Articles of Confederation
The United States was now free from England and an independent nation. But what kind of government would it now create? We knew we did not want a monarchy, rule by kings. The people of the United States wanted to create a government with rule by the people, called popular sovereignty, or a government in which the people have the power. But what kind of government would this be?
The United States had two choices to choose from in creating their new government, Confederation, a loose group of independent states not controlled by a federal government, and a republic, where people elect representatives to govern for them, and a group of states controlled by a strong central government, but still retaining some state sovereignty.
Following the American Revolution, most Americans feared a strong central government would take the people’s power, and take away their rights just like
England did to the colonists. So, the United States decided upon a confederation government. The United States adopted the Articles of Confederation as our first national government. The Articles of Confederation was a very weak government. Unlike our government today, it had only one branch, the congress. There was no executive branch or judicial branch. Americans feared that an executive branch, with a president, might become too much like a king. Americans also did not see the need for a judicial branch, as each state would have its own judicial system of judges and courts.
The Articles of Confederation government was very weak. It did not have the power to tax Americans. It could ask the states to send money, but the states did not have to. As a result, few states ever paid taxes, and the government had no money to build roads, enforce laws, or to even pay for an army or navy.
Another problem of the Articles of Confederation government was inflation. The Continental Congress had issued paper money during the American Revolution. However, since the government had no gold or silver to back up the paper dollars, they quickly lost value. The nation had also borrowed huge sums of money to fight the American Revolution, and they needed to pay it back. With no gold or silver to back up the paper dollar, and owing such huge debt, more than forty million dollars, the value of the paper dollars fell rapidly. Soon it took 40 paper dollars to equal one silver dollar. This was very hard on people trying to pay their debts, and many went bankrupt.
Tariff wars also showed the weakness of the Articles of Confederation government. Since the government could not regulate trade between the states, states would place tariffs, a tax on goods imported into their state, on other state’s products. These tariff wars lead to the states not trading with each other. Since no state makes everything its people need, the economy of the United States soon began to suffer dramatically.
Another weakness of the Articles of Confederation was exposed by the jealousy and fighting between the states. States argued over who controlled trade on the rivers that separated them. States laced tolls and taxes on other states’ businesses that used “their” rivers and roads. Since the Articles of Confederation government could not control trade between the states, fighting might break out between states that would threaten to dissolve the nation.
The Articles of Confederation government also had problems with foreign affairs. Each state had different trade regulations, making it difficult to trade with Europe. Also, foreign governments distrusted the Articles of Confederation government. They saw the Articles of Confederation government’s inability to back its trade agreements, since they had no control over the states making separate agreements, as a sign that they should not trade with any U. S. state, fearing that an agreement made by the U.S. would not apply to different states.
One more problem with the Articles of Confederation government was that European nations just simply did not respect America. European kings did not believe that self-government in America would work. No one had ever tried self-government before. They had always had kings in charge. Surely this American government, without a strong king in charge would fall. And, when it did the nations of Europe were waiting to return to America to make colonies of us once more.
Shay’s Rebellion
The final problem with the Articles of Confederation government threatened to destroy our nation. The problem dealt with creditor-debtor relations. A creditor is someone who lends money. A debtor is one who borrows money.
The problem arose in Massachusetts. Farmers there had borrowed money to buy farms. But, inflation made the dollar almost worthless. When they tried to pay back their loans with paper dollars, the bankers refused to accept the near worthless money, insisting the farmers pay back the loans with gold or silver coins. When the farmers could not, the banks recalled the farmers’ mortgages and seized the farmers’ farmland.
One farmer refused, his name was Daniel Shays. Daniel Shays encouraged farmers to take up arms against the bankers and the courts that evicted the farmers off of their land. The rebellion became known as Shay’s Rebellion. Shay’s Rebellion spread as more and more farmers took up weapons against the banks and courts, banks, courts, and even towns were attacked and burned down. The governor of Massachusetts called for the state militia to put down the rebellion. However, most of the militia were farmers, sympathetic to the rebellion. So, the governor asked the Articles of Confederation government to bring soldiers to put down the rebellion. But this was impossible as well. Since the states refused to pay their taxes to the government, they government could not afford an army, and there was no one to put down the rebellion that now threatened to spread to other parts of the country.
