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Explains how the Articles of Confederation were drafted, ratified, and structured as a weak national government. Covers the unicameral Congress, its limited powers, and why most authority remained with the states.
Speaker A
When we last left the political situation, the second Continental Congress was in charge.They were the government from.From the.Technically from 75, but it was when they started but 76 with the Declaration, they were the government.And they immediately began work on drafting a new government.After the Declaration, the final draft was accepted by the Continental Congress all the way in November of 77.But the states took over three years to agree to it.Not until the spring of 1781 in particular, the states were arguing over western borders and land rights.All that land that they weren't allowed to settle by the Proclamation.The states were fighting over it and claiming it.
And it took them three years to settle all of those disputes.But ultimately there was a new government.The Articles of Confederation.This was a short, simple document.Thirteen articles in total.
One of them named the new Nation.It's from the Articles where we get the name the United States of America.Other points included that the.The.That Congress could conduct foreign relations, declare war and conduct separate commercial affairs dealing basically certain.
Certain specific but very limited trade deals.
And it was only trade for.Between the government and other countries.That'll make more sense a little bit.It also allowed for the annexation of Canada if that situation ever came up.
So that's some of the Articles.But more important is the structure of this new government.The Articles government was only one branch, and that was the legislative branch.And they called it the Confederation Congress.
So there was like with the current Constitution, the current government that we have, there's the executive, judicial and legislative.Nope.Under the Articles, it was the legislative called the Confederation Congress.It was a unicameral legislature.I should have written unicameral on my slide.
Unic, like uni, like unicycle.And then camera and then an L. Unicameral.What that means is the Congress only had one house.There wasn't a House of Representatives and a Senate.It was just one group of dudes.
In Congress, you could have as many representatives as you wanted from each state.However, each state only had one vote.So if Rhode island sent four people and Massachusetts sent 20 and Georgia sent one, they would all only have one vote.So all 20 would have to agree from Massachusetts on one vote and all four from Rhode island would have to agree on one vote.And then you have the one guy from Georgia.Makes it easy.Congress did have someone at the top of it administering it.And they were called the President of the United States and Congress assembled.This is not the same position as the President that we know today.This was simply the leader in Congress.
There's no executive branch.There's no national court system.The articles also laid out the powers of this new national government, of this Confederation Congress.They could regulate and fund the military.They could declare war and negotiate peace.
They could negotiate treaties and alliances.
They could serve as a final arbiter for disputes between the states.So if there was a dispute between the states and they couldn't solve it, they could ask.And we're talking not like a fight between the states, but if they were arguing over something, the Confederation Congress had a very small amount of power to basically act as the final arbiter person who could decide it.They could also regulate post offices.And that's honestly a pretty exhaustive list.That's all they could do.The powers of the Articles of confederation government, the Confederation Congress were very limited.All of the rest of the powers of government, everything else was handled by the individual states, including taxation and other ways to raise money, Regulation of trade and currency, Dealing with internal disturbances like revolts and protests and everything else.So if it wasn't on that list I gave you, then it was a power of the states.
Describes the political reasons the new government was decentralized, including distrust of centralized power after British rule. Then shifts to the western land claims dispute that delayed ratification for years.
Speaker A
This is partially reaction to the colonial system they just rebelled from.
Power was centralized with the monarch and parliament under the British.So naturally, the new government went in the other direction and decentralized.
There was a legitimate fear of giving too much power to a national government.And a singular executive distrust of centralized power fueled the revolution and informed what they created for themselves when they had the choice.But as we well know, it did not.I mean, not.Well, no, but as you know, because it's not the government anymore, Things did not work that way, obviously, or did not work out, obviously.
Despite this, it did achieve a few important and significant things.So the other topic for this video is what the articles did.Right?And it's basically one thing the western issue.Remember that after the French and Indian War, Britain passed The Proclamation of 1763 to prevent conflict in the west with the native nations.
This land was largely unoccupied by Americans, Though still home to many native nations.It's all of this in gold.And you can see on this map, it has all the.I told you that the.It took them so long to agree to this.The states, because they were disputing the territory.I mean, you could see what is now Wisconsin and Minnesota.And the Upper peninsula and upper part of Michigan was claimed by Virginia all the way down here.
Also this as well.So you can see that this is if Virginia had had all of its claims all the way through the creation of the United States, then technically San Francisco would be part of Virginia.He's basically claimed everything straight west and obviously other things as well.
