Title: Answer Key for Chapter 6 Essay Questions
Course: SkillsCom HST 201 14.2

All questions worth 4 pts.

1. Answers should include:

- By the time of the Constitutional Convention, most of the nation agreed that the Articles of Confederation were not sufficient to run the new country. The difficulty came in balancing state and individual freedom, fount for in the war, with a centralized government with enough power to be efficient.
- The weakest part of the Articles was largely the lack of economic power. The national government had no power to levy taxes on the states, each state printed its own money, and there were no uniform national commercial policies. Also, the weak government under the Articles of Confederation had no national policy for handling rebellions/violence, either from the Native Americans or from unhappy citizens (Shay’s Rebellion).
- The Constitution divided the federal government into three branches (Executive, Legislative, and Judicial) and placed checks and balances between all branches to prevent the concentration of power in any one. The amended Bill of Rights provided citizens protection from the federal government. In addition, the Constitution provided Congress the power to raise taxes, make treaties, coin money, etc.

2. Answers should include:

- Federalists hoped that their rhetoric would persuade citizens in key states such as New York to support the Constitution, since without unity on the document the young nation might become hopelessly fractured politically.
- Published in papers across the states, it provided the nation with clear arguments in favor of ratifying the Constitution (the Federalist view) and provided arguments against the Antifederalists view.
- Enough states ratified the Constitution that it was able to move forward and begin passing amendments, leading to the Bill of Rights.

3. Answers should include:

- Yes.
- His financial bills restored public credit, with bonds selling well domestically and internationally. Merchants profited from the tariffs and seamen from the new bank.
- Farmers were the main group opposed to the changes, and their resistance helped to fuel the formation of the Republicans.
- In addition, the compromise from debating Hamilton’s policies resulted in moving the capital from Philadelphia to present-day Washington D.C.

4. Answers should include:

- Officially neutral to the French Revolution and the war between France and Britain. Citizen Genet threatened to break US neutrality by ignoring Washington and the official government, instead striking his own deals with Americans. Washington, wanting to remain neutral but not willing to let the new government be so flagrantly ignored, demanded that the French recall him.
- Next, British ships began attacking American ships trading in the French West Indies. Americans found this to also be an unacceptable way for one respectable national government to treat another. In response, Hamilton sent John Jay to Britain to establish a treaty that would repay the damages done. Most of the rather lofty goals were not met, and Jay was deemed by the public to have failed. It did, unintentionally, cause Spain to make a treaty as she panicked about a British-American alliance.
- America’s next foray into international politics came with the XYZ Affair. When France refused to acknowledge the delegate America had sent as an official representative, Pres. Adams sent three more. They were met with demands for bribes and a loan. In response, Adams cut off all trade with France, authorized the capture of French ships, and essentially allied with the British. This began a three year ‘quasi war’ with France.
- These events show that America as a new country was coming out strong as they attempted to get the rest of the world to acknowledge them as a legitimate world power. At times this meant that America responded hastily and often had very high expectations for their interactions with other countries. They wanted to prove that even though they were new, they still deserved respect.

5. Answers should include:

- The “Revolution” was that the system, if creaky, did work; power changed hands peacefully between parties. The term was coined by Jefferson himself.
- Only the judiciary branch was left in control of the Federalists. The Republicans won control of all other branches.
- Though not a violent change, the long-term impact was the creation of a multiparty (mostly two-party) democracy.