A New Nation and Its Constitution

The United States had a national government before the Constitution. Its first plan was the Articles of Confederation. Congress wrote the Articles in 1777, during the Revolutionary War. All thirteen states had approved them by March 1, 1781, when they took effect.

Why keep the center weak?

Many Americans remembered being ruled from faraway Britain. They believed the king and Parliament had used power unfairly. They feared that a strong national government might take away their freedom again.

A confederation joins states that keep most of their own power. Under the Articles, state governments held most power. People felt these governments were closer and easier to watch.

A government built around Congress

Congress was the main national body. Each state sent delegates, or chosen speakers, but received just one vote. Virginia had many more people than Delaware. They still had equal votes.

There was no separate president to carry out national laws. Congress used committees to do that work. There was no permanent national court system, either. For a disagreement between states, Congress could arrange a special court. Creating a court for each dispute took time.

Congress could declare war, make peace, sign treaties (agreements with other countries), and borrow money. It also ran a post office and dealt with Native nations. But it could not collect taxes or control trade. It could ask states for help, without being able to make them obey.

What the Articles achieved

The states stayed together through the end of the war. The Treaty of Paris recognized American independence in 1783. Congress also passed the Northwest Ordinance in 1787. It provided a path to statehood for territory north of the Ohio River. New states would be equal to the original thirteen. The law also banned slavery in that territory.

Try describing this government through its jobs. Who makes national decisions? Congress. Who carries them out? Congress and its committees, with help from states. Who settles a state border dispute? A special court could be created. This helps you picture how much depended on one body.

The Articles and the Constitution were different plans. The Articles operated from 1781 to 1789. The Constitution later replaced them.

A government needs ways to carry out its decisions. Under the Articles, Congress often had to depend on states that disagreed with one another.

Money and trade

Congress could borrow money, but it could not collect taxes. It asked states to send money. Some sent too little, and some sent nothing. War debts remained unpaid, including money owed to soldiers.

Trade brought another problem. States made their own rules for buying and selling. Some taxed goods arriving from neighboring states. Congress could not make one set of trade rules for them. Foreign countries also doubted whether states would follow a national trade agreement.

States printed paper money with different values. A trader might accept a payment in one state but distrust it elsewhere. Congress had money powers too, but it could not stop states from issuing their own bills. There was no reliable, single national currency system.

Carrying out decisions

Congress had no separate president to enforce its laws. There was no permanent national court system to settle disputes. A special court for a state border argument could be slow to arrange.

Congress could decide that soldiers were needed. The states had to supply them, however. A state could send fewer than requested. Congress also struggled to pay soldiers because it lacked tax money. That made a quick national response difficult.

Rules that blocked action

Important decisions, such as borrowing money, required nine state votes. Changing the Articles required all thirteen states.

Imagine a vote to borrow money. Eight states agree and five disagree. Eight is a majority, but it falls short of nine. The proposal fails.

Now imagine twelve states approve a change allowing an import tax. One state objects. The change fails because the Articles require every state's agreement. Plans for an import tax really did fail when a single state refused.

To explain a weakness, connect it to a result. You might say, "Congress could not tax, so it struggled to pay soldiers." Saying "the government was weak" leaves out how that weakness hurt people. Also keep track of which government was weak: states held strong powers while the national government struggled.

For many farmers, peace did not end their troubles. They owed money, had little cash, and faced taxes to pay war debts.

Farmers close the courts

Massachusetts demanded tax payments in gold or silver coins. Many farmers had few coins. Courts could take farms from people who could not pay debts. Some debtors were sent to jail.

In 1786, groups of farmers shut down courts in western Massachusetts. This stopped judges from taking more farms. Many protesters had fought in the Revolution. Daniel Shays, a former army captain, became one leader. The uprising became known as Shays' Rebellion.

In January 1787, about 1,500 rebels approached the arsenal at Springfield. An arsenal stores weapons. Militia under William Shepard fired on them; four rebels died. Another militia force, led by Benjamin Lincoln, broke up the rebellion in early February. Private citizens had helped pay for Lincoln's force. A militia is a force of citizen soldiers.

