unit 4

Wanted to build a republic

• gov. in which citizens ruled through their elected/appointed representatives

• representation came from states

wanted to create gov. using this principle

• gov. was created by and subject to the will of the people (white men) through their elected representatives

gov. did not have the power to tax so they needed to make money by selling land west of the appalachian mountains

• passed these ordinances to make it easier to buy land for settlers

• too many foreign goods on the market

  • americans are not contributing to their own economy

  • foreign gov. found loopholes in trade laws

• weak diplomatic relationships with british and spanish

  • british are not leaving forts

  • territory disputes with spain

  • loyalists still live in the US

major costs of building a new nation on top of war dept

• state and nation gov need money from people that don’t have it themselves

• causes a big economic slowdown (recession)

wealthy elites put heavy taxes on people in order to get the money they invested in the war back

• higher state taxes put a strain on farmers and poor people

farmers did not like the heavy taxes that were put on them because they could not pay it

• they already did not have money from the war but now they are forced to pay taxes for the war

  • if they did not pay they would go to jail and or lose property (lose the right to vote)

• farmers found this very unfair because they felt they fought for a representative gov. but were not getting one

given all powers that are not given to congress

• has 2-7 representatives but 1 vote in congress

• cannot wage war or make an international alliance

• collect taxes

• committee of states will be given power to run the USA when congress cannot at that moment

• declare war

• regulate currency

• negotiate foreign affairs (treaties)

• command army

• borrow money from states

• 9/13 states have to approve to pass anything

• cannot pass anything without 9/13 states agreeing (supermajority, very hard)

• congress cannot tax

• congress cannot regulate trade (only foreign, not between states)

• no national court

• only 1 vote per state (unfair)

• only 1 branch of gov.

• cannot enforce anything, congress can only as and hope states will do it, if one state does not want to congress cannot force it

• in order to amend they need 13/13 states vote, nearly impossible

• states had equal representation

• successful northwest ordinance/expansion of country

• made some treaties with other countries

• gave power to states and not all of it to congress

• can amend this document but have to reach unanimous vote

dividing the powers equally among state and national governments

There were 55 delegates there and their original mission was to amend the Articles of Confederation (They soon realized they could not amend the document because it was too hard to so they threw it out and started from scratch)

• Congress has the power to collect taxes, pay debts, borrow money; regulate commerce; coin money; establish post offices; protect patents and copyrights; establish lower courts; declare war; and raise and support an Army and Navy.

• Also established the elastic clause

Maintain military, declare war, establish postal system, weights and measure system, protect copyright patents, coin money, make treaties, etc

• Establish local governments, set up schools, regulate state commerce, make regulations for marriage, regulate corporations, etc 

• Do all the rest as long as does not violate nation gov laws

• Collect taxes, regulate interstate commerce, regulate banks, borrow money, provide for general welfare, punish criminals, etc 

• Large states- congress should have 2 houses, delegates should be assigned according to population

• Small states- congress should have one house, each state would have one vote 

• North– enslaves people should no be counted when deciding number of delegates but should be counted when levying taxes

• South- enslaves people should be counted when determining number of representative but should not be counted when levying taxes

• Virginia plan- gov would have 2 houses, both houses would assign according to population 

• NJ plan- legislature would have 1 house, each state would get 1 vote 

• Great compromise- 2 houses, senate would give equal representation and HOR would have  representation according to population 

• In order to compromise for southern states with a majority of their population consisting of slaves, the ⅗ compromise counted enslaved people as ⅗ of a person rather than a whole person. 

• Federal government could not regulate how many people (enslaved people) were imported into the country until 20 years later 

• Checks and balances were created to ensure that no one branch has all the powers

- ex. President can veto a law made by congress and supreme court can rule it unconstitutional

• Judicial- court system, interpret laws

• Legislative- congress, make and establish laws

• Executive- president, enforce the laws 

• Many different ways to amend constitutions, make it difficult but not impossible 

• We have 27 amendments (first 10 are the bill of rights)

• Accuse federal official of a wrongdoing (treason, bribery, high crimes and misdemeanors, and abuse of power) 

• Only the House of representatives has the power to do this, but the senate will hold all the trials 

• ⅔ vote of the senators is required to impeach 

• Only if congress is impeaching president or vice president the chief justice of the supreme court acts as a trial judge 

• Congress has the right to spend public money where they see fit 

• How the president is elected 

• Each state has a representative that chooses (mostly based off popular vote) what way their states want to vote and that person will win all of the states votes

• 538 electors (100 from senate, 435 from HOR, and 3 from D.C.) person has to win 270 votes to win 

• It was created because the Anti-Federalists would not ratify the constitution if the BOR was not added

• federalists- the federalists promised to include a Bill of Rights which would guarantee fundamental rights

• anti-federalists-the Anti-Federalists would agree and ratify if the Bill of Rights were promised

• Gives congress ability to regulate trade and commerce inside states and foreingly 

• Restricts states from impairing interstate commerce, makes sure states don't take advantage of other states, equal opportunities 

• Allows congress to make laws or act where the constitution doesn't give authority, within reason 

• Implied power 

• States must honor the laws and judgements of other states 

• Protects conflict among states and ensures peoples rights 

• Establishes that federal laws takes precedence over state laws and state constitutions

• It is a check on state power

• Requires US to guarantee every state republicanism and government protection from foreign invasion and domestic violence 

• loose- flexible reading of the constitution, giving considerable weight to modern values and social consequences and precedents

• strict-literal reading of the constitution, relying more on the original text or the intent of the framers