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Notes on video lecture:
The Articles of Confederation
Notes taken by Edward Tanguay on November 30, 2016 (go to class or lectures)
Choose from these words to fill the blanks below:
countries, government, judiciary, Federalists, taxes, Southern, Madison, Justice, opposed, Senate, compromise, 1787, national, Hanson, Revolutionary, ratification, free, strong, amendments, trade, states, amend, margin, judicial, 20, unanimous, Slave
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historical background
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after the                            War, it was necessary to create a new government
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the Articles of Confederation were drafted among the             
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were deeply distrustful of having a              national government
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they didn't want to give the                  government any more power than necessary
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these were the states deciding what to do
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they wanted to be the unit of primary government in the United States
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there was a president
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John             
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the first president of the Article of Confederation
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granted limited power to Congress
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no authority to impose           
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no authority to govern commerce between the states
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no federal                    or federal courts
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quite predictably in hindsight, they were a failure
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states began to develop            wars, e.g. with taxes
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1787 The Constitutional Convention
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goal was the            the Articles of Confederation
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gathered in Philadelphia
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decided not to pose                      to the Articles of Confederation
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but to scrap them
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nothing was easily agreed upon
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United States Constitution
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size of states
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it is crucial to regard it as a                     
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in fact, almost everything in it was a compromise
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the large states wanted to have representation in congress allocated based on population
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smaller states wanted to make sure every state had equal representation in congress
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this was resolved with the House and the             
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issue of slavery
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it was clear that the                  states would not ratify a Constitution what did not protect the institution of slavery
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many Northerners viewed slavery as abhorrent, repugnant, immoral and unacceptable
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question: if you had been in Philadelphia in         , and they were a delegate to the Constitutional Convention, would they have ratified a document, would they have agreed to a document, that protected the institution of slavery?
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or would it have been more ethical for Northerners to have held their ground and agreed to have the colonies split into two or three separate                   ?
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in any case, a compromise was reached
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the constitution protected the institution of slavery
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but the word slavery does not appear in the United States Constitution
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Article 1 Section 9 limits the powers of Congress
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could not ban the importation of individuals for      years
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Article V
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The Constitution cannot be amended to allow Congress to ban the importation of slaves for 20 years
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Article IV: The Fugitive            Clause
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if a slave escaped from a slave state into a free state, the person would have to be returned to its owner
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Article I of the Constitution
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representation and allocation of representatives
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based on the number of          persons and 3/5 of all others
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slaves were counted as 3/5 of a person
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from 1787 to 1865, slavery was a part of the United States society
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Constitution was approved by those who drafted it on September 17th, 1787
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they applied their signatures, then went home to argue for its                         
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ratification of the Constitution
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anti-                      
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strongly               
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the Constitution was more about the structure of the                      only, not human rights
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so many were concerned about the lack of a Bill of Rights
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passed by a very small              e.g. in New York
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North Carolina and Rhode Island ratified it later
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the Articles of Confederation stated it could be changed only by                    consent of the States
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presidential election was held
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Congress was election
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John Jay was the first Chief               
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1789 Congress passed a judiciary act which created the lower federal courts
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the basis for the first major Supreme Court decision, Marbury vs.               
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helped define the boundary between the constitutionally separate executive and                  branches

Ideas and Concepts:

On slavery and the U.S. Constitution via tonight's Constitutional Law class:

"When you think of the United States Constitution, it is crucial to regard it as a compromise. In fact, most everything in it was a compromise, and nothing in the Constitution is more evident of this than the compromises made on the issue of slavery.

Throughout the summer of 1787, it became clear that the Southern states were not going to ratify a Constitution that did not protect the institution of slavery. But many Northerners viewed slavery as abhorrent, repugnant, immoral and unacceptable.

One ethical question I pose to my beginning law students is that if they had been in Philadelphia in 1787, and they were a Northern delegate to the Constitutional Convention, would they have ratified a document, would they have agreed to make a document become the highest law of their country, that protected the institution of slavery or would they have held their ethical ground and allowed the colonies to split into two countries? And why?"
The Articles of Confederation