Articles of Confederation
The Articles of Confederation was the first constitution of the United States, adopted in 1777 and ratified in 1781. It established a weak central government with most power held by the individual states. The Articles ultimately proved ineffective in governing the nation, leading to the drafting of the U.S. Constitution in 1787.
7 Key excerpts on "Articles of Confederation"
eBook - ePub- James Tonty(Author)
- 2017(Publication Date)
- Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.(Publisher)
...The Articles of Confederation The Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union, customarily referred to as the Articles of Confederation, were the first written government documentation of a constitution for the thirteen colonies, collectively as one body, that formed the United States. These articles, being created by the chosen representatives of the states in the Second Continental Congress, were written with the intent to have a plan of confederacy for securing the freedom, sovereignty, and independence of the United States. They were also necessary so that the colonies could be bound together under one governing facet, legally establishing the union of the states. The last draft of the articles were written in the summer of 1777 and approved by Congress after a year of debate and thereafter sent to the states for ratification. In practice, the final draft of the articles served as the “de facto” system of government used by the Congress until final ratification in March of 1781, almost three years after they were first written, in which Congress was now established officially as the Congress of the Confederation of the United States of America. The articles closed by stating, “In Witness whereof we have hereunto set our hands in Congress. Done at Philidelphia in the state of Pennsylvania the ninth day of July, in the year of our Lord one Thousand seven Hundred and Seventy-eight, and in the third year of the independence of America.” These thirteen articles set the rules for operations of the United States Confederation and, under its authority, were capable of making war, negotiating diplomatic agreements, and resolving issues regarding the western territories...
eBook - ePubRevolutionary America, 1763-1815
A Sourcebook
- Francis D. Cogliano, Kirsten E. Phimister, Francis D. Cogliano, Kirsten E. Phimister(Authors)
- 2010(Publication Date)
- Routledge(Publisher)
...CHAPTER 7 The Confederation Era Introduction By waging war and declaring independence, the new American states raised vital questions concerning their constitutional and legal status. Nine months before the Declaration of Independence, John Adams called for the colonies to form new governments and suggested how this might be done (document 1). Much of the most important experiments with constitution-making took place at the state level. Pennsylvania acted relatively quickly and adopted one of the most radical constitutions of the era (document 2). When lawmakers in Massachusetts attempted to act with similar rapidity they were opposed by the voters and the proposed constitution was rejected. A special convention was convened and it proposed a new frame of government which found favour with the voters (documents 3–4). Of course, while the individual states grappled with constitutional questions, the states collectively had to draft a frame of government, while waging war for their existence. The result was the Articles of Confederation (document 5), which created a relatively weak central government. The apparent weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation frustrated some politicians and theorists who sought to create a stronger federal government (document 6). Despite its flaws, the United States was governed under the Articles of Confederation for nearly a decade from 1781 to 1789. While the United States enjoyed some successes during this period—notably the successful conclusion of the War of Independence—the nation was beset by considerable problems as well during the 1780s. Notable among these was economic instability. Under the Articles of Confederation Congress did not have the power to levy taxes. In order to pay for the war it resorted to printing paper money as did many of the states (document 7), resulting in runaway inflation...
- Founding Fathers, James Madison(Authors)
- 2021(Publication Date)
- AA Press(Publisher)
...The Articles of Confederation Agreed to by Congress 15 November 1777 In force after ratification by Maryland, 1 March 1781 Preamble To all to whom these Presents shall come, we the undersigned Delegates of the States affixed to our Names send greeting. Articles of Confederation and perpetual Union between the states of New Hampshire, Massachusetts-bay Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia. Article I The Stile of this Confederacy shall be "The United States of America". Article II Each state retains its sovereignty, freedom, and independence, and every power, jurisdiction, and right, which is not by this Confederation expressly delegated to the United States, in Congress assembled. Article III The said States hereby severally enter into a firm league of friendship with each other, for their common defense, the security of their liberties, and their mutual and general welfare, binding themselves to assist each other, against all force offered to, or attacks made upon them, or any of them, on account of religion, sovereignty, trade, or any other pretense whatever. Article IV The better to secure and perpetuate mutual friendship and intercourse among the people of the different States in this Union, the free inhabitants of each of these States, paupers, vagabonds, and fugitives from justice excepted, shall be entitled to all privileges and immunities of free citizens in the several States; and the people of each State shall free ingress...
