Articles of Confederation – AMERICAN FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

Articles of Confederation – AMERICAN FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

Articles of Confederation (1781-1789)

The New National Constitution-1st U.S. Constitution

In June 1776, when the delegates appointed a committee to draft the 
Declaration of Independence
, it also recognized that a committee would need to be formed to craft a national constitution. The committee drafted the new constitution in one month and then debated its merits for roughly a year and one half before it was approved by the Congress.

The new constitution known as the 
Articles of Confederation
, “
a league of friendship
,
” was submitted to the state legislatures in November 1777. It took four years for all the states to approve this new national constitution. Maryland, the last state, approved the Articles in March 1781, after Virginia promised to relinquish its claims in the 
Northwest Territory
 to the new national government.

What lands did Virginia claim

in the Northwest Territory?

The Articles of Confederation established a confederacy known as the 
United States of America
. The new seat of government would be in New York City, the center of trade and commerce. The national government would consist of a Congress, a national legislature, with limited power. There was no executive to implement and enforce national laws or a national court system to resolve legal disputes and interpret the law.

The Confederation Congress was a 
unicameral
 body, a one house legislature, where each state would have 
equal representation
, equal voice. Each state legislature could send between two to seven delegates to sit in NYC, but they would vote as a delegation, one vote per state, no matter the size of the population of each state. Both small and large states would hold equal power in this new national government.

The delegates chose a confederation type of government system in order to keep most of the power in the hands of the states and less power in the national government. The country was fighting the Revolutionary War against the perceived tyranny of King George and the British Parliament and they did not want to grant the new Congress strong legislative and executive authority.

In a 
confederation
 unlike our federal system (federation) of today, the 
state legislatures
, in approving the Articles, gave the new national government only 
limited power 
over foreign affairs and national security, Indian tribes, coining money, regulating weights and measurements, and delivering the mail Articles of Confederation – AMERICAN FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
.

The remaining powers such as regulating domestic and foreign trade belonged to the states. Under the Articles, “{E} ach 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.” This reserve powers clause reassured the states that power would rest with them (Kelly, Harbison, and Belz A-2).

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The Confederation Congress could not directly tax the people residing in the states or draft soldiers for the Continental Army. If the national government wanted tax revenue or troops, it had to ask the state legislatures. The states would raise taxes and send them onto NYC. Soldiers would be recruited by the states for the national army. This would present a problem for General George Washington and his troops. You may remember the lack of supplies at Valley Forge to name but just one example.

Also, the new Congress could not collect debts owed to it by the states, settle disputes between the states (no national court system), or enforce its laws. In short, the Articles created a very weak national government that would present problems in conducting the war effort and later, impact our national economy and national unity.

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Annapolis Convention (1786)

After the Revolutionary War ended in 1783, the states turned inward and began to focus more on the condition of their own domestic economies, just like countries today do after a war. 
At the time, there was no national economy and states considered themselves more like independent nations.
 With the war no longer providing the necessity for unity, the states developed an economic rivalry that compounded the problems of governing under the new Constitution.

States used their power to regulate trade with one another and foreign countries to enhance their prosperity with generally no concern how their activities would impact the nation as a whole.

Some states like New York took advantage of its geographical position and deep water port and taxed goods that were shipped between Connecticut and New Jersey (Magleby).

Rhode Island, know as “Rhogue Island,” was notorious for taxing people if they did not purchase its state’s goods with Rhode Island currency. The purpose of this tax was to strengthen the value of its own currency and defray its costs of the War effort (Magleby).

Also, some states imposed tariffs or taxes on imports from other states to protect their products from a flood of cheaper goods which further caused disruption in the economy. The United States was not a ” 
free trade zone
” like it is today. Under our current Constitution, states are prohibited from taxing one another’s imported goods (see Article 1, sec. 10, U.S. Constitution).

James Madison
 (VA) and 
Alexander Hamilton
(NY) who recognized the importance of a viable national economy called for a convention to be held in Annapolis, Maryland to deal with the problems of trade and navigation. Earlier in 1785, a dispute between Maryland and Virginia over control of navigation of the Potomac River had been successfully resolved. Articles of Confederation – AMERICAN FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

Only five states sent delegates to Annapolis in September 1786 and as a result, nothing was accomplished in addressing trade and navigation issues. However, one thing was clear. There were more equally pressing problems that needed to be addressed than just these matters. Another convention was needed with all states in attendance to deal with the 
broad problems
 of governing under the Articles of Confederation. The United States was not only facing economic problems, but foreign threats as well.

The delegates sent a letter to the Confederation Congress urging it to call for such a convention now known as the 
Constitutional Convention
.

Shay’s Rebellion (1786)

In late 1786, Daniel Shays led a group of 1000 farmers in a rebellion in western Massachusetts. The farmers had been especially hard hit by heavy state taxes and low farm prices due to a depression in the agriculture economy.

Also, creditors were pressing them to pay off their debts. Many Americans went on a buying spree after the war and bought luxury British goods on credit (Collier and Collier 9-11).

During December 1786 and early 1787, these farmers interrupted foreclosure proceedings and released some of their fellow debtors from jail. It was finally put down by a private group of citizens hired to put down the rebellion (Edwards, Wattenberg and Lineberry 31).

This rebellion frightened property owners and the public in general not only in Massachusetts, but other states as well who were also having creditor/debtor problems. Many Americans recognized that something needed to be done to amend the Articles to strengthen the national government so that it could put down rebellions, maintain law and order, and preserve property rights. They feared the potential for anarchy.

The Shays’ Rebellion encouraged state legislatures who had not attended the Annapolis Convention to send delegates to the Constitutional Convention Articles of Confederation – AMERICAN FEDERAL GOVERNMENT