Download Articles of Confederation

Articles of Confederation
Time Line
1777
1781 March
October
1783
1786
1787 April
May
Congress approves the Articles of Confederation;
Articles of Confederation ratifi ed by all states
British surrender at Yorktown
Treaty of Paris
Shays’s Rebellion
“Vices of the Political System of the United States”
Constitutional Convention
The Articles of Confederation
Shortly after the signing of the Declaration of Independence, Congress appointed a
committee to begin work on a national constitution. The committee members produced
the Articles of Confederation, which were debated and amended over the next year and a
half before being passed in November 1777. It took until 1781 for the Articles of
Confederation to be ratified by all thirteen states.
The Articles of Confederation were a very poor attempt at developing a working plan for
a central government. First, they left far too much power with the states. Second, they did
not create a national executive or a judicial branch. Third, they did not give Congress the
power to collect taxes. All national governments must collect taxes; they are a necessary
source of revenue that a nation must use to pay for services such as an army. This was
especially crucial for the fledgling United States because it was at war at the time the
articles were written.
Unable to force the states to help pay for the costs of the Revolution, Congress found
itself with a huge war debt when the Revolution was over. When states belatedly began
raising taxes to help pay the debt, the people rebelled, believing that Congress was just
the British Parliament all over again. Political leaders such as James Madison and George
Washington began speaking out against the articles, urging that Congress try again and
this time create a stronger central government, one that had real authority to administer
the states. By 1787, it was clear that this was essential if the new nation were going to
succeed.
The State Governments and the Articles of Confederation
The State Governments
The individual states—formerly colonies—began establishing new state governments in
1776, as soon as the United States declared its independence from Britain. By 1780,
eleven of the thirteen United States had written constitutions; the other two, Connecticut
and Rhode Island, had revised their royal charters. The state governments relied on freely
elected representative forms of government, in which adult men voted for their leaders.
Each state had a governor and a legislative assembly. Most early state constitutions gave
much more power to the legislature than to the governor; they were determined to make
the new system truly representative of the voters’ needs. In Colonial times, the governor
had usually represented the interests of the British Crown, while the legislative
assemblies were locally elected and represented the colonists’ interests. This history of
opposing interests led the Americans to distrust the notion of a strong executive.
State governors and legislators were popularly elected, although voting was still a
privilege rather than a right. Women, slaves, and American Indians could not vote. Each
state established slightly different age and income requirements for male voters. Free
African-American men could vote in most states, if they met the qualifications of age and
property ownership.
State constitutions guaranteed freedom of religion to all varieties of Christians; some
extended this freedom to anyone who professed a belief in the Judeo-Christian God.
Many of the leaders of the new state governments had been strongly influenced by the
thinkers of the European Enlightenment and feared the influence of religion on the state.
Many also recognized that the United States was already a land of religious plurality,
where Quakers, Anglicans, Protestants of all kinds, Jews, Catholics, and others all had to
live and work side by side. It made sense to ensure that no American citizen could be
penalized for worshipping God according to the dictates of his or her conscience.
The National Government and the Articles of Confederation
The National Government
As the state governments began to take shape, Congress turned its attention to designing
a national government. John Dickinson of Pennsylvania was put in charge of the
committee to draft a plan for this new government. Congress adopted Dickinson’s plan,
the Articles of Confederation, on November 15, 1777.
The Articles of Confederation did not create a modern nation-state; they created a loosely
knit association of thirteen sovereign powers that were guaranteed their independence
and freedom. The Articles of Confederation echoed the same fear of a strong central
government that had made each state constitution limit the powers of the governor.
Legislative Powers
The national legislative body was to be called the Congress. Congress had the power to
borrow and coin money, set a standard for a national currency, set and carry out foreign
policy, control affairs between the United States and the American Indians, and settle any
disputes between or among states. Congress could not require states to contribute money
to the central government, nor to provide recruits for the U.S. armed forces. The Articles
of Confederation stated that expenses related to the army and to fighting wars would be
paid from the national treasury, but that it would be up to the states to decide how to raise
the money.