eBook - ePubA Brilliant Solution
Inventing the American Constitution
- Carol Berkin(Author)
- 2003(Publication Date)
- Mariner Books(Publisher)
...The Articles of Confederation A GREED TO BY C ONGRESS November 15, 1777; ratified and in force, March 1, 1781. Preamble To all to whom these Presents shall come, we the undersigned Delegates of the States affixed to our Names send greeting. Articles of Confederation and perpetual Union between the States of New Hampshire, Massachusetts-bay, Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia. Article I. The Stile of this Confederacy shall be “The United States of America.” Article II. Each state retains its sovereignty, freedom, and independence, and every power, jurisdiction, and right, which is not by this Confederation expressly delegated to the United States, in Congress assembled. Article III. The said States hereby severally enter into a firm league of friendship with each other, for their common defense, the security of their liberties, and their mutual and general welfare, binding themselves to assist each other, against all force offered to, or attacks made upon them, or any of them, on account of religion, sovereignty, trade, or any other pretense whatever. Article IV. The better to secure and perpetuate mutual friendship and intercourse among the people of the different States in this Union, the free inhabitants of each of these States, paupers, vagabonds, and fugitives from justice excepted, shall be entitled to all privileges and immunities of free citizens in the several States; and the people of each State shall free ingress and regress to and from any other State, and shall enjoy therein all the privileges of trade and commerce, subject to the same duties, impositions, and restrictions as the inhabitants thereof respectively, provided that such restrictions shall not extend so far as to prevent the removal of property imported into any State, to any other State, of which the owner is an...
eBook - ePub- Aaron Wildavsky, Aaron Wildavsky(Authors)
- 2021(Publication Date)
- Routledge(Publisher)
...It was over by 1789 when the Constitution came into force. The very fact that there was virtually no opposition to the Constitution after it began tells us that its principles cannot have been considered outrageous by many. It would be equally valid to say that, until then, the idea of dual sovereignty had very little currency in the United States. In 1780 and 1781 a number of amendments to the Articles were considered with the idea of giving Congress an independent source of revenue, as we saw in discussing the impost. The impost failed because of the unanimity requirement, which may well be regarded the single and most signal failure of government under that document. There was widespread agreement that the Articles needed improvement but, when faced with the stark choice of no improvement or radical change, change—what we now call the American federal system—won out. I shall end this paper with brief speculations about how life under the Articles might have developed had sufficient change been made to increase the efficacy of that confederal government. Here, before we examine how well governments and peoples fared while living under a noncentralized form of government, we must attend to the actual provisions of the Articles. On one side stood those like John Adams who believed that “the Confederacy is to make of us one individual only; is to form us like separate parcels of metal, into one common mass. We shall no longer retain our separate individuality, but become a single individual as to all questions submitted to the Confederacy.” On the other side, people like Roger Sherman and John Witherspoon argued that such matters relating only to individuals neither could nor should come before the Congress, there was no need of a union to incorporate the states into one...
eBook - ePubInquiry-Based Lessons in U.S. History
Decoding the Past (Grades 5-8)
- Jana Kirchner, Andrew McMichael(Authors)
- 2021(Publication Date)
- Routledge(Publisher)
...Most power was left to the states, which the Articles declared “sovereign.” Fear of national authority led to more power in the state legislatures, which became increasingly filled with non-elites marginalized during the colonial era. These ordinary people organized into groups of special interests eager to use the power of state government to benefit themselves and their constituents. Colonial elites believed that these kinds of organizations—called “factions” in the 18th century and “political parties” in the 21st—contradicted the spirit of virtue and therefore threatened the stability of the new nation. The inability of the Confederation Congress to effectively address postwar problems highlighted structural problems in the Articles. Led by James Madison, the Constitutional Convention of 1787 authored a new Constitution. No longer able to coin money, conduct diplomacy, levy tariffs, or to claim sovereignty, the states would surrender most real power to the new federal government. The new plan for government met with a great deal of opposition and compromise. Proslavery Southerners forced an agreement to count slaves as three-fifths of a person for the purposes of taxation, while antislavery activists gained passage of a compromise that allowed Congress to vote to end the slave trade 20 years after ratification. Small states worried that larger states would dominate this powerful central government. The Great Compromise created a bicameral legislature, with the House determined by population and each state contributing two representatives to the Senate...
eBook - ePub- Arthur M. Schlesinger(Author)
- 2004(Publication Date)
- Mariner Books(Publisher)
...And it can settle related historical questions—whether or not, for example, presidential practice was indeed, as later Presidents liked to claim, what the Founding Fathers designed and desired. Above all, the Founding Fathers were exceptionally able and intelligent men, wiser on the whole than their posterity. They thought hard about these matters, and their views demand the most careful consideration. In drafting the Constitution, they were, of course, concerned to correct the deficiencies of the Articles of Confederation, under which the rebellious colonies had been governed during the Revolution. The Articles had bestowed executive as well as legislative authority on Congress, establishing in effect parliamentary government without a prime minister. Article VI gave Congress control over the conduct of foreign affairs, and Article IX gave it “the sole and exclusive right and power of determining on peace and war.” But the Constitution was founded on the opposite principle of the separation of power. The men of Philadelphia therefore had to work out a division of authority between the legislative and executive branches. In domestic policy, this division was reasonably clear. In foreign affairs, it was often cryptic, ambiguous and incomplete. Their experience under the Articles led the Founding Fathers to favor more centralization of executive authority than they had known in the Confederation. Many of them probably agreed with Hamilton’s statement in the 70th Federalist that “energy in the Executive is a leading character in the definition of good government.” Those who disagreed were reassured by the expectation that Washington would be the first head of state. At the same time, their experience under the British crown led the Founding Fathers to favor less centralization of authority than they perceived in the British monarchy...
