Revolution v. Evolution
Exodus of loyalists > social democracy > new state constitutions > economic changes
1777 - Articles of Confederation adopted by the Continental Congress as our first Constitution
- Ratification delayed by controversy over the western lands until 1781
- Structure and weaknesses > transparency & p. 132-133
- But a significant stepping-stone toward the Constitution
1785 - Land Ordinance
1787 - Northwest Ordinance
Foreign policy problems:
1. Great Britain continued to occupy forts in the NW
2. France demanded repayment of wartime loans
3. Spain still controlled the mouth of the Mississippi River
4. Barbary Coast (N. Africa) pirates threatened American trade in the Mediterranean
Domestic problems:
1. National debt
2. Boundary disputes among the states
3. Shays' rebellion in 1786 (Mass.) against mortgage foreclosures > "mobocracy"?
Debate: States rights v. a stronger national government
*Interstate squabbling over the control of commerce >
1786 - Annapolis Convention >
1787 - Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia
- 55 delegates who were conservative nationalists
- James Madison > "Father of the Constitution"
A bundle of compromises:
- The Great Compromise between large & small states
- Electoral College
- Three-fifths Compromise"
- Slave trade until 1807
Ratification required by 2/3 (9) of the state conventions
Federalist v. antifederalists - map on p. 143
- Alarmed by the absence of a Bill of Rights
Constitution officially adopted on June 21, 1788
New York finally ratified following publication of the Federalist papers - especially Madison's Federalist #10, which argued that it was possible to extend a republican (representative) form of government over a large territory
A conservative triumph?