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Declaration of Independence
The Declaration of Independence is a declaration declaring independence from Great Britain. It was written by Thomas Jefferson in the summer of 1776. When it came time to make edits, Jefferson wasn’t happy. The final draft was ratified on July 4, 1776. -
Articles of Confederation
The Articles of Confederation created some order in the US as well as created a stepping stone to a new nation. However, After it was created, the US started having money problems as well as disputes between the states over western lands. -
The Land Ordinance of 1785
It was a system for surviving and settling in the northwest territory. The law called for the territory to be divided into townships. The townships were divided up into sections and were bought according to size. One section in each township for schools. -
The Northwest Ordinance
In 1785 the Northwest Ordinance set up a government for the northwest territory, it guaranteed rights to settlers and outlawed slavery. It also provided a chance for these townships to become territories in the future. Once the territory had 60,000 free settlers it could be admitted as a new state. -
Shay's Rebellion
Shay’s Rebellion is a gathering of angry farmers who didn’t want to pay taxes. The leader was a man named Daniel Shays from Massachusetts. He planned on taking over an arsenal to take cannons and guns. Shay’s Rebellion happened in the summer of 1786 in Massachusetts. -
Constitutional Convention
The constitutional convention happened because a lot of people thought that the Articles of Confederation were not good enough to keep the country going. They had this convention because they needed to create a new constitution that would please everybody and to be able to have a functioning government that didn’t give too much power to any singular person, state,or group. -
Virginia Plan
The Virginia Plan is a plan that’s government has two houses where one has people elected by the people for 3-year terms and the other has older people elected for 7-year terms based on population. This plan was suggested in 1787. Not only does it have two houses, but it has three branches of government: legislative, executive, and judicial. These two houses and three branches are suggested to make a strong government. -
The Great Compromise
In 1787 Roger Sherman had the idea of the Great Compromise. It was a good compromise because it meets both of the previous plan’s (Virginia Plan and New Jersey Plan) expectations. It made everyone happy. -
New Jersey Plan
The New Jersey Plan is a plan in response to the Virginia Plan. It has three branches of government, like the Virginia Plan, but it only has one legislative house. This helped the smaller states get a vote in legislature, because it gave each state a vote, no matter how big or small their population was. William Paterson presented the plan after two weeks of debate about the Virginia Plan. -
The Constitution is Signed
After the constitution was signed in 1787 it went into action. All of the things that were written in it were made law. There was celebrations all over the new nation. There were some problems because the nation was still weak currency-wise. -
The Agreement Over Slavery
The agreement over slavery was that southern states could have slaves for the next 20 years but after that twenty years, the slaves would become free and the slave owners could do nothing about it. It was good because 1 slavery is bad and 2 it would give more power to the northern states in congress. It would be bad because the southern states would have less power in congress as well as their farms would become weaker because they wouldn’t have free laborers to work the fields. -
The 3/5th's Compromise
In 1787 the 3/5’s Compromise was a plan that would help southern states to become more populated but not being completely unfair. To elaborate, it would make 3000 of every 5000 slaves counted in the population. It would make it good because it would give the southern states more power in the House of Representatives. It would be bad for the northern states because it would give them less power in congress. -
The Federalist Position
The federalists believed that the constitution was a great document and wanted it to be ratified. They fought and spoke out to get it approved. Some of the main federalist were Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay -
The Anti-Federalist Position
The anti-federalists were against ratifying the constitution. They believed that it gave too much power to the national government and not enough power to the states themselves. The main anti-federalist was a man by the name of Patrick Henry -
The States Vote to Ratify
Well there to have the constitution ratified, it needed 9 out of the 13 colonies to ratify it for it to go into action. All of the states had many conventions on if they were going to ratify the constitution or not. After each session they would vote, and if it was very close, they kept talking but if it was unanimous, they would be one of the states to ratify the constitution. -
The Amendment Process
The amendment process can be done in two ways. One way is that it can be proposed by the congress only if two thirds of each house approves it. Another way is that two thirds of the states can request special conventions to propose amendments. Next, the amendment must be approved by three fourths of the states. If it is approved, then it becomes an amendment to the constitution -
The Bill of Rights
The bill of rights are the rights that people have that can never be taken away from them. It matters because it sets out in writing what every american citizens rights are, and that those rights are theirs and can never be taken from them.-1791
