Analysis of the Articles of Confederation

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Written Assignment 4 HIS-113 1

David Spencer

Written Assignment 4

In the decade after the Declaration of Independence of 1776, the men of the new United

States were in “search for a national government” (Brinkley, 2012, p. 153). During this time, the

states established their own governments, and then established a weak central government under

the Articles of Confederation.

Search for a National Government

The search for a national government in the United States began in the turmoil of war and

the complications of creation of the state governments. In the formation of the state governments

that foreshadowed the processes of creating a national government, Americans agreed that their

government should be republican (p. 151). This republican form of American government seen

in the new states saw authority originate from the people instead of a central authority as it had in

England (p. 152). And the governors, executive powers, were separate from the legislatures and

did not have the power to dismiss the legislature.

However, by the late 1770s divisiveness and instability crippled the new state

governments. Some believed the infirmity of the state governments was a result of too much

democracy in the republican state governments. These governments varied in their practice of

popular democracy, but all states had one form or another of direct voting by fully vested

common citizens (p. 152). Many of the states solved their weakness through empowering

governors. While the power of the governor varied from state to state, the mean result of the

revisions to the state governments and constitutions in the late 1770s was the curtailing of

democracy in the name of stability and more effective government (p. 152).




David Spencer

In forming the central government, there was no transfer of the newly gained power from

the state governors. The first central government of the United States was “a relatively weak and

unimportant force” (p. 153) among the several states that were nearly sovereign nations after the

56 signers declared independence.

The Continental Congress adopted the Articles of Confederation in 1777, but they did not

go into effect until 1781. The Articles gave the Congress a defined set of powers centering on

foreign and monetary policy, but did not give the Congress the power to “regulate trade, draft

troops, or levy taxes directly on the people” (p. 153). In contrast to the state governments with

strengthened governors, the national government had no executive function; congress was the

only principal institution of the national government. And the Congress was limited in gaining

new authority as all thirteen state legislatures had to approve amendments to the constitution.

The confederate national had little ability to police the states, and almost no standing in dealings

with other nations.

Confederate Failures

It was on the diplomatic stage that the confederate government experienced some of its

greatest failures. In particular, the national government had great difficulty securing the terms of

the peace of 1783 from Great Britain and Spain (p. 153). When congress sent John Adams as a

minister to London in 1784, it was unclear to the British if they were dealing with the

representative of “a single nation or thirteen different ones” (p. 153). Indeed, the British

government did not esteem the American capital worthy of a diplomatic minister and actively

refused to send one (p. 153).




David Spencer

The Articles of Confederation provided authorities to the national government “to

appropriate, borrow, and issue money” (p. 153), but provided very few means for the generation

of revenue. Just as the British had financed the French and Indian war with debt, the

Confederate Congress paid for the Revolutionary War with foreign and domestic debt (p. 156).

The primary method for the Congress to repay its debt was through requisition of funds from the

states; however the Congress only received about one sixth of the funds it requisitioned, leaving

it vulnerable to defaulting on its financial obligations (p. 157).

Confederate Successes

The national government under the Articles of Confederation was not a complete failure;

indeed, the United States Army raised under the authority of the Continental Congress ultimately

won the Revolutionary War. While the Congress may receive credit in proxy for the success of

the Revolutionary War, the most significant directly attributable accomplishment of the

Confederation’s Congress was the settling of questions regarding the disposition of western lands

(p. 154).

The Ordinance of 1784 divided the western territory into ten districts that would be apart

from the existing states. These districts were self-governing, and could petition for statehood

once their population reached that of the smallest existing state (p. 154). The Ordinance of 1785

provided the mechanisms through which the Ordinance of 1784 would be executed (p. 155). It

divided the territory into rectangular townships, which would later be known as the grid (p. 155).

These two ordinance provided for the creation of towns, cities, schools through the land

distribution; however, it proved more favorable to land speculators than to ordinary settlers who

could not afford to pay for the land. In response to these problems, Congress passed the

Northwest Ordinance in 1787. It abandoned the ten districts of 1784 and created one Northwest




David Spencer

Territory that could be divided into five territories. It guaranteed freedom of religion, right to

trial, and prohibited slavery (p. 155).

While ultimately a success in the Northwest Territories, the congress became a victim of

that success as lands in what would become Kentucky and Tennessee received less attention

from Congress, but still benefited from the improvements provided by the Northwest Ordinance.

These southern areas of the west began forming governments and asking for recognition as

states; the Continental Congress was never able to resolve the problems in that region (p. 155).

Limited but Effective

In both the creation of the original state governments and constitutions and under the

Articles of Confederation, the people of the United States created very weak government

institutions. In particular, the executive functions of government were left toothless. These early

experiments in government are clear and direct reactions to the abuse of power exercised by the

British Crown and policymakers. First in the states and then in the calling of the constitutional

convention, the people of the United States pulled away from near anarchy to create a form of

limited government that could still play an effective role in guaranteeing the rights and freedoms

of the citizens that provide it authority.




David Spencer

References

Brinkley, A. (2012). American history: A survey (14th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.

Documents

Analysis of the Articles of Confederation