On this day in 1781, the Articles of Confederation, the first American constitution, became the official law of the land. It didn’t last a decade, however, for several reasons. The Second Continental Congress approved the document on November 15, 1777, after a year of debates. The British capture of Philadelphia helped to force the issue. The Articles formed a war-time confederation of states, with an extremely limited central government. The document made official some of the procedures used by Congress to conduct business, but many of the delegates realized the Articles had limitations. Two days later, Congress submitted the Articles to the states for immediate consideration. However, it took until March 1, 1781, for this “immediate” consideration to become final. Here is a quick list of the problems that occurred, and how these issues led to our current Constitution. 1. The states didn’t act immediately. It took until February 1779 for 12 states to approve the document. Maryland was the last state to sign the Articles on March 1, 1781, after it settled a land argument with Virginia. 2. The central government was designed to be weak and decentralized. The Articles established that “the United States of America” was a perpetual union formed to defend the states as a group, but it provided few central powers beyond that—it didn’t include an executive official or judicial branch. 3. The Articles Congress only had one chamber and each state had only one vote. This reinforced the power of the states to operate independently from the central government, even when that wasn’t in the nation’s best interest. The states also retained sovereign rights held under their colonial charters. 4. Congress needed 9 of 13 states to pass any laws. Requiring this high supermajority made it very difficult to pass any legislation that would affect all 13 states. 5. The document was also practically impossible to amend. The Articles required unanimous consent to any amendment, so all 13 states would need to agree on a change. Given the rivalries between the states, that rule made the Articles impossible to adapt after the war ended with Britain in 1783. 6. The central government couldn’t collect taxes to fund its operations. The Confederation relied on the voluntary efforts of the states to send tax money to the central government. Lacking funds, the central government couldn’t maintain an effective military or back its own paper currency. 7. While the Articles technically barred states from entering into any “conference, agreement, alliance, or treaty” with a foreign government, states were nevertheless able to conduct their own foreign policies. Technically, that role fell to the central government, but the Confederation government didn’t have the physical ability to enforce that power since it lacked domestic and international powers and standing. 8. States had their own money systems. There wasn’t a common currency in the Confederation era. The central government and the states each had separate money, which made trade between the states and with other countries extremely difficult. 9. The Confederation government couldn’t help settle Revolutionary War-era debts, due to its lack of power to tax. The central government and the states owed huge debts to European countries and investors. Without the power to tax, and with no power to make trade between the states and other countries viable, the United States was in an economic mess by 1787. 10. Shays’ rebellion—the final straw. A protest by western Massachusetts farmers in 1786 and 1787 showed the central government couldn’t put down an internal rebellion. It had to rely on a state militia sponsored by private Boston business people. With no money, the central government couldn’t act to protect the “perpetual union.” Also, concerns about trade and the need for a uniform economic system alarmed Founders like George Washington, James Madison and Alexander Hamilton to the point where delegates from five states met at Annapolis, Maryland in September 1786 to discuss changing the Articles of Confederation. The group included Madison, Hamilton, and John Dickinson, and it recommended that a meeting of all 13 states be held the following May in Philadelphia. The Confederation Congress agreed and the Constitutional Convention of 1787 started the process that ended the era of the Articles of Confederation. The Articles of ConfederationThe Continental Congress adopted the Articles of Confederation, the first constitution of the United States, on November 15, 1777. However, ratification of the Articles of Confederation by all thirteen states did not occur until 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. The need for a stronger Federal government soon became apparent and eventually led to the Constitutional Convention in 1787. The present United States Constitution replaced the Articles of Confederation on March 4, 1789. Library of Congress Web Site | External Web Sites | Selected Bibliography Digital Collections A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation: U.S. Congressional Documents and Debates, 1774-1875
Documents from the Continental Congress and the Constitutional Convention, 1774 to 1789
James Madison Papers, 1723 to 1859
Printed Ephemera: Three Centuries of Broadsides and Other Printed Ephemera
Thomas Jefferson Papers, 1606 to 1827
America's Library Jump Back in Time: The Articles of Confederation Were Adopted, November 15, 1777 Exhibitions Creating the United States
The Teachers Page American Memory Timeline: Policies and Problems of the Confederation Government
Today in History November 15, 1777
September 17, 1787 External Web Sites Articles of Confederation, Avalon Project at Yale Law School Articles of Confederation, National Archives and Records Administration Our Documents, Articles of Confederation, National Archives and Records Administration Selected Bibliography Hoffert, Robert W. A Politics of Tensions: The Articles of Confederation and American Political Ideas. Niwot: University Press of Colorado, 1992. [Catalog Record] Jensen, Merrill. The Articles of Confederation: An Interpretation of the Social-Constitutional History of the American Revolution 1774-1781. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1970. [Catalog Record] -----. The New Nation: A History of the United States during the Confederation, 1781-1789. New York: Knopf, 1950. [Catalog Record] Wood, Gordon S. The Creation of the American Republic, 1776-1787. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1969. [Catalog Record] Younger Readers Callahan, Kerry P. The Articles of Confederation: A Primary Source Investigation into the Document that Preceded the U.S. Constitution. New York: Rosen Primary Source, 2003. [Catalog Record] Feinberg, Barbara Silberdick. The Articles of Confederation: The First Constitution of the United States. Brookfield, Conn.: Twenty-First Century Books, 2002. [Catalog Record] Price Hossell, Karen. The Articles of Confederation. Chicago: Heinemann Library, 2004. [Catalog Record] Roza, Greg. Evaluating the Articles of Confederation: Determining the Validity of Information and Arguments. New York: Rosen Pub., 2006. [Catalog Record] Did the Articles of Confederation created a way to raise taxes to fund an army?Congress possessed only enumerated powers under the Articles of Confederation. It had no real power to tax, regulate commerce, or raise an army. The inability to tax created major obstacles for the new nation.
Did the Articles of Confederation allow the government to collect money?To avoid any perception of “taxation without representation,” the Articles of Confederation allowed only state governments to levy taxes. To pay for its expenses, the national government had to request money from the states.
What was the Articles of Confederation and what powers did it give Congress?The Articles of Confederation created a national government composed of a Congress, which had the power to declare war, appoint military officers, sign treaties, make alliances, appoint foreign ambassadors, and manage relations with Indians.
What was Congress in the Articles of Confederation?Under the Articles, the national government consisted of a unicameral (one-house) legislature (often called the Confederation Congress); there was no national executive or judiciary. Delegates to Congress were appointed by the state legislatures, and each state had one vote.
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