Consider: What were some of the major causes (real or perceived) of the American Revolution?

Homework: Assignment 4 for Thursday

THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE,

THE ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION

AND

THE FRAMERS’ DILEMMA

P G O V E R N M E N T A N D P O L I T I C S :C H A P T E R 2

Independence, Confederation, Convention

Roots of the New American Nation

Trade and Taxation Mercantilism

Strict import/export controls - Widely ignored *Costly French and Indian War

New taxes on sugar (Sugar Act) and paper items (Stamp Act) “No taxation without representation”

First Steps Toward Independence Stamp Act Congress formed to address grievances Boston Massacre

Continental Congress First and Second Continental Congress

Declaration of Independence

2.1

Steps to the Constitution

Declaration of Independence Preceded by Lee’s Resolution in June of 1776

The Articles of Confederation

The meeting at Mt. Vernon

The Annapolis Convention – and another Lee Resolution

Lee’s Resolution for Independence

At the 2nd Continental Congress By Richard Henry Lee, a delegate from Virginia, at the behest of that

state’s legislature May of 1776

3 sections: Resolved, That these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free

and independent States, that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved.

That it is expedient forthwith to take the most effectual measures for forming foreign Alliances.

That a plan of confederation be prepared and transmitted to the respective Colonies for their consideration and approbation.

Tabled for a few weeks, DoI was written in this “off period” Once approved in early July, DoI was officially approved

The Declaration of Independence

Drafted mainly by Jefferson, with minor edits from Committee of 5 (mostly Franklin and Adams)

Officially adopted by Continental Congress on morning of July 4th, but not engrossed and signed until August Lee Resolution for Independence adopted on July 2nd

The Declaration of Independence is made up of five distinct parts: the introduction; the preamble; the body, which can be divided into two sections; and a conclusion. Think of it as a “break up note”…

At the National Archives

The Declaration of Independence

Section 2: Declaration of Natural Rights“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among

these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers

from the consent of the governed. That whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends, it is

the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its

powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness.

Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable,

than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed.

But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their

right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security. –

What elements of Locke’s philosophy are evident in this section?

Consider: How did the experiences of the colonists under the King influence the Articles of

Confederation?

Homework: Assignment 5 for Monday; AoC Collaborize for Tuesday

The Articles of Confederation

Describe the type of gov. that existed under the AoC. Branches of government

Why/how did each of these aspects weaken the AoC? No Chief Executive Laws needed 9/13 states to be

approved No power to tax, only request $$ No power to raise army, only request No national court system Amendments must be agreed to by all

states No power to settle interstate disputes

-A plan for national government drafted in 1777 to bring order to the nation and govern during and after the revolution.-- Fully went into effect in 1781

A Return to the Articles

For these reasons, it has become accepted knowledge that the Articles of Confederation failed, and led to the adoption of a constitution which created a stronger central government… but some today contend that a return to this document

might solve some of our current problems…

Consider: What was the dilemma that the Framers faced in trying to correct the

problems with the AoC?

Homework: Assignment 5 for Monday; Collaborize for Tuesday

The DilemmaDuring the 1780’s, what did many people in the United

States come to realize? What was the dilemma that the Framers faced in trying to correct this

problem?Madison, in Federalist 37…

“It has been shown in these papers, …the existing Confederation is founded on principles which are fallacious; … It has been shown, that the other confederacies which could be consulted as precedents have been vitiated (reduced in value) by the same erroneous principles, and can therefore furnish no other light than that of beacons, which give warning of the course to be shunned, without pointing out that which ought to be pursued. The most that the convention could do in such a situation, was to avoid the errors suggested by the past experience of other countries, as well as of our own; and to provide a convenient mode of rectifying their own errors, …

Among the difficulties encountered by the convention, a very important one must have lain in combining the requisite stability and energy in government, with the inviolable attention due to liberty and to the republican form.”

Lesser Known Steps to the Convention

The Mt. Vernon Conference (March 1785) Proposed a number of agreements between Virginia and Maryland relating to

the regulation of navigation and interstate commerce on the Potomac River and Chesapeake Bay.

Some agreements were reached there, but feeling that similar problems were common to all the states, the delegates recommended a general conference.

In January 1786, Virginia invited all the states to a special meeting at Annapolis in September to discuss commercial issues.

The Annapolis Convention (Sept. 1786) 12 representatives from 5 states met; agreed a larger meeting was necessary “That there are important defects in the system of the Federal Government is

acknowledged by the Acts of all those States, which have concurred in the present Meeting; That the defects, upon a closer examination, may be found greater and more numerous, than even these acts imply, is at least so far probable, from the

embarrassments which characterize the present State of our national affairs, foreign and domestic, …

Under this impression, Your Commissioners, …suggest … if the States, by whom they have been respectively delegated, would [undertake] in the appointment of

Commissioners, to meet at Philadelphia on the second Monday in May next, to take into consideration the situation of the United States, to devise such further

provisions as shall appear to them necessary to render the constitution of the Federal Government adequate to the exigencies of the Union; “

Mindset of the Framers

What was the mandate given to the delegates sent to Philadelphia in 1787? Why did they choose to exceed that mandate? Was this necessary? How might we have responded to

the nature of the convention in today’s society?If the Convention did exceed its authority,

should it have anyway? 

Video: The Big Picture

http://media.pearsoncmg.com/ph/hss/SSA_SHARED_MEDIA_1/polisci/presidency/OConner_Ch02_The_Constitution_Seg1_v2.html

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