Articles of Confederation
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The Articles of Confederation were the first attempt at a working document to unite the states after they'd seen off George III. It was adopted by the Second Continental Congress in 1777 but wasn't ratified by all thirteen states until 1781.[1]
The Articles suffered the minor problem that they didn't actually work very well in practice. Thus, the United States Constitution was adopted a decade later. There are some to this day who feel that the Articles were much better, thank you, and that we wouldn't have this overwhelming federal government if we'd just stuck with it a little longer.
The philosophy behind the Articles was that the United States was a confederation of thirteen sovereign states.[2] The powers of the central government were weak by design, including the following provisions:
- States didn't follow a national currency and instead printed their own money .
- States placed tariffs on goods from other states
- There was no national executive or national court system.
- The national government was barred from raising an army, regulating trade, or collecting any taxes (yeah - the government had no money).
- There was a unicameral legislature that required a 2/3 majority to pass any legislation, and to amend the Articles required unanimous vote.
- Each state only received one vote regardless of population (much like today's UN).
This led to problems such as:
- The US could not place tariffs on foreign goods when foreign countries placed restrictions and tariffs on American goods.
- American merchant ships more easily fell victim to pirates because of a weak navy.
- Because of the national government's inability to raise a army, the US became vulnerable to lurking adversaries.
[edit] References
[edit] Footnotes
- ↑ The Library of Congress: The Articles of Confederation
- ↑ Note the capitalization of the Declaration of Independence, written in the name of "the thirteen united States of America."