Why leaders were worried

Congress had a small army, mostly in the West. It voted to raise more troops in October 1786. But without tax money, it could not get them ready in time. Massachusetts had to handle the crisis.

Trace the problem in steps. Farmers faced debts and taxes. Some lost their farms. Protesters closed courts. Congress lacked money for a timely response. Leaders such as Washington feared that the national government could not keep order.

People disagreed about the rebellion. Washington saw danger. Jefferson, working in France, thought occasional rebellion could remind rulers to listen to the people. The rebels were challenging their own state's actions after independence. This was not another battle against Britain.

A meeting grows into a larger plan

Trade problems had already brought five states to Annapolis, Maryland, in September 1786. Too few attended to settle those problems. The delegates called for a larger meeting in Philadelphia in May 1787.

Congress agreed in February 1787. The stated job was to revise the Articles. Shays' Rebellion added urgency and helped persuade Washington to attend. Once the delegates gathered, they chose to write a new plan.

The Constitutional Convention met in Philadelphia from May 25 to September 17, 1787. Delegates gathered in the Pennsylvania State House, now called Independence Hall. The Declaration of Independence had been approved there in 1776.

Who attended, and how they worked

A delegate speaks and votes for a group. Fifty-five delegates from twelve states took part during the summer. Rhode Island sent none. Its leaders feared losing power to a stronger national government.

The delegates chose George Washington to lead the meetings. His wartime leadership had earned trust. His presence helped people take the Convention seriously.

The delegates kept their debates secret. They wanted room to test ideas and change their minds. A crowd or newspaper report could make that harder. Each state's group had one vote. Ideas could be discussed, changed, and voted on again.

Early in the meeting, delegates decided to replace the Articles. Some objected: they had been sent to repair the old plan. Writing a new government went beyond that job.

How we know what happened

James Madison took detailed notes almost every day. They help us follow the arguments behind the finished plan. The notes were published in 1840, four years after his death. They did not appear in newspapers while the debates were happening.

The meeting lasted 115 days, almost four months. This was a long debate among many people, not one person's writing project.

Signing was one step

On September 17, thirty-nine delegates signed the Constitution. Three delegates who remained refused: George Mason, Edmund Randolph, and Elbridge Gerry. Thirteen others had left before the end. Of the fifty-five who attended, sixteen did not sign.

Signing did not make the Constitution the nation's working plan immediately. States still had to approve it. You will follow that debate later.

Keep the two Philadelphia documents separate. The Declaration announced independence in 1776. The Constitution laid out a government in 1787. The signed Constitution is now kept at the National Archives in Washington, D.C. September 17 is Constitution Day.

Many people helped create the Constitution. Their jobs were different, and they did not agree about everything.

Madison, Mason, and Washington

James Madison studied earlier governments before the Convention. He helped shape the Virginia Plan, spoke in debates, and kept detailed notes. These contributions earned him the name "Father of the Constitution." He later helped defend the plan in essays and guided the Bill of Rights through Congress. He became the fourth president, serving from 1809 to 1817.

George Mason had written Virginia's Declaration of Rights in 1776. He wanted the new Constitution to include a bill of rights. The Convention rejected that request. Mason refused to sign, and his ideas later helped shape the amendments.

George Washington led the meetings. He spoke little in debate, but his support made people trust the plan. He later became the first president.

Other voices in the room

Franklin was eighty-one, the oldest delegate. He brought experience as a writer, scientist, and diplomat. Hamilton later became the first Secretary of the Treasury.

Whose voices were missing?

Jefferson was serving as a diplomat in France. John Adams was doing that work in Britain. Neither attended. Patrick Henry declined to attend because he distrusted a stronger national government.

Every delegate was a white man. Many were wealthy lawyers, merchants, or landowners. No women, African Americans, or Native Americans took part. Many delegates, including Madison and Washington, enslaved people. People who would live under the new rules were excluded from making them.

If someone says, "Washington wrote the Constitution," separate the jobs. Washington led the meeting. Madison helped plan the government. Morris shaped the final words. The decisions grew from debates among many delegates.

How many votes should each state get in Congress? The answer would decide who could shape national laws.

