Congress Proposes the Articles of Confederation
THE founding fathers did not just establish a country, they had to establish a government and determine how that government would function. The document that provides the framework for our system of government, our laws, our courts and, perhaps most importantly, that guarantees the rights and freedoms of our citizens, is the US Constitution. Although the framers of the Constitution could not have imagined how the world would change, the Constitution has provided for both order and freedom through situations unfathomable to its authors.
Perfection, however, takes time and practice, and for its first 10 years as an independent nation, the US was governed by essentially a rough draft of the Constitution, the Articles of Confederation.
On July 4, 1776, the Second Continental Congress issued the Declaration of Independence, declaring independence from Britain. The brand new nation now needed a government, and a law of the land. On July 12, a committee of the Second Continental Congress, headed by John Dickinson, proposed the Articles of Confederation.
This united the 13 colonies into a union, or confederation, of 13 sovereign states meaning that each state was recognized as its own nation, with its own laws and government, but was part of a union thatwould function as a singular, unified body for specific purposes.
The Second Continental Congress adjourned in December, but the Third Continental Congress was called almost immediately. The Third Continental Congress finalized the Articles, and proposed them to the states for ratification on November 15, 1777.
The Articles had to be ratified approved by the individual states but the states disagreed on elements of the Articles. The original Articles established a strong central government, but many states objected to this, fearing tyranny and the loss of their self-rule.
For three years, during which the US waged the Revolutionary War, the Articles were debated and revised. They were finally ratified in 1781.
There were 13 articles, providing for the name of the confederation, recognizing the sovereignty of each state, establishing a shared military and treasury, making the citizens of each state a citizen of every state, establishing Congress and its powers, defining the powers not available to the states, establishing the Articles as the law of the land, and inviting Canada to join the confederation.
The Articles did not provide for an elected executive or president. Congress chose a president of Congress to preside over its term each year.
After the Revolutionary War ended in 1781, the confederation quickly realized the flaws of the Articles and the need to rethink the need for a stronger central government.
For example, the Articles established a common treasury, but by mandating a weak central government, the confederation could not raise revenue by collecting taxes and therefore did not have the funds to pay debts or support a military. The result of a convention to revise the Articles in 1783 was the US Constitution.
