AOC- Articles of Confederation

1. AOC- Articles of Confederation • Now that we’ve declared independence we need a powerful plan to preserve this union. The AOC, ratified in 1781, was NOT that document!

2. WARNING! • Articles of Confederation - • “Rope of sand” lurching from mere incompetence to complete dissolution • Joseph Ellis, American Creation

3. WARNING! • “Without some alteration in our political creed, the superstructure we have been seven years raising at the expense of much blood and treasure must fall. We are fast verging to anarchy and confusion.” • G.Washington to James Madison • 5 November 1786

4. Life in the years 1786-1787 Most Americans regarded the Confederation Congress as just some distant irrelevant organization. It was their local and state gov’ts that was the meaningful source of authority. Most average citizens did not see or nor care about the inadequacies of the AOC. It was men of a more nationalistic vision who would create the world’s greatest document for rule by the people. Joseph Ellis American Creation

5. AOC

6. Structure of Govt Under AOC Type of govt: confederation CONGRESS Structure of govt • Duties • make war and peace • send and receive ambassadors • make treaties • borrow money • Set up money system • establish post office system • build navy • raise an army by asking states for troops • fix uniform standards of weights and measures • settle disputes b/w states executive- presiding officer of Congress - 1 year term. legislative- delegates elected as states wished judicial- Committee of Congress to handle judicial matters

7. Structure of Govt Under AOC STATES Type of govt: confederation • Responsibilities • Obey Articles and Acts of Congress • Duties • Provide funds and troops requested by Congress • Treat citizens of other states fairly • All powers not given to Congress belong to the states • Responsible for protecting life and property of citizens

8. Weakness of AOC

9. Life in the years 1786-1787 Four issues convince founding fathers we need a rewrite of the AOC! 1. Navigation rights on Mississippi River - John Jay’s treaty 2. Insurrection in Massachusetts - Shay’s Rebellion 3. Failure of the Annapolis Convention. 4. George Washington Joseph Ellis American Creation

10. Mississippi River Rights • John Jay proposed giving up the trading rights in the Mississippi R. (for 25 years!) in exchange for a very lucrative trade contract with Spain! • Northern States liked that! • Va. and others were alarmed! They • were based on westward • expansion! Proof sectional interests were dominating. Those western lands were everything to G. Washington, GB, Va., debt recovery, authority of AOC....

11. Shay’s Rebellion • 1786 • 10 days that changed the course of America • Our 1st civil war?

12. Shay’s Rebellion Shays' Rebellion-  An uprising led by Daniel Shays, it was an armed rebellion that spanned from 1786 to 1787.  It was mostly composed of poor farmers, protesting the heavy taxes and debts.  It was triggered by mortgage foreclosures in western Massachusetts, and the rebels used symbols of liberty in a tie to the revolutionary spirit of the uprising. The lack of governmental response heavily emphasized the need for a stronger federal government, and thus gave rise to the  Constitutional Convention of 1787.

13. KORN and Chaos http://www.zunetracks.net/?p=860

14. Shay’s Rebellion It is with the deepest and most heartfelt concern, I perceive by some late paragraphs extracted from the Boston papers, that the Insurgents of Massachusetts, far from being satisfied with the redress offered by their general Court, are still acting in open violation of law and government, and have obliged the chief Magistrate in a decided tone to call upon the Militia of the State to support the Constitution. What, gracious God, is man! that there should be such inconsistency and perfidiousness in his conduct? It is but the other day, that we were shedding our blood to obtain the Constitutions under which we now live; Constitutions of our own choice and making; and now we are unsheathing the sword to overturn them. The thing is so unaccountable, that I hardly know how to realize it, or to persuade myself that I am not under the illusion of a dream. G. Washington to David Humphries Dec. 26, 1786

15. Shay’s Rebellion It was not the massive insurrection as claimed. It was not lawless mob. It was not former Tories. It was not debtors. It was former Revolutionary soldiers. Daniel Shay had a sword w/ hilt of gold given to him by hero Lafayette. They were not debtors as much as victims of war inflation and new post war trade restrictions. It was demands by creditors for CASH. Land rich, cash poor. It was small towns with local court seats filing bankruptcy actions and auctioning neighbors’ farms.

16. Shay’s Rebellion

17. Annapolis Convention It was dead b4 it began. Annapolis Convention- A convention held in September 1786 to discuss the problems of the new Constitution, which involved trade and navigation. The gathering was a failure, as only 12 delegates showed up in  an effort to revise the flawed AOC. A second meeting was planned in Philadelphia “to render the Constitution of the Federal Government adequate to the exigencies of the Union.”

18. Mt. Vernon Compact Today Mt. Vernon Compact said even though Md. owned the river Va. had the right to build on its own river banks. Mt. Vernon compact still stands valid today. 1990 Va wanted to river intake from Potomac River to serve Fairfax. Md. said no according to original Kings Charter and their own state constitution. Supreme Ct. said Va. was within its legal limits due to Mt. Vernon Compact.

19. CHAOS • If the masses were turbulent and unregenerate and yet the gov’t must be founded upon their suffarage and consent, what could a Constitution-maker do? • 18th c felt strongly they could not change the nature of man (Hobbes). • Too much to expect vice could be checked by virture so the Fathers relied upon checking vice with vice. Richard Hofstadter, The American Political Tradition

20. The Ultimate Game Strategist Ambition must be made to counteract ambition

21. In Virginia: It was all about Jefferson’s bill for religious freedom. Anglican clergy became fearmongers. It was paper money schemes designed to swindle creditors by permitting debts to be paid off in wildly inflated currency. It was candidates irresponsibly promising to eliminate all taxes. Joseph Ellis American Creation

22. In the Confederation Congress (AOC) It was persistent absenteeism. It was utter disregard for the rising national debt. It was Rhode Island. Joseph Ellis American Creation

23. He knew he had to get one man and one man only on board to complete what would be a bloodless coup of the AOC. That man had recently retired (for what would be the first of two retirements)