Two competing plans

Representation means having people speak and vote for you. States with large populations wanted more representatives. Small states feared being outvoted whenever they disagreed with larger states.

The Virginia Plan grew from Madison's ideas and also proposed three branches. William Paterson presented the New Jersey Plan. Large states favored population-based votes. Small states favored equal votes, as under the Articles.

The Great Compromise

A compromise is a deal in which sides give up something. Roger Sherman and Oliver Ellsworth helped develop this one. Delegates approved it on July 16, 1787.

Congress would have two houses. In the House of Representatives, population would determine the number of seats. In the Senate, each state would have two senators. A bill is a proposed law. It must pass both houses before it can become law. Large states could not make national laws through the House alone.

Work through an imagined example

Imagine Big State has 600,000 people and Small State has 60,000. For this example, give one House seat per 30,000 people.

1. Big State gets twenty House seats: 600,000 divided by 30,000.
2. Small State gets two House seats: 60,000 divided by 30,000.
3. Each state gets two senators, regardless of population.

Big State gains a stronger voice in the House. Small State keeps an equal voice in the Senate. These invented numbers show the difference between the two rules.

House members serve two-year terms. Senators serve six-year terms. State lawmakers originally chose senators; voters have elected them directly since 1913. Bills that raise money through taxes must start in the House.

The Great Compromise settled the large-state and small-state dispute. Counting enslaved people created a separate argument and another compromise.

The next argument concerned who would be counted for representation. Enslaved people were denied freedom and could not vote. Yet delegates argued over counting them to increase their states' power.

Slavery was legal in most states in 1787. The 1790 census counted about 700,000 enslaved people among nearly four million residents. Most lived in Southern states. Enslavers forced people to work without pay and could sell them away from their families.

What the delegates wanted

Southern states held many enslaved people. Their delegates wanted enslaved people counted fully when House seats were divided. More counted people meant more seats for those states. Many Northern delegates objected because enslaved people had no political voice.

Taxes made the argument run the other way. A higher count could mean a larger share of certain national taxes. Delegates who wanted a high count for seats could want a low count for taxes.

The Three-Fifths Compromise counted three-fifths of the enslaved population for House representation and direct taxes. This counting rule gave enslaved people no votes.

Follow the counting steps

Imagine a state with 270,000 free people and 150,000 enslaved people. In this example, divide House seats at one per 30,000 counted people.

1. Divide 150,000 by five to get 30,000.
2. Multiply 30,000 by three to get 90,000.
3. Add 270,000 free people to the 90,000 counted: 360,000.
4. Divide 360,000 by 30,000: twelve House seats.

Counting only the free population would produce nine seats. Counting everyone fully would produce fourteen. The compromise gave twelve in this imagined example.

Who gained power?

The extra seats strengthened the free voters of slaveholding states. Many were enslavers. Since a state's presidential votes depended partly on House seats, the deal also increased its power in choosing presidents.

The rule treated people unequally to settle an argument among free people. It was a counting rule about power and taxes, not a measure of anyone's humanity. Every enslaved person was a whole human being.

The Constitution protected slavery through this rule. The Thirteenth Amendment ended slavery in 1865, with an exception for punishment after conviction of a crime. The Fourteenth Amendment ended the three-fifths rule in 1868.

A stronger union did not bring freedom to enslaved people. The delegates made agreements that protected slavery and helped enslavers keep control.

Keeping the overseas slave trade open

For states already in the union in 1787, Congress could not ban slave imports before 1808. Delegates from South Carolina and Georgia insisted on this protection. In the wider bargain, Southern delegates accepted easier passage of trade laws that Northern merchants wanted.

Congress later banned the overseas trade starting January 1, 1808. Slavery continued. People were still bought and sold within the United States. Ending imports and ending slavery were different changes.

Forcing freedom seekers back

The fugitive slave clause required the return of people who escaped enslavement across state lines. Reaching a state without slavery did not free them under that state's law.

Read the rule through an imagined journey. An enslaved person escapes one state and reaches another. The new state has laws against slavery. Under the clause, those laws could not simply free the person. An enslaver could demand that the person be handed back.

The original wording referred to a person "held to Service" and being "delivered up." Those phrases hid the violence behind the rule. They meant people seeking freedom could be forced back into slavery.

