Nation-building and challenges (c1780–c1870)

The first US governing document (1781–1789); created a deliberately weak central government with no power to tax, regulate trade, or maintain a national army.

Fear of tyranny after fighting a war against a powerful, distant British government — states wanted to keep power for themselves.

An armed uprising of indebted Massachusetts farmers against high taxes and debt collection; exposed Congress's lack of an army and helped trigger the push for a new Constitution.

Splitting government into independent legislative, executive and judicial branches so no one part can dominate; drawn from Montesquieu's Enlightenment philosophy.

A two-house Congress: the House of Representatives based on population, and the Senate with two seats per state — balancing large and small state interests.

Each enslaved person would count as three-fifths of a person for both representation in Congress and taxation, resolving a dispute between Northern and Southern states.

Allowed Congress to regulate trade, but barred it from taxing exports or banning the slave trade before 1808.

A confederation is a loose alliance of sovereign states with a weak shared body (the Articles); a federation is a strong central government that shares power with states (the 1787 Constitution).

A regional strongman in post-independence Latin America who ruled through personal loyalty, a private army and patronage rather than through law or constitutions.

Any three of: sudden collapse of Spanish colonial rule (power vacuum), weak new central institutions, vast distances/regionalism, militarized populations from the independence wars, and strong personal loyalty over national identity.

Juan Manuel de Rosas, who ruled Argentina (mainly Buenos Aires province) from 1829–1852 through the Federalist party and his enforcement squad, the mazorca.

By centralizing personal power while claiming to defend provincial Federalism, Rosas delayed genuine national constitutional government in Argentina until after his fall in 1852.

A mix of impressment of US sailors, British trade restrictions (Orders in Council), and British support for Tecumseh's Indigenous confederacy blocking US expansion.

The British practice of seizing American sailors and forcing them into Royal Navy service — a key grievance behind the War of 1812.

He was killed at the Battle of the Thames in 1813; his death shattered the Indigenous confederacy's ability to resist US expansion after the war.

It restored pre-war borders (status quo ante bellum) — no territory changed hands, despite three years of fighting.

The 1840s American belief that the US was destined to expand across the whole North American continent; ideological driver of the Mexican-American War.

The US claimed the Rio Grande as Texas's southern border; Mexico said it was the Nueces River further north. Polk sent troops into the disputed zone, provoking a clash in 1846.

Ended the Mexican-American War; Mexico ceded ~55% of its territory (California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, parts of New Mexico) to the US for $15 million.

Lower Canada (Papineau): French-Canadian reformers vs an unelected British elite. Upper Canada (Mackenzie): reformers vs the Family Compact clique. Both shared the same core grievance — no responsible government.

1) Unite Upper and Lower Canada into one province; 2) grant responsible government so elected representatives, not appointed officials, controlled policy.

Charlottetown Conference (1864) → Quebec Conference (1864, drafted the 72 Resolutions) → London Conference (1866, finalised with Britain) → BNA Act (1867).

Federalism: a strong central government (favoured by Macdonald) balanced against provincial powers over education and civil law (protecting Quebec's French, Catholic identity, backed by Cartier).

Indigenous peoples were not consulted at all, and Maritime provinces felt dominated by the political weight of Ontario and Quebec.