P. 175-182
 The United States in Congress Assembled * The Articles of Confederation was the first written government of the US
 It created a weak government with almost no power o The Articles of Confederation
 Nov 1777, the Continental Congress formally adopted the Articles of Confederation
 The Articles set up a national assembly/Congress in which each state had one vote/one representative who was determined by the state legislatures and that representative could serve no more than 3 years out of 6
 A president was picked by Congress every year and could only serve 1 year out of 3
 All issues would be decided by a simple majority, except for major issues which required 9 votes
 Congress had authority in:
 The conduct of foreign affairs
 Matters of war and peace
 Maintenance of the armed forces
 Congress could:
 Raise loans
 Issue bills of credit
 Establish coinage
 Regulate trade w/ Indian nations
 Have final authority in jurisdictional debates between states
 Establish national postal system/weights and measures system
 12 state legislatures voted for the Articles, but ratification held up for 3 years by Maryland
 Maryland demanded that 8 states with western claims cede land to Congress “for the good of the whole”
 The States refused
 1781 Virginia, who had most westward claims, promised to cede its land, Maryland ratified Articles
 The Articles took effect, March 1781 o Financing the War
 Congress borrowed $9 million from foreign allies
 Printed $200 mill. in paper money
 Asked states to raise taxes to cover debt
 The states refused to raise taxes & print altogether $200 million of state currency
 Robert Morris becomes secretary of finance (May 1781) * persuades Congress to create “Bank of North America”, funded $30 mill. by Holland & France to deal with crisis o Negotiating Independence
 Peace talks between GB and the US (July 1782) when Ben F. sat down w/ British emissary in Paris
 Congress issued first war aims in 1779 asking for:
 The largest territorial limits, including Canada
 Withdrawal of British troops
 Recognition of American independence
 American rights to fish in North Atlantic waters
 June 1781, Congress issued new set of instructions due to French pressure: * to settle for removal of British troops, recognition of independence, & for peace commissioners to be subject to guidance/control of French during negotiations
 GB and the US negotiate a preliminary treaty in Paris behind France’s back to ensure that the US gets better negotiation terms
 France signed a treaty w/ Britain when it heard of the agreement (fearing an American-British alliance)
 Spain claimed sovereignty over much of the trans-Appalachian territory granted to the US and made a separate treaty with Britain to regain Florida
 Treaty of Paris signed at Versailles (September 3, 1783) o The Crisis of Demobilization
 During 2 years between surrender at Yorktown/Treaty of Paris there was wartime tensions * many soldiers awaited pay & were worried about postwar bounties and land warrants promised to them by Congress
 Jan. 1783, senior officers, w/ General Horatio Gates, petitioned Congress to get a bonus equal to 5 yrs pay & plan a military coup
 Washington called a meeting of his officers, talked them out of a military coup, & urged Congress to pay the bonuses
 May 1783, Congress paid the bonuses equal to 3 months’ pay * the Continental Army disbanded, & 1784 the Army was no more than a few hundred men o The Problem of the West
 After Yorktown, British left the West for the new United States, abandoning Indian allies. * The Iroquois & Ohio tribes, who fought w/ the British, didn’t consider themselves defeated, but US thought that their victory extended over the natives as well. * US began to press these tribes for land, including tribes that had fought w/ the Patriots, such as allied Oneida.  Thousands of settlers migrated even during the war, and afterwards thousands more poured over the Appalachian Mountains and down the Ohio River. * They clashed w/ Indian tribes in the country north of the Ohio River, and British troops still stationed in the Northwest encouraged Indian attacks on the settlements. * Spain, who refused to accept territory settlements of Treaty of Paris, closed the Mississippi to Americans  John Jay, (appointed secretary for foreign affairs by the Confederation Congress of 1784), tried to negotiate w/ the British to withdraw from Northwest, and w/ the Spanish for guarantees of territorial sovereignty and commercial relations. * The British said they couldn’t until debt from before war was settled & the Spanish insisted the US give up free navigation of the Mississippi. * Congress agreed to neither. * Many Westerners considered leaving Confederation, some joining British, and others (George Rogers Clark and General James Williamson) worked for Spanish as spies/informants.
 1784, Congress drafted legislation to provide for "Government of the Western Territory" that would allow territories to draft their own constitution/gov. once pop. Reached 20,000 & become a state once it’s pop. reached the smallest of the original thirteen, provided it forever remain a part of the Confederation. * Congress accepted these proposals, but rejected by a vote of seven to six a clause prohibiting slavery in the West.
 Land Ordinance of 1785 * Provided for the survey & sale of western lands, dividing land into townships * Jefferson argued that the land should be given to settlers, but the land was auctioned for no less than one dollar per acre. * The treaties of Fort Stanwix in 1784 and Fort McIntosh in 1785 forced the Iroquois/Ohio Indians to cede some land by seizing hostages & forcing tribes to comply. * Congress, (desperate for cash), sold 1.5 million acres for $1 mill. to the Ohio Company before the lands went up for sale to the public.
 Thousands of Westerners did not wait for official opening of the land north of the Ohio River & illegally settled. * Congress forced them off land (1785), after raising troops and evicting them, but they returned after the troops left
 Northwest Ordinance of 1787 Congress created a gov. for Northwest Territory * 3-5 states were to be carved from the territory. * Slavery prohibited * Self-gov. replaced by rule of court judges/a governor until the pop. grew to 5,000 free white males, who could then petition for an assembly * This territory included future states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin. * Congress chose Arthur St. Clair, president of Ohio Company, to be the Territory's first governor.