Louis B. Vega
SOCIAL SCIENCE
8TH Grade
 
Chapter 6 : Section 1:   Self Government
 
A CENTRAL GOVERNMENT
New system of government
    -change all the governments of the individual colonies
    -find a substitute for the formal English colonial system
    -political and intellectual traditions helped shape:
 
    Magna Carta                   -consent of parliament
    English Bill of Rights     -parliament’s consent
    Enlightenment                -consent of people
    Mayflower Compact      -ultimate authority
    Greek/Romans              -philosophy
    The BIBLE                      -God’s WORD
 
1st step: to create its states
2nd was to create the United States.
 
…the lives of people were more directly affected by the state governments, not the central government.
…the 2nd step was difficult because it meant deciding what powers the US would hae over the separate states.
STATE GOVERNMENTS
Constitutions replaced colonial charters
-written descriptions of the system of government the people wanted
-divided government into
 
  1. legislature
  2. executive
  3. courts (judicial)
 
State legislatures bicameral, replaced colonial assemblies, gave
    1. legislatures great power
    2. governors less power, lost power to dismiss body, to be administrators
 
due to resentment of colonial governors during the tax rebellions and acts…
increased number of legislatures to reduce individual  power…
tenure of one year to red of ell wanted officials…
 
4. Bill of Rights
list of what state governments could not do
list of what people count not be deprived of.
 
Due do colonialism, Americans became suspicious of all government.
Constitutions where: CONTRACTS, A Promise
 
  1. conservative: less likely to encourage change.
  2. liberal: encourage change
 
Qualifications for voting varied:
North: gave right to vote to all adult free men who paid taxes.
South: only to those who could afford it.
 
Democratic because the people established them as they saw fit…
Government became a PUBLIC SERVICE for the citizens
 
*This meant that people could change their government peacefully!
Arguments and debates where taken out in the legislature.
 
 
REPRESENTING THE PEOPLE
New government did not make radical changes
Fear of control by the:
  1. aristocrats: the rich and socially prominent
  2. the mob: artisans and manual laborers/poor
…keep the status quo
 
Constitutions were formulated by CONVENTIONS: the most original political ideas to come out the Revolution.
 
Did not attempt to do away with Slavery…. (echoes of Civil War)
The high ideals of the time led many owners to free their slaves as individuals.
North: gradually passed laws to free children
South: no laws 9/10 slaves lived there
 
Revolution transformed  slavery from a national to a sectional institution.
 
FORMING A CENTRAL GOVERNMENT
Began with the Albany Plan of Union
1st Continental Congress
2nd Continental Congress
-appointed commander in chief
-operated post office
-sent reps to other countries
-finance and budget
-committees in absence of King or Prime Minister

 

 

 

 

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