislature

3. When the population of a district reached 60,000 it could apply to become a state.

4. Certain rights were guaranteed including freedom of religion, property rights, and right to trial by jury

5. Slavery was made illegal though out the territory.

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Why is this considered a success of the new government?

6. How did the US move from only trading with Britain to trading with the rest of the world?

Congress sent trade representatives to negotiate trade treaties with other countries, including Holland, Prussia, and Sweden, France. Resulting n the trade of the US being greater than the trade of the American colonies before the revolution.

What is the benefit to the US by having big trade networks?

7. Within the colonies trade was a problem, no one regulated trade between states, therefore states started taxing (duties) of other states goods. New York taxed firewood from Connecticut and cabbage from New Jersey, therefore New Jersey taxed New York for a harbor lighthouse in New Jersey.

Why is this a problem?

8. Page 100 – Problems with Trade and Diplomacy

Using the box on the bottom:

answer 1: Why did British exports to the American colonies drop so steeply after 1775?

answer 2: What was the effect of the national governments’ inability to regulate interstate trade under the Articles of Confederation?

9. Page 101 – Problems with Diplomacy

1. What was the problem with Britain after the Treaty of Paris?

2. What was the problem with Spain after the United States was established?

10. Go to the Study Guide – fill out Northwest Ordinance and #8

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