Article of Confederation

Article of Confederation

What were these Articles of Confederation Anyway?

The Articles of Confederation included 13 sections (or articles… get it?) describing the organization and powers of the national government and some of the rights of the citizens. The new form of government was called a confederation, or a loose alliance of states. This was totally different from the government the colonies had under British rule. The governing document said that the states were uniting in a “firm league of friendship”. That meant they basically agreed to support one another and work together if, say, a foreign country arrived on the shores with cannons and stuff.  

Open Ended

What was the purpose of the Articles of Confederation?

National Government = Limits Please! 

The government that the Founders came up with had a single legislative body, a unicameral legislature called Congress. You might be wondering about the other branches of the federal government, but government under the Articles wasn’t structured like our government is today. Congress was it. There was no executive (aka the president) and no judiciary either (aka the courts). As colonies, Americans learned that a good national government couldn’t be too powerful. Otherwise, what would stop it from trampling on the people’s liberty? 

Open Ended

Why did US citizens want to limit the power of the government after the Revolutionary War?

Because of this, the Articles included only a few specific jobs for the national, or central, government. Congress could legislate, if nine of the thirteen states agreed on a law or measure. They also had the power of diplomacy, which meant they could make treaties and negotiate relationships with other countries. The point of creating a confederation was for protection, so Congress had the authority to declare war if needed. And they could coin and borrow money and negotiate relationships with Native American tribes.

Real Power = State Power 

The states were their own sovereign governments. Sovereign means that each state had the power or authority to make decisions and rule over itself. Each state was pretty much its own little nation. They had their own laws, courts, troops, money, and some of them were even led by someone with the title of “President”. Unless the national government was specifically given the right to do something, like declare war, it was a power that belonged to the states. 

Under the new confederation, the states had virtually all governmental authority in America. They could tax and pass laws. They had their own militias. And they could tax. (Did we say that twice?) Remember how annoyed the colonies had been with King George for imposing taxes without their consent? They weren’t about to make that mistake again, so they made sure to maintain the power to tax for themselves. Taxes are needed to pay soldiers, build ships, make roads and bridges, basically to pay for anything that a government might do. The national government could ask for money, but they couldn’t force states to pay it. When the request for cash came through, the answer by states was almost always, not surprisingly, “No!” Having so little money limited the power of the national government to do much of anything.

What’s Wrong with a Weak Central Government?  

Our Founders were very afraid of a national government with too much power, so they intentionally designed a weak central government under the Articles of Confederation. While the national government had power over the military and war, what it lacked was money. How were they supposed to fund a navy? Pay soldiers? Protect a nation? Making the central government even weaker was the fact that while Congress could make laws, they had no way to enforce them. Imagine if your parents made a rule, but had no way to make you follow it. That rule would be totally useless. 

Another issue was the way that Congress was structured. Each state had multiple representatives, but only one vote. States with only a few thousand residents had just as much voting power as states with three or four times the amount of citizens. Nine of thirteen states had to agree before a law could pass. (If that doesn't sound difficult, guess again!) Congress only met once a year. If anyone wanted to amend the Articles to make the government more efficient, that took unanimous support. Many tried but weren’t able to secure all thirteen votes. Topping it all off was the lack of a national court system. If there was a border controversy between Virginia and North Carolina or a fight over the land in the west that more than one state claimed belonged to them, there was no way to solve those problems. Some people began to be afraid that war might break out or that the “united” states wouldn’t make it. 

Open Ended

What were at least 2 weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation?

Land and Order 

But the Articles weren’t a total failure. With the British gone, America was growing. The Northwest Territory was land north and west of the Ohio River, and the question of how to manage it needed an answer. People looked to Congress to figure it out. From 1784 to 1787, Congress passed a series of ordinances, or official orders, about what to do. The earliest ordinances broke the area into territories. (The future states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin.) The Northwest Ordinance of 1787 established a process for helping the territories create their own governments and eventually be added as states. First, Congress appointed a governor for each territory. Once there were enough men living there, the territory could elect its own assembly to govern. After the area’s population reached 60,000, a constitution could be written, and the territory could apply for statehood.

The territories were all about establishing a population for the purpose of becoming a state, but in governing terms this almost always meant “free” “white” “males”. Though the Ordinance included an article to prohibit slavery in the territories, it didn’t free any slaves. The Ordinance also promised that land belonging to Native Americans wouldn’t be taken without consent. (That wasn’t entirely true.) While the clause recognized that there was land in the Northwest Territory that officially belonged to native tribes, the Ordinance itself was a promise that America would continue to grow. Native tribes were often forced from their land in the process

Open Ended

What was one strengths of the Articles of Confederation?