On September 5, 1774, delegates from each of the 13 colonies, aside from Georgia, met in Philadelphia as the First Continental Congress to set up a colonial resistance Parliament’s Coercive Acts. The First Continental Congress disbanded on October 26, 1774. The Congress passed the Articles of Association, which led the colonists’ decision to boycott British goods beginning on December 1, 1774. A list of grievances were also sent to King George III, which declared that if Britain failed to redress the colonists’ grievances by Congress. As a result, Colonists decided to meet again in 1775, if the King refused their petition. The Congress issued a Declaration of Rights, disputing the British Parliament’s right to tax. It would reconvene on May 10, 1775, and the colonies would cease to export goods to Britain on September 10, 1775. The American Revolution began and George Washington was selected as the commander of the Continental Army. The British army in Boston met with armed resistance on April 19, 1775.
The weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation were the central government had little respect, most power was held by states, Unicameral Congress, no executive or judicial branches, Congress had no power to tax and had no revenue, which left them with barely enough to fund the end of the Revolutionary War. Most power held by states, no system of courts to settle conflicts between states, and Legislative branch with very little power. The Articles of Confederation’s strength was that they retained power in the states as the most responsive level of government.
In the Three-Fifths Compromise, it is stated “Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union, according to their respective Numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole Number of free Persons, including those bound to Service for a Term of Years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three fifths of all other Persons (Article 1, Section 2, Clause 3)”. This meant that the apportionment rule was not proslavery. Even though slaves were property under the laws of the Southern states, the Constitution itself acknowledged that they were persons. In addition, by tying both representation and direct taxation to apportionment, the Framers removed any sectional benefit, and thus any proslavery taint, from the special counting rule.
Anti federalists opposed the development of a strong federal government and the ratification of the Constitution in 1788, preferring power to remain in the hands of state and local governments. Federalists in U.S. history, wanted a stronger national government and the ratification of the Constitution to help properly manage the debt and tensions following the American Revolution.
Part B, Ch. 4:
The Supreme Court Case Barron v. Baltimore (1833) – John Barron and John Craig, who co-owned a profitable wharf in the Baltimore harbor, sued the mayor for damages. The Supreme Court decided that the 5th Amendment (1791) guarantee of just compensation for takings of private property for public use, are restrictions on the federal government alone. Writing for a unanimous court, Chief Justice John Marshall held that the Bill of Rights contain no expression indicating an intention to apply them to the State governments. Also, to demonstrate that Constitution did not apply to states unless expressly stated, Marshall used the example of Article I, Sections 9, Paragraph 3 declares that “no bill of attainder or ex post facto law shall be passed” meaning that a legislative act that singles out an individual or group for punishment without a trial. Gitlow v. New York.
Citations
- The Articles of Confederation: Primary Documents of American History (Virtual Programs & Services, Library of Congress)
- Guide to the Constitution: The Heritage Foundation. Edmin MeeseIII – Matthew Spalding – David Forte – David Forte Matthew Spalding. Web. 2017.
- History.com Staff and Writers. “The Continental Congress.” History.com. A&E Television Networks, 2010. Web. 10 July 2017.