Each state was to receive one vote in Congress, regardless of the size of the state’s
population. Delegates to Congress were to be elected annually, and each state would have
between two and seven representatives. Congress agreed to admit Canada into the United
States if it wished to be admitted, and stipulated that if any other colony wished to join
the United States, at least nine of the thirteen states would have to agree.
This chart shows the major provisions of the Articles of Confederation.
The Articles of Confederation
Article
I
Article
II
Article
III
Establishes “United States of America” as the name of the
country.
Each state is to remain independent. All powers not expressly
given to Congress remain with the states.
The states agree to assist one another if any one of them is
attacked.
Citizens may travel freely from one state to another. If a
Article criminal fl ees one state and is found in another, the second
state will send him home for trial. Each state shall give full
IV
faith and credit to the laws of the rest.
Voters will elect two to seven representatives to Congress each
Article year. Congress will meet each year on the fi rst Monday of
November. Each state shall have one vote in Congress.
V
Freedom of speech and debate in Congress is absolute.
Only Congress has the power to set foreign policy, make
Article treaties, conduct war, or maintain a standing army in times of
peace. Each state shall maintain a militia and a proper quantity
VI
of weapons.
Article
State legislatures shall appoint military commanders.
VII
Article Congress will fund war expenses from a national treasury;
each state shall decide how to raise money for its share.
VIII
Only Congress has the power to determine peace and war.
Congress will settle all disputes between or among states.
Article
Congress has the sole power to fi x weights and measures and
IX
to coin money. A majority vote of the delegates is necessary
for any congressional action.
Article Congress can take no legislative action without the agreement
of at least nine delegates.
X
Canada may join the United States if it approves the Articles
Article
of Confederation. No other territory can join the United States
XI
except by vote of nine states.
Article
The United States agrees to pay all debts it contracts.
XII
Article Every state agrees to be bound by the authority of Congress.
The union of the states is to be perpetual.
XIII
Executive and Judicial Powers
The Articles of Confederation did not provide for a president or any other chief executive
of the new government. Nor did they provide for any national court. The reasons for this
were twofold. First, past experience of British rule made the Americans believe that no
monarch, or any other head of state, would understand the individual needs of the states
or of the people. Second, the states did not entirely trust or agree with one another; they
preferred to rule over themselves, rather than answering to elected officials from other
states. For example, no Georgian would want to be ruled by someone from
Massachusetts; each state was too different from the others in too many ways. Those that
were geographically farther apart, of course, had less in common than did neighboring
states like North and South Carolina.
Ratification
Congress agreed that ratification of the Articles of Confederation must be unanimous.
The major obstacle in the way of ratification was the disputed land between the settled
coastal areas of the states and the Mississippi River. In fact, this land was claimed by
Britain, and could not belong to any of the states unless they won the Revolutionary War,
but the states proceeded on the assumption of a victory. Various states laid rival claims to
some parcels of land; those that claimed no land were concerned about the expansion of
the rest. The Maryland legislature flatly refused to ratify the Articles of Confederation
unless some of the other states gave up their rights to the disputed land.
Virginia and New York, the states that held the most land, set an example by giving up
their claims. By 1781, other states had followed suit, and in March of that year, Maryland
became the final state to ratify the Articles of Confederation.
Effects of the Articles of Confederation
The Northwest Ordinance
Congress immediately took steps to resolve the problem of the disputed land in the west.
The Land Ordinance of 1785 marked off all the land east of the Mississippi into
townships and put up 640-acre lots in the townships for sale, at the minimum price of $1
per acre. One section of each township was reserved for a public schoolhouse. The Land
Ordinance of 1787, commonly called the North- west Ordinance, established the rules for
governing the Northwest Territory.
This map shows the borders of the states as of 1787, including the western lands each
state claimed. The Northwest Territory includes the present-day states of Wisconsin,
Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio.