So this land, the states gave up their claims to these lands when they agreed to the articles.Again, again.That's why it took three years.
Explains how Congress used western lands to address debt and raise revenue through the Land Ordinance of 1785. Details the surveying system, township divisions, land sales, and why the ordinance mattered long term.
Speaker A
Confederation Congress owned this land and it had a mountain of debt inherited from the second continental Congress and the war.Remember, they agreed to pay their debts in the war, and then there was also all of the money they owed from selling government bonds to pay for the war.
So what the Continental Congress, the Confederation Congress decided to do was organize and sell this land.And they're gonna create two things to get this done.So the one thing they got right is the western issue.How did they get it right first?
Oh, I guess I had another map here.Oh, yeah, you see, it was just another way of showing it, you see, and the red line was all claimed by New York.It's just a.Just a total mess of land claims.Okay.The first way that they did this was the land Ordinance of 1785.Before you can sell land, you need to know what is there.The land Ordinance of 1785 organized the survey, division and sale of lands of what is now called the Northwest Territory.See in the upper left map here.Basically the Great Lakes states outside of New York and Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin and parts of Minnesota.
The Northwest Territory, you see it here on the map.
And they're going to start, as you see, with the darker green area with what is now called Ohio.Then they called it the Ohio country.The survey techniques, or the techniques used to do certain land surveys were standardized as there was no universal method previously.So you go out, you look and see what's on the land.You make maps, you put stakes in the markers to delineate borders.All of that, once surveyed, the land was divided into townships equaling 36 square miles.Look at the map on the top right.Even grid pattern, 36 square miles.Then the townships bottom left of the map and graph, the townships were divided into 36 sections, which, if you do basic math, if it's 36 square miles and you've got 36 even sections, they were each one square mile, or 640 acres, one section of each township.You see, the townships are also divided into 36 sections, or they divided into townships, and then the townships are divided into 36 sections.
One one of those for each township had to be reserved for public schools or schooling in general.
Once divided, the land or these sections were offered for sale at $640 per section.And that's $640.1785 money.I don't know what that would be today, but obviously a lot.
This was unaffordable for most Americans moving west.But who could afford it were wealthy investors and companies who bought the land and divided it into smaller sections, which is the bottom right of the map and graph on your screen.
These smaller sections, half section, quarter section, half quarter section, quarter, quarter, section.You don't have to know those divisions, but that's what they.Instead of, I don't know why they didn't go 18 section.
Or I guess technically quarter quarter would be 1/12 regardless.Or 1/16 rather 1:16.
These were more affordable and allowed people to own land while also quickly making these companies investors very rich.The significance of the land ordinance, the surveying methodology they standardize is still standard and used today.It's been updated for technological advances, obviously, but it's still the same basic methods.Second is it provided a blueprint for the division and sale of land until the 1860s over 70 or roughly 70 years later.So the surveying is still used, but the division and sale of land was the standard for the next 70 years till the 1860s.
And thirdly, it allowed the wealthy to profit, the lower classes to buy western land and secured income into a government that had no other way to raise funds.Remember, raising money was something the states could do.Confederation Congress had no way to raise money to do taxes or tariffs, which are taxes on trade, which I've mentioned before with like the Sugar Act.
So this is a way for them to raise money.So this is the first way they got the western issue right or what they did to get the western issue right.
Covers the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 and how it governed territories, created the path to statehood, and guaranteed equal status for new states. Also explains the ban on slavery in the Northwest Territory and its lasting significance.
Speaker A
The second, the Northwest Ordinance of 1787.
This is also where keeping dates will be helpful because it deals with the same land.Hey, there's Fort mitchellimackinac.It deals with the same land, but in a different way.The land ordinance was organizing, surveying, dividing and selling.The Northwest Ordinance of 1787, dealing with the same Northwest Territory you see highlighted on the map deals with the administration running the territories.
Population will move rest rapidly and soon.Questions arise about how these areas will be dealt with politically.Like the land Ordinance of 17.Sorry, yeah, 1785.This specifically dealt with the Northwest Territory, but set precedents for other regions.
