BellRinger Reasons for the Convention Confederate govt had trouble with finances Britain amp Spain over landholdings amp trade Needed a stronger government to better deal with the problems ID: 648546
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Slide1
The Continental Congress purposely created loose confederation of states when they wrote the Articles of Confederation because they feared too much power being given to one leader. We know that this form of government did not last long. Predict what you think will cause them to write the Constitution. Why?
BellRingerSlide2
Reasons for the ConventionSlide3
Confederate gov’t had trouble with finances; Britain & Spain over landholdings & trade Needed a stronger government to better deal with the problems
Gov’t had a large debt from fighting the war:
Congress had borrowed money from American citizens and foreign governments
Congress had no power to tax, it did not have a way to raise revenue & pay off this debt
Trouble on Two FrontsSlide4
Problems over landholdings & trade:British troops remained in several strategic forts in the Great Lakes Region
British merchants closed Americans out of the West Indies & other profitable British markets
John Adams went to London to discuss these issues:
S
tates refused deal worked out by Adams
Issues with BritainSlide5
Problems with Spain were worse than those with England:Spain closed the lower Mississippi River to American shipping
Hoped of halting American
expansion into their territory
Compromise was reached; limited American shipping on the Mississippi
South
rejected the agreement because it did not include the right to use the Mississippi River
Tensions with SpainSlide6
Money was almost worthless:Paper money printed during the Revolutionary War had fallen in value; prices of food & other goods soared
In Boston, for example, high prices led to food riots
Congress had no power to tax; it & the states issued paper money
There were many bills in circulation; the value of the money fell
No gold or silver backed these bills
Worthless MoneySlide7
U.S. went through a depression after the Revolutionary War:
Plantations
were damaged during the
war
Exports dropped
Farmers could not sell the goods; did not have money to pay state taxes
Officials took their farms to pay the debtSome farmers were even jailed
American
trade fell off when Britain closed the West Indies to American
merchants
Currency
was in short
supply; whatever
was around
was used
to pay the war
debt
Economic DepressionSlide8
1787-Daniel Shays led a group of more than 1,000 angry farmers Forced
courts in
western Massachusetts
to
close; judges could not seize farmers’ lands
Shays led the farmers toward federal arsenal in Springfield, MA
Shays RebellionSlide9
Farmers did not stop; militia fired over their heads & then directly at them, killing fourUprising was over when Shays & his followers scattered
Americans felt the impact of the Shays uprising; scared that future uprisings could occur
Rebellion StoppedSlide10