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Hopefully this will help you to better understand Chapter 11 Sections 2,3
This web page is all about the troubles America went through in creating the Constitution.
America was not a success from the start. It went through many hardships before it
became a great country.
America did not start out as the one and only Representative government. It started out
as a Confederation. This means that each state controlled itself. This lead to many problems
such as Shay's Rebellion.
Shay's rebellion was when farmers rebelled against taxes. They took up arms and rioted.
It was a specific farmer named Daniel Shay Who started the whole thing. He told other farmers to
take arms and fight against the outrageous taxes.
Shay's Rebellion started out because farmers were being forced to pay
taxes in gold or silver. This was only because each state had its own type of money so
there was no country-wide currency (types of money). This made it impossible to trade with
other countries because they wouldn't take thirteen different currencies . So they wanted gold or
silver because that was the easiest thing to trade with.
Once Shay's Rebellion started there was almost no way to stop it. Since the National
government at the time had no military power they could not stop the rebellion. The states that
were being rebelled against were new states that had no military. Once they stopped Shay's
Rebellion the United States realized they needed to make a new type of government.
On May 25, 1787, 29 delegates (representatives) from the thirteen colonies met in
Philadelphia to discuss changing our Constitution. This was called the Constitutional
Convention. This was held because they realized the national government had no power. In fact
here are a list of powers that the national government had under the Articles of Confederation:
1. Declare war, make peace
2. Direct military
3. Manage Indian Affairs
4. Set standards of weights and measures
5. Establish postal services
6. Borrow Money
7. Manage Foreign Affairs
These powers proved not to be enough. The National government did not have the
many powers they needed such as enforcing taxes. This was a necessary thing for a new
government to get money from the start. To make the government strong.
The Changes After the Convention
The Convention decided that if the National Government did not have enough power to
stop Shay's Rebellion it did not have enough power. So the original purpose for the Convention
was to give the national government more power. By the time they were done, though, they totally
modified the Constitution. They changed our country into a representative government. Instead
of each state controlling itself, each now got representatives to the National government. The
Constitutional Convention changed our government into what it is today.
This web page hopefully gave you a better perspective on why America went from the
Articles of Confederation to the government America has today.
U.S. Constitutional Convention
The United States Constitution
The letter of transmittal of the U.S. Constitution
The final signing of the constitution
1. Background image. Available at http://welcome.to/states_maps May 17, 1999.
2. Flag Image. Available at http://www.flagnet.com. March 24,1999.
3. Moving flag. Available at http://backalleyweb.com/ May 10, 1999.
4. To top button. Available at http://www.fg-a.com/buttons.htm May 26, 1999.
5. Revolutionary man Picture. Available at http://www.servtech.com/~jfahs/oconnor/oconunit/biblio.
May 27, 1999
6. Cannon picture. Available at http://www.servtech.com/~jfahs/oconnor/oconunit/biblio.htm May 27, 1999
7. New Sign. Available at http://www.mediatechpro.com/pack1.htm June 1, 1999