Eventually, the Massachusetts militia, fearing a total breakdown of civil order, managed to get enough people to put down the rebellion. However, Shay’s Rebellion showed that the Articles of Confederation government was too weak and needed to be replaced. Property owners feared that law and order would break down and that mob violence would tear the government to shreds. Debtors and common people feared lawlessness as well, but they also felt they needed a government that was capable of protecting them from creditors and protect their rights. Yet, as much as the nation saw it needed change, it also feared strong, central government, afraid it might strip them of their rights as England had done. Perhaps, George Washington, at his home in Virginia expressed the problem best, “There must be lodged somewhere a supreme power (a national government) without which the union cannot be of long duration.”
What the Articles of Confederation did right!
The Articles of Confederation, though a weak government, did do two good things. It first established the Land Ordinance of 1785. The Land Ordinance of 1785 was a law that allowed the government to sell the land it had gained in the American Revolution, west of the Appalachian Mountains, to settlers. This allowed the settlers to buy land and move west. Much of the land west of the Appalachian Mountains was fertile land, excellent for farming. The sale of this land generated money for the government to operate, and set aside a portion of the land, and the money created from its sale for education.
The Land Ordinance of 1785 surveyed the land of the Northwest Territory, mapped it, and then sold the land at auction for a minimum or $1 an acre. The land was divided into six mile squares called townships. Each six by six township was then divided into thirty-six one mile square parcels of land, and then further divided into 640 acres. Settlers would bid for the land, and once bought, be able to move west to their new lands. The government used the money from sales of the land to operate. Thomas Jefferson, who wrote the Land Ordinance, also provided for public schools for people moving to the lands they had bought. The money from section 16 of the six by six mile township, when sold, did not go tot he government. That money went to build public schools in the township. Jefferson knew we needed not just farmers, but educated doctors, lawyers, engineers and other professions to be successful. This law allowed for money to build those schools to educate the children of the settlers.
The second notable thing the Articles of Confederation government accomplished was the Northwest Territory Ordinance of 1787. The Northwest Territory Ordinance of 1787 allowed the land of the Land Ordinance of 1785 to be divided into states, established a method of incorporating the states it would create into the union, and forbade slavery to be established in these new states once established. This territory was later divided into five new states, Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, and Wisconsin.
The Northwest Territory Ordinance, along with banning slavery, set up a method of incorporating territories as states instead of subordinate colonies. It set up three stages to becoming an equal state.
In the first stage, when people first started moving west to the Northwest Territory, the congress would provide a territorial governor, and three judges, to provide law and order for the new settlers.
In the second stage, once the population of the territory reached 5,000 free, white males (women and minorities could not vote yet), the territory could elect a territorial legislature, and make their own laws, and send a non-voting delegate to the Articles of Confederation Congress.
In stage three, once the population of your territory reached 60,000 free, white males, your territory could write a state constitution. The state constitution MUST include a republican form of government, in which the people elected their own representatives, it had to have a Bill of Rights to list the rights of the people, and one of those rights had to be religious freedom. But once that state constitution was written, and sent to the Congress, your territory could become a state, a state equal to the other states.
Changing Minds
Washington’s view that a strong, national government was needed to take the place of the Articles of Confederation, saving the nation from political, economic, and complete destruction, was shared by others such as Alexander Hamilton and James Madison. Together, these three men took steps to show the nation that it needed a new, stronger central government to save the nation.
Washington took the first step in showing the nation it needed a strong, central government, instead of the weak Articles of Confederation. Washington hosted a conference at his home in Mount Vernon in 1785. Called the Mount Vernon Conference, Washington assembled delegates from Maryland and Virginia. Maryland and Virginia had been arguing over who controlled trade on the Potomac River that separated the two states. Both argued they owned the river, and could tax the other state’s commerce that used it. Washington tried in vain to settle the dispute. Although the dispute was not settled, it did show the delegates that some national power needed to be established that could settle the dispute.
The next year, in 1786, James Madison encouraged the Virginia Legislature to call a meeting of all 13 states to discuss trade relations between the states. Tariff wars had hurt the entire nation’s economy. Something had to be done. Unfortunately, only five states sent delegates to Madison’s, Annapolis Conference. Though with only five state’s delegates in attendance, there was nothing that could be resolved. However, it did show more people that something must be done, and quickly.
Alexander Hamilton had seen Washington’s and Madison’s attempts to show the nation something must be done to solve the Articles of Confederation’s problems. In 1787, Hamilton asked the Articles of Confederation Government to call a meeting of all 13 states to meet in Philadelphia to discuss ways to improve the Articles of Confederation government. The plan was to discuss and make changes to the government so it would operate correctly. This meeting, however, would create a new government, one never before seen on Earth, and develop the freest, most successful government the world had ever seen.