In 1777, the Continental Congress drafted the Articles of Confederation, and sent it to the colonies for ratification.

Flaws of the Articles of Confederation: Denied a centralized national government; it denied it the power to tax or to regulate trade, not only between the United States and other nations, but also between the states. The Articles of Confederation were meant to put States' Rights over the rights of the National Government.

Since the government could not impose a national tax, they tried to finance the war and the early republic by printing more and more money, and this, of course, caused a massive inflation.

The government was very powerless under the Articles of Confederation.

Shay's Rebellion: 1787, 1,500 farmers marched on Boston to protest unfair economic and political policies. This is the best example of the lack of power of the Articles of Confederation, and something had to be done.

Northwest Ordinance of 1787: Contained a basic bill of rights which included provisions for trial by jury, freedom of religion, freedom from excessive punishment (laid foundations for Cruel and Unusual Punishment clause in the Constitution). This also abolished slavery in the Northwest Territory, and also laid the conditions in which territories could become states.

In 1787, delegates set out to a new convention: The Constitutional Convention.

Constitution created Three Branches of Government: Executive, Legislative, and Judicial, each would follow the principle of checks and balances.

The Great Compromise: Controversy arose when the delegates could not decide on how the American people should be represented in the Legislative Assembly. The Virginia Plan said that representation should be solely based on population, they advocated this because since Virginia was a state with a massive population, they would get representation. Opponents lined with the New Jersey Plan to make representation uniform throughout the states. The Compromise was that they included both plans and set up a bi-cameral legislature. The Senate (Upper House) would follow the New Jersey Plan, the House of Representatives (Lower House) would follow the Virginia Plan. The Compromise also provided for slaves to be counted as 3/5 of a person in order to get a population count.

Opponents to the Constitution were known as Anti-Federalists. They wanted a bill of rights to be included in the Constitution.

The Federalists laid their platform in the Federalist Papers, authored by James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and John Jay.

The Constitution went into effect in 1789, and the Bill of Rights went into effect in 1791.

George Washington was elected the first president of the United States by unanimous consent. He did not campaign to become president, yet he was an extremely popular man in the new republic, some even wanted to make George Washington king of the new nation.

His Administration was one in which all sides would be heard. He wanted to create a bi-partisan administration which included Federalists and Anti-Federalists. Since he was the first president, he knew that future presidents would model their presidency after his, so Washington was very careful in how he went about to run the nation. In his cabinet he had Thomas Jefferson as Secretary of State, Alexander Hamilton as Secretary of Treasury, these two were ideologically, and politically apart.

Federalism: Strong central government, and weak state government.

Anti-Federalism: Strong state government, and weak central government.

National Bank: Hamilton's plan to regulate the new economy. Congress approved, but Washington vetoed it since he did not know if the creation of a National Bank would be constitution.

Strict Constructionists: At its forefront were Jefferson and Madison, argued for a strict interpretation of the Constitution. They argued about the enumerated powers of the constitution.

Loose or Broad Constructionists: Led by Hamilton, argued that there should be a loose interpretation of the Constitution and argued about the implied power of the government. After Hamilton successfully persuaded Washington about the implied powers of government, Washington rescinded his veto and signed the bill.

Over Debt: Hamilton successfully handled the National Debt, and also took over the individual debt of the states, which further increased the power of the Federal government. Hamilton's fiscal plans favored the northern industrial states, and grew resentment in the south. Here we see an early divide of sectionalism. In order to appease the South, Hamilton proposed to move the capital to the South, to Washington, D.C.

The French Revolution was taking place during this time. Jefferson supported the revolution and the ideals that it represented. Hamilton opposed the revolutionaries, and so did most Federalists.

Citizen Edmond Genêt: Came to America to try to persuade the United States to take a position in the conflict between France and Britain. The United States trying to remain "friendly and impartial toward belligerent powers", meaning neutrality, kept that stance. The visit sparked enthusiastic rallies organized by Democratic-Republican societies to persuade the United States to become allies with the revolution. These societies soon became the Democratic-Republican political party.

Washington was highly suspicious of the creation of political parties since they thought that that would fragment the constitution and government.

Whiskey Rebellion: Pennsylvania whiskey farmers protested a tax put in on them by Hamilton. Washington made it a point that the government would not tolerate such actions, sent the militia, by this for the first time exercising his constitutional power as Commander-in-Chief, and put down the rebellion.

Jay's Treaty: Highly unpopular treaty between the United States and Britain.

Washington invoked executive privilege in order to protect documents related to the treaty. This action created a precedent for presidents to invoke executive privilege.

Washington decided not to run for a third time, and by this set out another precedent not to be broken by any president until Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

In his farewell address, he called for future presidents to "steer clear of permanent alliances with any portion of the foreign world" thus establishing neutrality, and isolationism.

Under the electoral process put in place, Adams was elected President of the United States, and Thomas Jefferson was elected Vice-President of the United States since he received the most votes after Adams.

Adams Administration was one in which men who disliked each other, were forced to work together, not only between Adams and his Vice-President, but between Adams and his cabinet. Also the rise of political party animosity towards each other set an ugly tone in Washington.

Adams was able to avoid war with France.

XYZ Affair: Adams sent three representatives to Paris, where the French demanded money in order for the Americans even to be able to sit down and negotiate with them. The Americans returned, and Adams made the Affair public. Public opinion turned anti-French after this incident, to the point that there was almost a declaration of war.

Alien and Sedition Acts: Gave government the right to expel foreigners and to jail newspaper editors for writing. This was a huge threat to the first amendment of the Constitution. The act was aimed to hurt the Democratic-Republicans.

Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions: Organized by Vice-President Jefferson and James Madison, argued that the states had the rights to debate the constitutionality of federal laws, this later became known as "nullification"

Both Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr ran for the Democratic-Republican nomination for President. Both received the same number of votes in the Electoral College. After a time, Jefferson finally won.

Hamilton, even though he disagreed with Jefferson in almost everything, campaigned for Jefferson because he disliked Burr. Burr ended up killing Hamilton in a duel.

The 12th Amendment was passed after this in order to allow electors to vote for a ticket, meaning a vote for both President and his running mate.

Also many consider the Election of 1800 as the Revolution of 1800, since for the first time in History, there was a peaceful transfer of power between opposing parties. Jefferson called it "the bloodless revolution.