American Democracy in Context. Joseph A. Pika

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СКАЧАТЬ had been declared, but the Revolutionary War dragged on for five years. The official peace accord, in which Great Britain recognized the independence of the United States, was not signed until 1782.

      The Articles of Confederation

      With the Declaration, the colonies asserted their independence but still mostly lacked a formal government. In the months preceding the Declaration, would-be states had begun drafting their own written constitutions. By the end of 1776, all but three of the states had drafted and ratified constitutions. Georgia and New York followed suit in 1777, as did Massachusetts in 1780. These constitutions created state governments. However, a new national government to oversee the 13 states was also needed. The problem—similar to the one faced in Iraq in 2005—was how to balance regional autonomy with national power.

      In the short run, the Second Continental Congress operated as the national government. The Continental Congress also took responsibility for writing a national constitution and, in fact, had appointed a committee for this purpose even before voting to approve the Declaration of Independence. But the process of drafting the constitution proved to be slow. The problem, above all, was that the new states were understandably wary of central authority. Furthermore, differences among the states led to heated debates. Large states wanted proportional representation in the national government, while small states wanted equal representation. Similarly, there was debate about whether states should supply funds to the national government in proportion to their population. If so, did the slave population count? Southern states, with large slave populations, said no. Later, during the Constitutional Convention of 1787, southern states would take a contradictory stance and argue that their slave population should count for purposes of representation in Congress. At this juncture, however, the issue did not arise because all states had equal representation in the Continental Congress and the states assumed that this practice would continue.

      Debate also revolved around control of the land west of the colonies. The western boundaries for some states were not yet established. Should the new national government have the power to set those boundaries?²¹ As a result of such debates, the drafting of the first national constitution, known as the Articles of Confederation, took well over a year; on November 17, 1777, the Continental Congress finally voted to approve the Articles. Ratification by the states was an even slower process, and the Articles of Confederation did not officially take effect until March 1, 1781.²²

      As its title indicates, the relationship that the Articles of Confederation established among the states was that of a confederation, a union of independent, sovereign states. In a confederation, the primary power, especially with regard to domestic affairs, rests with the individual states; the central government is limited to such functions as leading the nation’s defense and foreign affairs. Confederations are relatively rare. A recent example is the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro, a confederated union of two former republics of Yugoslavia. Serbia and Montenegro maintained autonomous governments; they were united only for the purpose of defense. Their confederation lasted only from 2003 to 2006, when it was dissolved as the result of a referendum.

      Articles of Confederation The first constitution of the United States (1781–1788), under which states retained sovereignty over all issues not specifically delegated to the weak central government, comprising a unicameral (one-house) legislature and no independent executive or judicial branch.

      confederation A union of independent, sovereign states whose central government is charged with defense and foreign affairs but where the primary power—especially with regard to domestic politics—rests with the individual states.

      The Structure and Power of Government Under the Articles of Confederation

      The Articles of Confederation were designed to protect the power and autonomy of the states coming together in this confederation. The national government consisted solely of a weak unicameral (one-house) legislature; there was no executive or judicial branch. It had only those powers expressly delegated to it by the states, such as appointing army officers, waging war, controlling the post office, and negotiating with Indian tribes. Any powers not specifically given to the national government by the Articles of Confederation were reserved to the states.

      Delegates to the Confederation Congress were appointed by state legislatures. To ensure equality among the states, each state—regardless of its size or the number of delegates it sent—had a single vote in Congress (as had been the practice in the First and Second Continental Congresses). A state cast its vote in accordance with the votes of the majority of its delegates; if a state could not achieve a majority among its delegates on a particular vote, it would abstain from voting.²³ Passage of legislation required at least nine of the thirteen votes, and amendment of the Articles of Confederation required a unanimous vote.

      Weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation

      When drafting the Articles of Confederation, the delegates to the second Continental Congress focused more on the potential threats posed by a national government than on the benefits such a government might provide. After all, their bitter experience with Great Britain was fresh on their minds. Therefore, they were more concerned with limiting government than empowering it.²⁴ Moreover, people still thought of themselves as citizens of their particular state: They were Virginians or New Yorkers rather than Americans. Worse, states fundamentally mistrusted each other. They also had widely divergent economic interests and often saw each other as competitors. These factors led to the creation of a governing document with fundamental weaknesses.

      The most obvious weakness of the Articles was that the national government had too little power. For example, Congress had no power to tax. This severely limited the ability of the national government to raise money to pay for debts incurred during the Revolutionary War. Congress requested money from the states, but payment was voluntary and compliance was poor.²⁵ To modern eyes, not giving Congress the power to tax seems strange, but if you remember that the American Revolution was a revolt against taxation by a distant government, then withholding of this power from the unfamiliar and distant national government (as opposed to familiar and near state governments) becomes more understandable.²⁶

      Congress also lacked the power to regulate commerce among the states. As a result, states jostled for economic advantage, routinely using protective tariffs (taxes imposed on imported goods) against one another as well as against foreign nations. Trade was further hindered by the fact that the new nation had no common currency. Although the new national government could, and did, print money to pay war debts, each state also produced its own currency. Since some states printed more money than others, currency from different states had different values, complicating trade and hurting the economy.

      Description

      Rhode Island’s $3 bill came to be worth no more than the paper it was printed on.

      Sarin Images / GRANGER — All rights reserved.

      Significantly, Congress did not even have a permanent home. It originally sat in Philadelphia, but the delegates fled to Princeton, New Jersey, in June 1783 when a mutinous group of hundreds of Revolutionary War veterans mobbed Independence Hall, where the Confederation Congress was then meeting, to demand pay for their war service. After a little more than four months in Princeton, the Confederation Congress then moved to Annapolis, Maryland, before proceeding to Trenton, New Jersey, in 1784, and finally to New York City in 1785. Historian David O. Stewart has noted that Congress’s homelessness was a potent symbol of its frailty, adding, “Vagabondage СКАЧАТЬ