91 Journal

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9/1 Journal

• When the Declaration of Independence was written,
  we borrowed ideas about government from many
  different places.
• What ideas about government did we borrow from
  the philosopher John Locke?
• Hint look in notes Declaration of
  Independence

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Roots of Democracy

• The Nations First Governments

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Early State Constitutions

• New Hampshire was the first colony to organize as
  a state and craft a written plan for government,
  or constitution. Other states formed similar
  systems of government.

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Early State Constitutions

• Most state legislatures were bicameraldivided
  into two parts, or houses. Members of the two
  houses were chosen by different methods.

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Early State Constitutions

• Each state had an elected governor to carry out
  the laws and judges and courts to interpret the
  laws.
• Most state constitutions included a bill of
  rights.

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Early State Constitutions

• The Massachusetts constitution was different from
  the others. It distributed power more evenly
  among the legislature, governor, and courts. It
  gave the governor and the courts the authority to
  check the legislature.

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Early State Constitutions

• The constitution itself was not created by the
  legislature but by a convention of elected
  delegates.

8
Early State Constitutions

• The Massachusetts constitution would later become
  the model for the U.S. Constitution.

9
Early State Constitutions

• Under the state constitutions, what were the jobs
  of the legislature, the governor, and the courts?

10
The Articles of Confederation

• Separately, the states could not maintain a large
  army to fight the British. For this and other
  reasons, the Second Continental Congress made a
  plan for union called the Articles of
  Confederation.

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The Articles of Confederation

• A confederation is a group of individuals who
  band together for a common purpose.

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The Articles of Confederation

• The Articles set up a one-house legislature. As a
  result of bad experiences with the British
  government, the states refused to give Congress
  the power to tax or to enforce its laws.

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The Articles of Confederation

• Congress could not require the states to give
  money or do anything else.

14
The Articles of Confederation

• The states ratified, or approved, the Articles.
  Soon, serious problems became clear.

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The Articles of Confederation

• Strict voting requirements to pass laws or amend
  (change) the Articles made it difficult for
  Congress to accomplish anything.

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The Articles of Confederation

• Even when it passed laws, Congress could not
  enforce them. States could just ignore the laws.

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The Articles of Confederation

• The Treaty of Paris was signed in 1783, ending
  the Revolutionary War.

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The Articles of Confederation

• Unable to collect taxes, Congress had borrowed to
  pay for the war. The states had also run up deep
  debts.

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The Articles of Confederation

• To pay their debts, the states overtaxed their
  citizens and even taxed goods from other states
  and foreign countries.
• The Confederation Congress had no power to solve
  these problems.

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The Articles of Confederation

• Daniel Shays, an indebted farmer, felt the state
  had no right to take his farm away because of a
  problem the state had created. He led an
  uprising, known as Shayss Rebellion.

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The Articles of Confederation

• This unrest swayed leaders toward revising the
  Articles of Confederation to create a stronger
  national government.

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The Articles of Confederation

• What problems did the tax practices of the states
  cause for their citizens after the Revolutionary
  War?

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Compare and Contrast
Read 39-42 with your partner and complete the
chart by listing features of state constitutions
and the Articles of Confederation.