Why accept these deals?

Some Northern states had begun ending slavery. Pennsylvania began ending slavery step by step in 1780. Massachusetts courts ended slavery there in the early 1780s. Southern plantations depended on forced labor to grow crops such as tobacco and rice.

South Carolina and Georgia delegates threatened to stay outside a union that endangered slavery. Many delegates placed union ahead of freedom for enslaved people. Gouverneur Morris spoke strongly against slavery. Mason opposed the overseas slave trade even while enslaving people himself.

The original Constitution avoided the words "slave" and "slavery." Its effects still protected slavery. The word "slavery" appeared in the Thirteenth Amendment, adopted in 1865.

To judge these deals, name the result for different groups. They helped delegates build a union. They increased danger for freedom seekers and left people enslaved. They also left a conflict that grew into the Civil War, fought from 1861 to 1865.

A constitution sets up a government and says what it may do. The U.S. Constitution starts with the Preamble, an introduction explaining its purposes. Seven main parts, called articles, follow. Later changes are amendments.

What the Preamble promises

Its opening, "We the People," says government power comes from the people. The Articles had emphasized an agreement among states. The Preamble looks toward a people joined as one nation.

It names six purposes:

• Join the states into a better union.
• Build justice through fair laws and courts.
• Keep peace within the country.
• Protect the nation from attack.
• Support people's well-being.
• Preserve freedom for people now and in future generations.

The last group is called posterity. A better union did not mean a perfect country. The plan still excluded many people from freedom and power.

Match an action by asking what it does. An army guarding the coast protects the country. That fits national defense. A court settling a disagreement fairly serves justice. Stopping an armed uprising supports peace within the country. The Preamble states purposes; the articles give government its powers.

Find your way through the articles

National and state powers

A federal system shares power between national and state governments. The national government can declare war, make treaties, coin money, and run the post office. It can make trade rules between states and with other countries.

States run elections, set up local governments, and provide schools. Both levels can collect taxes, make laws, and have courts. When a state law conflicts with the Constitution, the Constitution is higher law.

For example, a state could not make a valid law canceling the Constitution's rules. Sharing power does not let each state ignore the national plan. At the same time, the national government does not do every job in every community.

The delegates wanted enough national power to solve problems. They also feared one person or group gaining too much. Separation of powers divides government work among three branches.

Three branches, three main jobs

Article I sets up Congress. It decides taxes and spending and can declare war. House members serve two years; senators serve six.

Article II sets up the presidency. The president serves four years, commands the armed forces, and chooses important officials. The president makes treaties with the Senate's approval. The vice president takes over if the president dies or leaves office.

Article III sets up the Supreme Court and allows other national courts. Judges decide what laws mean in cases. They can decide that laws violate the Constitution. The Supreme Court made that power clear in 1803. Federal judges can serve for life during good behavior. This helps protect them from pressure over unpopular decisions.

How a check works

A veto is a president's rejection of a bill. Congress can override it with two-thirds of those voting in each house, when enough members are present to do business. Both houses must reach that level.

Imagine all sixty House members in a small example vote. Forty-two support an override. Two-thirds of sixty is forty, so that house passes it.

All twenty-six senators also vote. Sixteen support the override. Two-thirds of twenty-six is more than seventeen. At least eighteen votes are needed, so sixteen is too few. The veto stands, even though the House reached its target.

Other checks

The Senate approves treaties and the president's choices for judges. Courts can reject unconstitutional laws in cases. For serious wrongdoing, the House can bring formal charges called impeachment. The Senate holds a trial and can vote to remove the official.

The branches do not all do the same job. Congress makes laws; the president signs or vetoes bills and enforces laws. These checks require branches to work together. Compared with the Articles, the new plan also gave the nation a separate president, permanent courts, and stronger tax and trade powers.

To ratify means to approve officially. Each state held a special convention to decide on the Constitution. Delegates chosen by voters debated it. Article VII required nine of the thirteen states to ratify.

Two sides in the debate

Federalists pointed to checks among branches and power shared with states. They argued these limits would keep the government from becoming a tyranny. Madison, Hamilton, and John Jay defended the plan. Washington and Franklin supported it too.