Forgot to just quickly mention here with the land ordinance.If you've ever flown over this part of the country or into like the lower Great Plains, even parts of Texas, the parts of the US that were settled up until 1860, if you've ever noticed how they have a grid pattern and even the.The deep South, Mississippi, Alabama, all that.This is why.Because that's how they surveyed and divided the land.And I slapped my mic, sorry.Okay.This defined a system of how the Northwest Ordinance defined a system of how new territories could become states.So this is the first thing that it did, defined the process of statehood.And that process was this land started as unorganized when it was first acquired by the US So this is just a big piece of territory called the Northwest Territory.It wasn't divided into states.It looked more like without the borders, just a big singular blob on the map as certain population benchmarks are reached.
So as they set a rule or a limit saying when the population reaches whatever amount, let's just say 10,000.That's not what it actually was, but good round number, 10,000.When they reached a certain population benchmark, it will gain more status and organization.
First, it became an organized territory with basic law, basic law and order and infrastructure.If you ever watch a western and when they're like, we have to go get like the, the, the US Marshal or whatever, right, they have a judge, they have a little bit of law and order.That's usually organized territories.
The people, like Little House on the Prairie or all the frontiers people, when they're going out into territories and there's nothing, a lot of law and order.That is the unorganized stage.So when you reach a certain population benchmark, you get a little bit of law and order, a little bit of government.That's the organized territory.Then when you hit a second population benchmark, let's say 100,000, again, just another much larger round number, the territory would form a legislature, they would write a state constitution, and then they would apply for statehood.
Yes, it was an application and it could be denied.And several states had their applications denied.Not every state who applied became.Or not every organized territory that applied became a state.That is the stage that Puerto Rico is in right now.
If they applied for statehood, then it would be up to Congress to vote yes or no.
So if they applied, they could become a state.But obviously it's a much more complicated issue than that.So that's the first thing that it did.Second, it established that new states will have the same rights and privileges as the original 13 new territorial acquisitions were not to be subjugated or to be colonies.They did not want to make the same mistake as the British government had in their estimation, and subjugate their fellow white, white citizens.
This was unprecedented in Western history.Where a country takes over land and doesn't treat it as less than that's particularly in.In what would traditionally be colonies that just didn't happen.But the US will eventually play their that colonial game in their own way later on with places like Hawaii.But not here, not for these states, not under the Northwest Ordinance.
The third and final thing that it did was it prohibited slavery in the Northwest Territory, not only in the territory, but any states that came out of that territory.So the six states that were built out of the Northwest Territory, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota, not labeled on here for some reason, I guess because it's not the whole state.Right.But this is eventually Minnesota.
Would not have slavery.Now this was only in the Northwest Territory and nowhere else.It did not affect slavery where it already existed or in any other territories in the country.Right.Not in the Deep south like Mississippi, Alabama, which were territories at this point.
This is only in the Northwest Territory.And it was done not out of a moral objection to slavery, but to protect settlement opportunities for poor whites, not because of anti slavery.This kept rich slave owners from purchasing huge chunks of land and depriving the lower classes of the chance to own that land and thrive.This was a provision put in by Thomas Jefferson, who had a growing reputation as a champion of the little guy, but was.Was also a slave owner himself.So not really a champion in that regard.
So the significance of the Northwest Ordinance.I don't have any other maps, do I?Oh yeah, I had a.You can see, these are maps of slavery.And you can see here this big chunk of red up here.The Northwest Territory was always free.There was never slavery, at least officially or legally.All of this territory.And once again, you look at a map of the density of slaves, completely clear.
So the three significances here of the Northwest Ordinance in general, one, it set the precedent for the statehood process which is still used today.And for every state after the original 13, which with one exception, Texas states 14 through 50 have all gone through the statehood process laid out in the Northwest Ordinance.Except for Texas, which went straight from being a republic to a state, it was never a US territory.Every other state after the original 13 went through that process, even if it was super fast.Second, the equality between existing and new states is also still the precedent today.
Every, the 50th state has just as many rights as a state as the first state or the 13th state.And third, slavery never took hold in the Northwest Territory and in the states that came from it.And this was key to future events that's six states that never had slavery, which would have changed a lot for the future because this was particularly these lower three states and even Wisconsin, to a certain degree, good farming states.So without slavery there, that or if slavery had been allowed to go there, it would have greatly changed the complexion of everything that followed.
And that's the Northwest Ordinance, and that's how they got the issue of the west right.
Concludes by noting that while the western land issue was handled well, most other problems under the Articles of Confederation were not. Sets up the next part of the discussion.
Speaker A
However, for every other issue, they got it wrong.And that's next.