Articles of Confederation
The Continental Congress adopted the Articles of Confederation on November 15, 1777. Ratification by all thirteen states occurred on March 1, 1781.
The Articles created a loose confederation of sovereign states and a weak central government, leaving most of the power with the state governments.
It must be understood that, by what they were attempting to achieve, the Continental Congress was moving into unchartered waters while, at the same time, they were fighting the most powerful military in the world.
These men were attempting something new, at that time. They were not sure of what they wanted and needed; only that they did not want a strong central government.
Weaknesses of the Articles
The Articles established “The United States of America” as a perpetual union formed to defend the States as a group. But the central government was designed to be so weak that it had little or no real power.
The central government couldn’t collect taxes.
States were able to conduct their own foreign policies.
States had their own monetary systems, which meant that there wasn’t a common currency in the Confederation era.
Without the ability to tax and with no “U.S.” currency, unless the States kicked-in cash to the central government, the Confederation government couldn’t settle Revolutionary War-era debts.
The End of the Confederation
Shays’ Rebellion, which was a tax protest by western Massachusetts farmers in 1786 and 1787, proved that the central government could not put down an internal rebellion.
With no money, the central government could not act to protect the “perpetual union.”
This was the death knell for the Articles.
The most prominent Founders were at the point where delegates from five States met at Annapolis, Maryland in September, 1786, to discuss changing the Articles of Confederation. On the Founders’ recommendation, all 13 States met the following May in Philadelphia.
The Confederation Congress agreed and the Constitutional Convention of 1787 ended the era of the Articles of Confederation.
George Washington, 1786:
“I do not conceive that we can exist long as a nation without … a power which will pervade the whole union.”
Our Constitution was born out of the weaknesses in the Articles of Confederation.
This article is from my book, A Stroll Through American History
