2. Articles of Confederation, 1777
• first written constitution.
• guaranteed sovereignty of states.
• created a national government, but
most powers to states.
• disagreement over W land claims --
should land be ceded to national
government?
• ratified by all 13 in 1781.
• Continental Congress acted as
though Articles passed.
3. finances of Continental Congress
under Articles of Confederation
• no direct taxes on individuals.
• could apportion taxes among states.
• Congress financed revolution by
– grants & loans from friendly countries.
– issuing paper money – Continentals.
4. Treaty of Paris, 1783
• recognition of
independence.
• withdrawal of
British forces.
• fish in N Atlantic.
• goal: as much terri-
tory as possible.
• negotiations with
French & Spanish.
• Mississippi River
access.
7. stay tuned
• other revolutions and wars rapidly changed
Americans lives and borders of the US in years
after the Revolution.
– French Revolution, 1789 – 1799.
– Haitian slave revolution – St. Domingue, 1791 –
1804.
– Napoleonic wars in Europe, 1799 – 1815.
• America remained connected to Europe &
Caribbean.
8. results of Revolution
• army officers wanted to collect life pensions as
bonuses from Congress.
• possible military coup.
• Washington resigned as
general; could have become
military dictator.
• established principle of military subordination
to civil authority.
9. results of Revolution
• the West and Indians – more settlers.
• African Americans – mixed results, depending
on area of country.
• politics
• finances
• inadequacy of Confederation led to
Constitution.
• Bill of Rights.
10. the West
• British abandoned Indian allies.
• during & after war, settlers migrated
over mountains & down Ohio River valley.
• Confederation Congress created method for
Western territories to become states equal to
original 13.
• surveyed & auctioned public lands seized from
Indians.
• Congress sold 1.5 million acres to Ohio Company.
11. Northwest Ordinance,
1787
• 3 to 5 states to be created & admitted to
nation as equals.
• slavery prohibited north of Ohio River.
• president of Ohio Company chosen governor.
• creation of land system & system to become
states was the major accomplishment of
Confederation government.
13. African Americans
• some slaves were freed, by multiple methods
– fighting for Patriots, Loyalists, British.
– running away.
– manumission.
– purchasing selves, families, friends.
• free people of color became primarily urban.
• slow demise of slavery in North.
• rapid expansion of slavery in South, especially
lower South & lower Mississippi Valley.
14. Northern states
• all N states legislated abolition of slavery, but
slaveholders resisted, created new ways to retain labor.
• middle states very slowly emancipated enslaved.
• free people of color became more urban, slaves more
rural.
• free people of color created institutions
– churches, schools, fraternal organizations
– named them “African.”
• free people of color
– changed names, found own jobs, took own residences.
– developed class differences, between respectable & not.
16. Upper South
• many slaves fled, including “property” of
founding fathers.
• planters condemned slave trade; saw slavery
as necessary evil.
• tobacco ceased to be dominant crop; mixed
farming.
• mostly rural; free people & enslaved very
intertwined, unlike North. More Af-Am unity.
• excess slaves, so some sold farther south.
18. Lower South & lower Mississippi Valley
• planters pushed to reopen slave trade w Africa.
• rapid expansion of slavery, from lower South
moving west, from Gulf Coast moving north.
• new crops: cotton in SC & GA, expanded into
back country. Sugar in Louisiana.
• violence toward slaves increased.
• development of 3-caste society:
white, slaves, and mixed race free people. Free
people identified with slaveholders, Euro-
American culture.
20. politics
• new state legislatures included more rural &
western men: farmers & artisans, as well as
lawyers, merchants, large landowners.
• varied state constitutions, with democratic &
conservative elements.
• Virginia Declaration of Rights, 1776 (precedent
to Bill of Rights) – George Mason.
• states abolished entail & primogeniture (1st
son inherits all).
21. politics
• Bill for Establishing Religious Freedom –
Jefferson, Virginia – to remove established
church (supported & funded by state
government).
22. finances
• British blockade resulted in inflation during
Revolutionary War.
• depression after war.
• huge debt from war. Merchants & speculators
wanted to have loans repaid in full.
• average farmers had no cash.
• Britain remained major trading partner.
23. Shay’s Rebellion, 1786
• western Massachusetts.
• farmers closed courts where
debtors were being sued.
• conservative nationalists
unhappy states had so much
power; believed there was
too much democracy.
24. next week
• the Constitution & its compromises
• Federalist Papers
• student evaluations of class.