Congress believed that the Northwest Territory would eventually be settled and that the
settlers would want to join the United States. Therefore, it established a process by which
this would happen. First, the territory should be divided into three to five smaller parcels
of land. Second, Congress would appoint a governor, a secretary, and three judges for
each territory. Third, when the population of a territory reached 5,000, voters would elect
a legislature and send a nonvoting delegate to Congress. Fourth, a territory would become
eligible for statehood when the population reached 60,000. The territory would draft a
state constitution; upon congressional approval of the constitution by a Yea vote of nine
or more states, the territory would become a state.
The Northwest Ordinance also guaranteed civil rights in the territories and banned
slavery. Opposition to slavery had been growing among the northern delegates, who were
uncomfortably aware of the irony of declaring their own independence while denying it
to the African-American population. However, the southerners refused to give up the
system of free labor that had brought them so much prosperity, and the Articles of
Confederation gave Congress no power to do anything about it. The Northwest
Ordinance stated that escaped slaves seeking sanctuary in the territories must be returned
to their owners.
The Economy
It quickly became apparent that the Articles of Confederation were not a sufficiently
strong basis for a national government. Because Congress had no power over the states, it
could accomplish very little. Any new legislation it wanted to pass required the support
of nine states, and delegates within a state often could not agree on how to cast their vote,
let alone agreeing with delegates from other states.
Because Congress had given itself no power to tax the states or the people, it had great
difficulty conducting the Revolutionary War. The troops often went without food,
necessary supplies, and new boots and uniforms because there was no way for Congress
to purchase these items. States frequently put off paying their share of these expenses into
the national treasury, and Congress had no leverage to make them pay more or pay more
promptly. George Washington and the other military commanders were probably more
acutely aware than anyone of the weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation, since they
saw the evidence of these weaknesses every day in their struggles on the battlefield.
During the war, the United States accumulated a substantial debt. After the war ended,
Congress had no means of raising taxes to pay the debt. Congress printed and began to
circulate paper money, but merchants refused to accept it, claiming that it had no value.
Unemployment rose and business activity fell off, causing an economic depression in
1784. Britain had closed some of its markets to American imports, then flooded the
United States with inexpensive goods. American merchants could not compete with
British prices and quickly began to lose money. The desperate economic situation led to
Shays’s Rebellion.
Daniel Shays was a farmer and a Revolutionary War captain. When Massachusetts began
raising taxes on land to help the economy recover, and seized land for nonpayment of
taxes, Shays and others rebelled. They shut down debtor courts and marched on
Springfield, intending to seize an arsenal of weapons stored there. The governor of
Massachusetts called out the militia to stop them. When the fighting began in late January
1787, four of Shays’s men were killed. By the end of February, the rebellion had been put
down, and political leaders realized that the United States needed a stronger central
government.
Foreign Policy
The Articles of Confederation made no provision for a foreign office, making it
impossible to force Britain to fulfill its obligations as described in the Treaty of Paris.
Congress could also do nothing to prevent the continuing impressment of American
sailors into service on British warships.
James Madison of Virginia published his opinions in “Vices of the Political System of the
United States” in April 1787. First, Madison argued that the states had failed to comply
with reasonable constitutional demands for taxes. Second, some states had trespassed on
one another’s rights. Third, individual states had entered into agreements with Indians in
defiance of the Articles of Confederation. Fourth, the national economic depression made
it clear that the states would not voluntarily work together in defense of their common
interests. Madison’s clear, declarative statements and specific examples impressed many
readers. George Washington, who had had every opportunity to observe the concrete
results of Congress’s impotence during the war, agreed with Madison, writing, “I predict
the worst consequences from a half-starved, limping government, always moving upon
crutches and tottering at every step.”
Madison’s arguments, and those of his supporters, convinced the leaders that they would
have to try again. In May 1787, delegates from all the colonies except Rhode Island met
in Philadelphia to write the U.S. Constitution.