chapter 6 the american constitution

the political situation 1781-7

weak national government

• usa had only a semblance of a national government
• congress had some of the qualities of a national government
• in session only intermittently 
• had no fixed abode
• 1783- withdrew from Philadelphia to escape angry soldiers demanding back pay
• moved to princeton, annapolis and trenton
• 1785- settled in New York
• attendance at sessions was light
• 1781- articles came into full effect
• executive departments foreign affairs, finance and war set up
• functioned with varying degrees of success
• confederation government had no coercive power over states or individuals
• states attached less importance to unity and became absorbed in their own affairs
• exercised rights they had specifically relinquished
• responded belatedly or not at all to congressional requisitions
• most ambitious politicans preferred to serve within their states
• most decisions affecting the lives of americans were made at state level

the west

• treaty of paris gave america control over a huge area south of the Great Lakes and east of the Mississippi
• 1780s- flood of pioneers into the trans-appalachian region
• 1790- kentucky population = 73,677 , Tennessee population = 35,691
• coherent policy on western land distribution and territorial government was essential
• american politicians realised the need for systems that would bind the western communities to the old seaboard states
• congress resolved that the west would eventually be organised into new states, admitted to the union as equals

the 1785 land ordinance

• outlined a surveying system for the sale of northwest land
• government surveyors would divide land into 6 square mile townships
• each township divided into sections of 1 square mile
• 4 set aside as bounty land for ex soldiers
• 1 for the maintenance of schools
• rest sold at auction in 640 acre lots at no less than a dollar an acre
• relatively quick and certain means of setting out lines
• reduced the potential for disputes among land purchasers

the 1787 land ordinance

• prescribed a set of procedures for organising and admitting to statehood new territories
• provided that during the initial phase of settlement a territory would not be self governing- would have a governor and judges appointed by congress
• when the territory had 5000 adult male inhabitants it could elect a legislature with limited powers and non voting representatives to congress
• when its population reached 60000 it could form a constitutional convention and apply to congress for admission as a state on equal terms with existing states

foreign policy

relations with britain

• britain still clung to a number of frontier posts south of the great lakes in order to safeguard the fur trade and maintain contact with the northwest NAs
• to justify this britain cited the american failure to observe the clauses of the peace treaty concerning the repayment of pre war debts and the restoration of loyalist property
• congress had urged the states to place no obstacle in the way of british merchants recovering pre war debts
• states ignored the advice
• turned a deaf ear when congress recommended the return of confiscated loyalist property
• government so weak at…