After the Revolutionary War - Notes:

October 7, 2008.

Today we took notes during class. Tomorrow we will be taking a quiz on Chapters 5 and 6, so be sure to read the book as well as the notes.

The fighting aspect of the Revolutionary War is finished, but there is still a large impact.

The time coincides with the time in which people were questioning the need for slavery:

• a number of former slaves were set free.
• in the deep south, slavery is renewed.
• the British army released some slaves in GA and SC and other southern states.
• in New England, some slaves fought in the continental army in hopes of freedom; freedom was generally granted.
• in Massachusetts, a female slave won her freedom in a court decision.
• northern states gradually passed emancipation laws.
• all thirteen states had laws for legal slavery before the war, but after the war there were changes.
• Maryland and Virginia gave slave owners the authority to set free slaves.
• slave states in the south maintained their laws.
• South Carolina and Georgia reopened the Atlantic Slave trade (they were the only two states to do so after the war).

Following the war, Americans looked to expand:

• the colonies/U.S. expanded during and after the war.
• Daniel Boone cut the wilderness road from Maryland to Kentucky in 1775.
• after 1780, settlers in Kentucky faced Indian attacks, much like all early settlers did.

Spain and Britain:

• Spain still had territory and gave weapons to the Indians.
• Britain still had forts around the Great Lakes and refused to give up these forts.
• the British argued that the U.S. didn't honor the terms of the Treaty of Paris; they claimed that the U.S. didn't treat the loyalists fairly, so the British refused to vacate.
• Some of the soldiers were promised land to fight, so they had to go West to get land; once again, they faced troubles with the Native Americans.

The Articles of Confederation:

• the Articles of Confederation (A of C) provided the U.S. with a very week national government; but that was its purpose.
• under the A of C, there were achievements.
• Congress convinced the states to give up land claims north of the Ohio River to the national government.
• with the national government holding the land, the Land Ordinance of 1785** was passed by Congress.; this law authorized the surveying of the northwest territory and divided its plots, once the land is surveyed they would divide it into townships, and there are 36 sections in a township.
• once this land was surveyed, it would be sold in auctions and such ($1 per acre); this is the governments way of making money since they didn't tax.
• in 1787, Congress passed the Northwest Ordinance of 1787** - this authorized the creation of 3-5 states; initially they would be territories; Congress would appoint a territorial governor and council until the population reached 5000; once the pop. was at 5000, as assembly could be established; when the pop. reached 60000, settlers could adopt their own constitution and could request to be admitted as a state.
• the Northwest Ordinane had language that protected people's civil liberties, endorsed public education, and prohibited slavery in all of the northwest territory.

Economy:

• following the Revolutionary War, in many places the US economy went into a depression.
• merchants would have to go to court and sue customers in order to get the money they needed to pay England for the goods.
• farmers had to look to the state government to help them.
• the state government started to issue paper money and some states posted laws to postpone the due dates of payments.
• unlike the other states, Mass. raised taxes higher and wanted taxes to be paid in coin (gold and silver).
• in 1786 - farmers in a county in Mass. took matters into their own hands; they decided that the way to protect their farms was to shut down the court.
• 1786- Daniel Shays organized a farmers' attack in which an arsenal was raided and the courts were shut down.; Mass. requested military support from the national government, but the national government didn't have any resources so they asked other states, who refused.
• after some time, a militia in Mass. was formed and they scattered the farmers, who retreated to New Hampshire.
• this event demonstrated that the A of C was not strong enough and that the government was too weak.

The Change:

• Va took the lead and urged all the states to come to a convention in Annapolis, MD.
• the Annapolis convention was basically a failure, but VA and four of the middle states approved a convention in Philedelphia in which the A of C would be revised.
• all states except for Rhode Island attended the Philadelphia convention in 1787; while there, VA proposed the VA plan which was not a revision of the A of C, but a complete change.
• the VA plan called for: a bicameral 2 house legislature; there was no power to tax or regulate trade in the lagislature; the legislature was still dominant; states power in legislature was based on size/population of the state; federal court system and chief executive (unlike the A of C); legislative branch would control who was head of executive branch; called for ratification of new constitution by convention in each of states, not by state legislature.
• the small states didn't like th VA plan because it was based on size and population.
• because of this, a new plan was created called the New Jersey Plan, which was more like amendments to the A of C.
• the NJ plan: gave national Congress/legislature the power to tax imports and to levy a stamp tax; gave power to regulate trade to legislature; national gov. would have power to force states to pay requisitions; instead of states represented by the population, each state would be equal and would have only one vote.

The Compromise:

• the biggest issue which almost causes the convention to fail is how to represent states in the legislative branch.
• the state of Connecticut announced that it would accept a 2-house arrangement with one house (the House of Representatives) based on population, and the other (the Senate) with equal numbers of votes per state.
• the Connecticut Compromise is accepted.
• since this issue is now solved, they then had questions of how to choose a president and how long they should serve, etc.

After the delegates signed:

• after the delegates agreed and signed the new constitution, the states had to ratify it; so all the states held conventions and at least 9 had to ratify.
• the federalists supported the constitution, the antifederalists did not.
• Delaware, Penn., NJ, GA, and Connecticut ratified the constitution quickly.
• Mass. struggled to make a decision; the federalists in Mass. barely win out and had to agree with the antifederalists that a Bill of Rights needed to be created.
• MD and SC then ratified next.
• New Hampshire, VA, New York, NC, had a rough time; the antifederalists were convinced that the national government would be too strong and thought the House of Representatives would be an aristocracy; they wanted a Bill of Rights.
• Alex Hamilton, John Jay, and James Madison wrote essays explaining the constitution and why it should be ratified; these essay are known as the Federalist Papers.
• New Hampshire was the 9th state to ratify; VA and NY ratified as well.
• this left NC; NC waited until the Bill of Rights is written and passed before ratifying.
• Rhode Island took two years after the first state ratifying to ratify the constitution.
• James Madison* is known as the 'father of the convention'; George Washington was there, but he didn't talk much and was president of it to simply regulate or end potential fights/disagreements.

Those are the notes :]