Hamilton, Madison, and Jay wrote eighty-five newspaper essays in 1787 and 1788. These became the Federalist Papers. They used the shared pen name "Publius" to persuade people, especially in New York, to ratify.

Anti-Federalists feared a distant government and a president acting like a king. Their strongest complaint was the missing bill of rights. Patrick Henry, George Mason, and Mercy Otis Warren were important critics. Opposing this Constitution did not mean opposing the country or all government.

A promise helps win votes

Massachusetts approved the Constitution on February 6, 1788. The vote was 187 to 168, a margin of nineteen. It also recommended changes. A promise to add a bill of rights helped win support from doubters in other states.

Follow the states

Delaware ratified first on December 7, 1787. Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Georgia, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maryland, and South Carolina followed. That made eight.

New Hampshire became the ninth on June 21, 1788. This met the Constitution's approval requirement. Virginia and New York followed that summer. Their size and wealth made their support valuable, even after nine had approved.

The new government began on March 4, 1789. North Carolina ratified in November 1789. Rhode Island was last, on May 29, 1790. Congress had already proposed rights amendments by then.

Keep three actions separate: delegates wrote the plan, thirty-nine delegates signed it, and state conventions ratified it. Each was a different step.

An amendment changes or adds to the Constitution. The Bill of Rights is its first ten amendments. The states approved them in 1791, four years after delegates signed the original plan.

Why write down rights?

Americans remembered British searches and the housing of soldiers. Mason's Virginia Declaration of Rights offered a model for written protections. From France, Jefferson also urged Madison to support a bill of rights.

At first, Madison thought it was unnecessary. The national government had only the powers the Constitution gave it. Other supporters worried that a list might make unlisted rights seem unprotected.

Madison changed his mind. Written rights could answer people's fears and help unite the country. He promised voters that he would work for them. On June 8, 1789, he introduced amendments in the House. He drew on Mason's work and requests from states.

From proposals to amendments

The House passed seventeen proposals. The Senate combined and reduced them. Congress sent twelve proposed amendments to the states in September 1789. Enough states had approved ten by December 15, 1791. These ten became the Bill of Rights. December 15 is Bill of Rights Day.

The usual amendment path has two stages:

1. Two-thirds of each house of Congress agrees to propose it.
2. Three-fourths of states approve it.

By 1791, Vermont had joined, making fourteen states. Three-fourths of fourteen is ten and a half. Since states vote as whole states, eleven had to approve. Ten would be too few.

What happened to the other two?

One proposal concerned the size of the House; it has not been ratified. The other concerned pay raises for members of Congress. It became the Twenty-seventh Amendment in 1992, over two hundred years later.

The Bill of Rights limits government power over people. Many founders believed these rights already belonged to people. Writing protections down was a way to keep government from violating them, not to claim that government had invented freedom.

The Bill of Rights protects freedoms and sets rules for government. To match a situation to an amendment, ask who is acting and what protection is needed.

Freedoms and protections at home

The First Amendment protects religion, speech, the press, peaceful assembly, and petition. Government may not establish an official religion or stop people from practicing their faith. People can share opinions, publish news, gather peacefully, and ask government to fix problems.

The Second Amendment protects keeping and bearing arms. Its opening also speaks about a well-regulated militia.

The Third Amendment prevents soldiers from being housed in private homes during peace without the owner's permission.

The Fourth Amendment protects against unreasonable searches and seizures. Officers usually need a warrant, a judge's written permission based on probable cause. Probable cause means a sound reason to believe evidence of a crime will be found.

Fair treatment in legal cases

The Fifth Amendment protects people from being forced to testify against themselves in criminal cases. It also protects against being tried again for the same offense after acquittal. Acquittal means being found not guilty. Government must follow fair legal steps, called due process, before taking life, freedom, or property. It must pay fair compensation when taking private property for public use.

The Sixth Amendment protects people accused of crimes. It provides a speedy, public trial and an impartial jury. Accused people must know the charges, can question witnesses against them, can seek witnesses to help them, and can have a lawyer.

