2 11 2 15 I Treaty of Paris September 1783 The 13 colonies in 1783 had won their independence from Great Britain British are sore losers A painter was commissioned to paint a picture of the peace talks and the British were so ashamed of having lost the American colonies that they didn t want to be painted in the painting 13 colonies had obtained all land from Atlantic Ocean to the Mississippi River The only piece of land they didn t keep was Florida which they gave back to Spain II The War and Slavery 1 Slavery in the North a Because slavery was never as prominent in northern colonies the slaves that were kept there were mainly used in manufacturing Used as a workforce or to carry goods between a merchant and a buyer Slave owners decided they would rather use a workforce than slaves because of the Declaration of Independence The DOI says all men are created equal but the Declaration was written by a slave owner Jefferson b They believed it was unfair for them to declare independence from Britain but slaves couldn t be free i Decide to end slavery in the northern colonies This doesn t happen overnight because if all slaves were released at one time they wouldn t be able to find work etc ii Gradual emancipation slaves released a little bit at a time They were eased into society c Slaves helped fight for independence against the British so slave owners didn t want to keep them 2 Slavery in the South a Right after the American Revolution a war veteran named Eli Whitney became a tutor at a plantation in the south Whitney was having dinner with the plantation owner and he suggested he grow cotton Slave owner gave Whitney a week to create the cotton engine cotton gin which removed all the seeds from cotton i After the invention of the cotton gin cotton becomes a premier crop b Tobacco was on its way out and rice was decreasing Cotton revised slavery in the south III Articles of Confederation 1 People broke away from Great Britain because of taxation The first thing colonist s do is say that the government cannot tax anyone a Articles of Confederation Set of laws that bound the states together after the American Revolution First thing stated is that the federal government cannot tax It also said that Congress didn t have the ability to regulate trade they couldn t sign trade treaties with other countries or collect a tariff A tariff is a tax on goods coming into the United States and they were a big deal until the income tax If the federal government doesn t have these abilities the states are granted these rights i Taxation and regulation of trade were left up to the states If France wanted to trade with the US they had to have a treaty with Georgia with SC etc ii States did not trust a federal government iii What Congress could do sign peace treaties with other countries declare war raise an army etc If they wanted to raise an army however they had to go to the states and ask for money because the states taxed their citizens If a law was passed all the states had to agree to the new law One state could ruin it for every one iv 2 Problems with the Articles Maryland and financing a Land that extended west from the Appalachian Mountains was claimed by different states To claim land you had to border this land b After the war was over Maryland got mad They said either all the land out west was divided among all the states or nobody gets anything They threatened to veto laws that were passed that were essential to the country s progress i All the land out west put into a central reserve that was available for new states to be created States that had previously claimed land lost their property ii This is an example of how one state can hold everything up c Taxation became a problem Congress wanted to create a transportation system but in order to build a road they had to ask all the states and if the road was in Pennsylvania South Carolina would say no for example Each individual state was very selfish during this time d The United States was coming out of economic recession The recession the US went into after the American Revolution was devastating to the country For 150 years before the Revolution the US had been involved in the economic triangle in the Atlantic Ocean They were part of trading slave trade etc with Great Britain and the Caribbean They depended on this triangle for livelihood i Great Britain took the US out of the trade triangle so they lose their economic potential after the Revolution States that depended on foreign trade began to wither e f During the Revolution states had sold their crops to the army and were paid well for this They had bought this land off credit once the revolution is over they are no longer making money and are threatened with losing their homes Merchants now need an outlet for their goods i Farmers merchants etc all need outlets for their goods International trade had been cut off after the war so individual states could not get trade treaties passed and they are isolated This makes a central government start to sound good to the states because maybe foreign countries would trade with Congress IV Shay s Rebellion 1786 1787 1 States were going to have a conference about how to have international trade with countries 2 Shay s Rebellion happens in Massachusetts during this conference Daniel Shay was a farmer who was also a Revolutionary War veteran When he joined the Continental Army he was still paying money for his farm When he got back home he had missed payments from being in the war and the banks were going to take away his farm Him and his neighbors got together and petitioned the Massachusetts legislature to give them some type of relief or mortgage help a The state legislature did not offer help so Shay and his neighbors go to the courts They go to the courts with their weapons and stop them from giving out seizure notices b Call Massachusetts National Guard to fight Shay and his people When the guard reaches Shay they relent and give up c When George Washington heard about the rebellion he realized disasters could happen in every state V Powerful Men 3 They have a meeting in Indianapolis and decide they re going to call a larger meeting in Philadelphia to come up with an economic solution in the summer of 1787 with representatives from each state 1 James Madison became the nations 4th President At the time of the meeting he had gone to college and was extremely intelligent and spoke several different languages The problem was he still lived
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