Forming A

New Nation

When Americans
declared independence
in 1776,
they needed to form
a new government
They wanted to form
a republic where
citizens vote for
elected leaders
to represent them
They wanted
to protect
citizens &
individual
states from a
powerful

national

King George
III

The American
republic would
be a more
enlightened
version of the
Roman Senate

When independence was declared,

the 13 colonies became independent
states

Each state had its

own constitution,
legislature,
& an elected
governor;
But,
the USA
8 states
hadneeded
Bills of
Rights

a national govt to
do things that states
could not, like sign
treaties
&Americas
form a military
1st

national govt was

the
Articles of Confederation

(1777-1789)

This confederation style govt loosely

connected the states under a weak
national government

Each state could send between 2-7

representatives to the national congress, but
each state had only 1 vote
To pass a law,
Confederati
9 of the 13
states had to
agree

on
Government
in New York
City

The national congress could

make laws, settle disputes
between states, negotiate
treaties, handle Indian

But all other

powers were
left up to the
states

Americans did not want to

re-create a powerful govt
like the one they just fought
the Revolutionary War
to break away Confederati
from

on
Government
in New York
City

So, the
national govt
had
no president
& could not
tax the states
or citizens

Western
Land
Claims,
1783
Western
Lands,
1783
The lands
between the
Appalachian
Mountains &
Mississippi River
that were
acquired from
the British in
1783 were
claimed by
numerous
states. Many of

of Settlement,
TheAreas
United
States, 1783
1783

The Articles
established a good
system of settling

Western
Land
Claims
Ceded
by the
First, states
had
States
cede
(give up) their
claims to lands
in the west to
the national
govt

r
e
g
n
i
R
l
Bel
9/12

Answer the following

questions about the
provided cartoon:
1.According to the
men in this cartoon,
what is the first
required task after
declaring
Independence?
2.What is the name
of this new
government?
3.This new
government resolves

Congress passed
the
Land Ordinance of
1785
to create an orderly
way
to divide the west
into townships &
farms
Selling western
lands was the only
way the national
govt could generate
money since it did

Section
16 of the each
Land Ordinance
of 1785
township was set aside for
a public school

The Northwest
Ordinance
of
Northwest
Ordinance
of 1787
1787 gave government to the
territories
When a
territory had
5,000
residents,
it could
create
a selfWhen a
governing
territory
legislature
had 60,000
residents,
it could apply
to become a
U.S. state
Slavery was outlawed in

The Articles of
The weakness
Confederation was
the
national
Americas 1st form of
govt was
Later, these
same
govt
originally seen
weaknesses keptConfederati
the
as good
on
govt from solving
Government
because it
serious national
in New York
eliminated
City
problems
tyranny

The inability of the

government to collect
taxes led to problems
Confederati
on
Government
in New York
City

U.S. Trade with Britain, 1783-1789

America could not
pay off debts
from
the Revolutionary
War
Debt

Shays Rebellion
proved to be the
convincing event
that
led to the
Constitutional
Convention of 1787

Property
foreclosures led an
uprising among
Massachusetts
farmers called
Shays Rebellion in
1787 but the
govt could not pay
Poor farmers in
western
MAtowere
for
an army
stop
angered itover high
taxes & prospect
of debtors jail
Daniel Shays led
an uprising &
closed debt courts
& threatened a

After Shays
people like
Americas
FirstRebellion,
National Government:
Hamilton
Madison
began calling for a
The &
Articles
of Confederation
stronger national govt
In 1787,
Instead of revising
delegates met in
the Articles of
Philadelphia to
Confederation, the
discuss ways to delegates replaced it
improve the
with the Constitution
Articles