The Seventh Amendment protects jury trials in many federal civil disputes over money or property. Its text uses a value above twenty dollars. Civil cases settle disputes; criminal cases concern charges of crimes.

The Eighth Amendment bars excessive bail and fines and cruel and unusual punishment. Bail is money or another guarantee used to secure release while awaiting trial.

Rights and powers kept

The Ninth Amendment says listing some rights does not deny others. The Tenth Amendment keeps powers with states or people when those powers are neither given to the nation nor forbidden to states.

Match the protection

A town tries to stop a peaceful march about a park. The action is a government limit on assembly, so the First Amendment applies. A person accused of a crime asks for a lawyer: that is the Sixth. Soldiers want to move into a home during peace without permission: that is the Third.

Rights have limits. A real threat of violence is not protected speech. The Bill of Rights limits government action; a family's household rules are different. At first these amendments limited only the national government. After the Fourteenth Amendment of 1868 and later court decisions, most also came to protect people from state and local governments.

George Washington had led the Continental Army and the Convention. Many Americans trusted him to lead the new government. The electors chose him as president in 1789.

Becoming president

Electors are people chosen in states to vote for president. Every elector voted for Washington in 1789 and again in 1792. He remains the only president with that record. John Adams became the first vice president.

Washington took the oath of office on April 30, 1789. He stood on the balcony of Federal Hall in New York City. That city was the first capital under the Constitution. He promised to carry out the office and preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution.

Washington did not live in the White House. The government moved to the new capital after his presidency. John Adams became the first president to live there in 1800.

Making precedents

A precedent is an example that later people follow. Washington knew future presidents would watch what he did.

He accepted the title "Mr. President," without royal ceremony in the name. He gathered department leaders as a cabinet to advise him. He also left office after two terms in 1797. Power passed peacefully to John Adams.

The two-term example was not yet a constitutional rule. Presidents followed it until Franklin D. Roosevelt won a third term in 1940. The Twenty-second Amendment set a two-election limit in 1951, with a further limit for someone who serves much of another president's term.

In his Farewell Address of 1796, Washington urged national unity. This was a public letter. He warned about political parties dividing Americans and about permanent foreign alliances.

Leadership and enslavement

Washington also enslaved people throughout his adult life. More than three hundred enslaved people lived and worked at Mount Vernon in 1799. Their forced labor supported his home and farms.

His will arranged freedom after Martha’s death for most people he owned. Martha freed that group on January 1, 1801. William Lee, Washington's personal attendant, received freedom at Washington's death. Many other people at Mount Vernon belonged to Martha's first husband's estate and remained enslaved. Washington's leadership and his participation in slavery both belong in his history.

The Constitution described a government. Washington and the First Congress still had to organize much of its daily work.

Advisers and courts

They established departments under the new system, building on earlier offices. Washington gathered these first cabinet advisers:

The Constitution does not use the word "cabinet." Washington's practice became a precedent.

The Judiciary Act of 1789 organized national courts. The Supreme Court began with six justices, led by Chief Justice John Jay. Congress proposed the Bill of Rights in 1789, and the states approved it in 1791. Washington supported adding it.

Money and a capital

Hamilton's plan put responsibility for state war debts on the national government. A national bank opened in 1791. Congress also taxed whiskey. Jefferson and Madison opposed parts of Hamilton's plans. These disagreements helped bring about the first political parties.

In 1790, Congress chose the Potomac River area for a permanent capital. Washington selected the exact site. Philadelphia was the capital from 1790 to 1800 while the new city was built. The government moved there in 1800.

Test the new power

In western Pennsylvania, some farmers refused to pay the whiskey tax. Protesters attacked tax collectors. In 1794, Washington called out about 13,000 militia soldiers from several states. He rode with them for part of the march. The rebels scattered without a battle as the force approached. This was the Whiskey Rebellion.

Compare it with Shays' Rebellion. Under the Articles, Congress lacked the money to prepare troops in time. Massachusetts handled that uprising. Under the Constitution, the president could organize a force from several states to enforce a national law.

The change was about power and resources. The national government could collect taxes, carry out laws, and respond together. The Whiskey Rebellion showed those powers at work; it was not a long war of repeated battles.