Chapter 6

THE REPUBLICAN EXPERIMENT

The States: Experiments in Republicanism

• State constitutions served as experiments in republican government

• Lessons later applied to constructing central government

• Major break with England’s unwritten constitution

Natural Rights and the State Constitutions

• State constitutions guaranteed natural rights– Freedom of religion– Freedom of speech– Freedom of the press– Private property– Trial by jury

• Governors weakened• Elected legislatures given most power

Government under Articles of Confederation

• In charge of foreign and Native American relations, military, and disputes between states

Weaknesses of Articles of Confederation

• Articles of Confederation severely limited central government’s authority over states

• Each state had one vote• No executive or judicial branch• No taxing power– States taxed each other’s goods

• Amendments required unanimity• No national currency

Crises of Lack of Power

• Barbary pirates raided ships in Mediterranean• Unable to protect settlers from Indians• Shay’s Rebellion (1787)– Tax revolt of indebted veterans– Symbolized breakdown in law and order as

perceived by propertied classes

• Strengthened support for new central government

Northwest Ordinance: The Confederation’s Major Achievement• Land Ordinance– Orderly division of land into sections and

townships– One section set aside to finance school system– Banned slavery in NW territory

• Provided for eventual statehood of new lands

Northwest Territory

Land Ordinance of 1785

The Nationalist Critique

• Restoration of trade with Britain caused trade deficit and hard currency shortage

• Congress unable to address trade, inflation, and debt

Strengthening Federal Authority

• Dissatisfaction with Articles of Confederation• May 1786—Annapolis Convention agreed to

meet again, revise Articles

Independence Hall