History of the Articles of

Confederation

The passage of the Declaration of Independence entailed new duties upon the people,
which would exhaust their powers, legislative and military, for years to come. A new
government had to be formed, on a plan which had never before been applied to a
country of such extent, and which involved innumerable difficulties. And the
independence declared by the legislature had to be sustained by the army against all the
power of the richest and most energetic nation of the Europe of that day. Some
consideration of the steps taken towards the accomplishment of these purposes is
important as preliminary to the story of the subsequent events of the war.

The resolution of independence had abolished one phase of political existence; it had not
created a new phase. A nation was yet to be made out of the discordant elements of the
separate colonies, And to this essential purpose Congress at once addressed itself. The tie
which had hitherto held together the colonies was slight and temporary. It needed to be
made strong and permanent. Articles of confederation satisfactory to all the States of the
newly-formed republic needed to be adopted ere the American Union could claim the
title of a nation.

A committee was at once appointed by Congress to frame such articles. A report was
made by this committee on the 12th of July. On the 22d the House began the
consideration of the proposed articles, the principal subjects of debate being the
proportion of money which each State should pay into the common treasury, and the
manner of voting in Congress. The financial article, as proposed, required each State to
pay into the treasury a sum in proportion to its total population, exclusive of untaxed
Indians. This was objected to on the plea that it included slaves, who, properly
considered, were property and not persons, and that Southern slaves had no more right to
be considered in fixing the tax-rate than Northern cattle. John Adams took the opposite
view, with the argument that slaves by their labor added to the wealth of the States, and
that they had always been taken into the estimates of taxes by the Southern provinces.
The question was carried, on this basis, by the votes of the Northern delegates, who were
in a majority. The other article which led to prolonged debate was that concerning the
voting power of the States in Congress. The original report provided that each colony
should have but one vote. Mr. Chase proposed as a compromise that on financial
questions each State should have a voice in proportion to the number of its inhabitants.
Franklin supported this proposition, saying that if the States voted equally they ought to
pay equally. Dr. Witherspoon contended that each State should be considered as an
individual, with a single vote on all matters. John Adams, on the contrary, advocated
voting in proportion to numbers. He held that the individuality of the States was a mere
word; it was the purpose of the Confederacy to weld them, like separate pieces of metal,
into one common mass. Mr. Wilson, of Pennsylvania, ably followed from the same point
of view, bringing European illustrations to show the danger of giving too much separate
independence to the members of a confederated union. Thus early was brought up that
burning question of State Rights, as opposed to the supremacy of the Union, which has
not yet been definitely settled.

The debate on the Articles of Confederation was continued for several months, and the
whole subject thoroughly canvassed, standing committees of Congress meanwhile
carrying on the active affairs of the government. During this period the several States, in
conformity with the act previously passed by Congress, busied themselves in organizing
State governments suitable to the new condition of affairs. Not for a moment was any
thought of reproducing a monarchical government entertained. The people of America
had been republican in sentiment from the first, and their political history had been in
great part a struggle to reduce the prerogatives of the monarch who claimed them as
subjects. So much power had been exercised by the people and their representatives, and
so well were they schooled in the art of self-government, that the change of sovereignty
was scarcely perceptible, and very little needed to be added to existing conditions to form
a complete apparatus of government.

The people were not willing that any one man should have the authority to negative the
decision of a majority of their representatives. Yet long experience had taught them that it
would be dangerous to lodge all power in the hands of a single body of men. Some
intermediate course was desirable, and after much discussion the difficulty was overcome
by the formation, in eleven out of the thirteen colonies, of a legislature of two branches,
whose concurrence should be necessary to the passage of any law. The second branch
was to consist of a few select persons, under the name of senate, or council, adapted to
consider wisely and calmly the acts passed by the more numerous branch of
representatives. Georgia and Pennsylvania alone adopted legislatures consisting of a
single House.

New York and Massachusetts went a step farther. The former gave to a council composed
of the governor and the heads of judicial departments, and the latter to the governor
alone, the power of objecting to any proposed law and requiring its reconsideration and
passage by a two-thirds majority of both Houses to make it operative. The objection in
Georgia and Pennsylvania to a double Assembly arose from the difficulty of creating a
higher and a lower branch by election from a homogeneous people held to be absolutely
equal politically. No distinction of rank existed, and distinction of wealth was not
admitted as a source of political inequality. Ten of the eleven States, with legislatures of
two branches, ordained the election of both by the people. Maryland had her senate
chosen by electors, two from each county, elected by the people, the senators to hold their
seats for five years, while the representatives were re-elected annually. By this means a
senate composed of men of influence and ability was obtained. Pennsylvania adopted the
expedient of publishing bills after the second reading, so that they might be considered by
the people and the sense of the inhabitants taken. It was not long, however, before it was
discovered that this expedient was injudicious, and that the single chamber did not work
well. A second chamber was therefore added. A similar action was afterwards taken by
Georgia.
Every State appointed a supreme executive, under the title either of governor or
president. In New York and the Eastern States the governors were elected directly by the
people; in the other States, by the legislatures. New York alone gave the governor the
right to act without the advice of a council. The jealousy of supreme power was so great
among the Americans that they surrounded their executive officers with checks that
proved, in the end, more cumbrous than useful. The principle of rotation in office was
strongly insisted upon, frequent elections being required, and in some cases it being
ordained that no office should be held by the same person longer than a specified period
of time. As a further security for the permanence of republican institutions, all the States
agreed in prohibiting hereditary honors or distinctions of rank. They all, moreover,
abolished state religions. Some retained a constitutional distinction between Christians
and others, so far as the power of holding office was concerned, but no sect was
permitted legislative precedence, and the alliance between church and state was
completely broken.

While the States were thus adopting new constitutions and organizing new governments,
whose imperfections were negatived by the important feature that the people retained the
power of altering and amending them whenever they chose, the General Congress
continued the consideration of the Articles of Confederation which were to combine these
separate States into a single nation. The debate upon this was very deliberately
conducted, and sixteen months elapsed before it was ready to be communicated to the
States. Three years more elapsed ere it was ratified by all the States. The principal
objections were those which had already been abundantly debated in Congress, and that
of the disposal of the vacant Western lands. This latter question was finally settled by the
cession of these lands, by the States which claimed them, to the Union, for the common
good of the people. The suffrage-difficulty was overcome by viewing the States as
individuals and giving them equality of votes. The last State to ratify the Articles of
Confederation was Maryland, on March 1, 1781. The principal powers of Congress, as
defined by this agreement, were -- the sole right of deciding on peace and war, of sending
and receiving ambassadors, of forming treaties and alliances, of regulating coinage, of
fixing the standard of weights and measures, of managing Indian affairs, of establishing
post-offices, of borrowing money or issuing bills on the credit of the United States, of
raising an army through requisitions upon the States, and of forming a navy. It constituted
also the final court of appeal in disputes between the States.