Notes

S.S. Notes - Chapter 7 - Creating the Cosntitution

3 Branches of Government
⦁ legislative, judicial, and executive.
⦁ legislative- congrees
⦁ judicial-supreme court
⦁ executive-president

Ratification
⦁ to ratify is to approve.

Compromise
⦁ a compromise is an agreement in which each side gives up part of what it wants.

Consitution
⦁ the Constitution was the laws of the nation.

Bill of Rights
⦁ the Bill of Rights were the first 10 ratified Amendments.
1. Freedom of Religion, Speech, Press, Assembly, and Petition
2. Bear Arms (right to have guns)
3. Quartering of Troops (troops can't be in your house without permission)
4. Searches and Seizures (you can't randomly be searched)
5. Criminal Proccedings; Due Process; Eminent Domain (the government has to prove that you're guilty and you're not supposed to proved that you're not guilty.
6. Criminal Proceedings (the right to a speedy trial and the right to a trial by jury.)
7. Civil Trials (jury tries to prove that you are not innocent)
8. Punishment for Crimes (the punisment cannot be excessive)
9. Unenumerated Rights (people can't be discriminated against using the Constitution.
10. Powers Reserved to the States (anything that wasn't in the Constitution can automatically be reserved to the states.)

Articles of Confederation
⦁ People wanted to change the Articles of the Confederation because many farmers' land have been taken away as a result of the government not having enough money for taxes.
⦁ This resulted in Shay's Rebellion.
⦁ The smaller states were or the Articles of Confederation because they wanted equal representation for each state (so they can be as powerful as the bigger states)

Weaknesses of the Confederation
I. all states were equal and had a single vote
II. nine states had to agree before a law had to go into affect
III. the government had to ask for money from the states

Shay's Rebellion
⦁ Shay's Rebellion showed that the Articles of the Confederation needed to be changed.

Land Ordinance of 1785
⦁ the Land Ordinance of 1785 was a system for land sales and settlement.
⦁ Each township (all of which are in a "grid of squares") was divded into 6 miles on each side, and within each township there would be a grid that was 1 mile on each side.
⦁ each of the 36 sections sold for $1 each.

New Jersey Plan
⦁ The New Jersey Plan calls for a single house of Congress with equal representation in each state.
⦁ The plan also expanded the powers of Congress to raise monet and regulate commerce.

Virginia Plan
⦁ the Virginia Plan calls for a strong, central government, that has three seperate branches - legislative, executive, and judicial.
⦁ there would be three chief executives appointed by Congress because some people think that one executive would never be able to win the people's confidence.
⦁ others thought that one executive could act quicker.
⦁ people voted to have one person to serve as executive, who was called the President.
⦁ The Virginia Plan also consisted of a lower and upper house for its legislative body.

Writing Questions

Federalist and Antifederalist Position on the Constitution
Federalists
⦁ Federalists were people who favored a strong, federal, or national, government.
⦁ At the heart of the Federalist position was the need for a stronger central government.
⦁ their argument was that for the Union to last the government had to have powers denied to it undewr the Articles of Confederation.
Antifederalists
⦁ The position of Antifederalists were that the Articles of Confederation weren't strong enough, but they felt that the Consitutional Convention had taken it too far.
⦁ Their arguments included weakening the states, no Bill of Rights, and that the President could be reelected over and over again.

Main People Who Were For Federalism
⦁ James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and John Jay.

Main People Who Were For Antifederalism
⦁ George Mason and Patrick Henry of Virginia.

Great Compromise
⦁ the Great Compromise was a compromise that was put together by Roger Sherman of Conecticut that would hopefully satisfy both the large and small states.
⦁ There would be a two-house Congress - to please the larger states,the lower house was the House of Representatives and was based on population.
⦁ To please the smaller states each state would have two seats in the upper house, or Senate.
⦁ The Senates would be chosen by state legislatures, and they would serve six-year terms.

Three-Fifths Compromise
⦁ The South wanted slaves to be counted as free people in order to have more seats in the House, but the North said no.
⦁ The Congress came up with the three-fifths compromise, which makes every enslaved person three-fifths of a free person.
⦁ The North agreed so they could keep them in the Union.
⦁ This helped preserve slavery in the new Constitution by making a distinction between "free persons", and "all other persons."