Articles Of Confederation (741 words) Essay Example For Students

Articles Of Confederation (741 words) Essay Articles Of ConfederationThe Articles of Confederation was the first constitution of the United States ofAmerica. The Articles of Confederation were first drafted by the ContinentalCongress in Philadelphia Pennsylvania in 1777. This first draft was prepared bya man named John Dickinson in 1776. The Articles were then ratified in 1781. Thecause for the changes to be made was due to state jealousies and widespreaddistrust of the central authority. This jealousy then led to the emasculation ofthe document. As adopted, the articles provided only for a firm league offriendship in which each of the 13 states expressly held itssovereignty, freedom, and independence. The People of each state weregiven equal privileges and rights, freedom of movement was guaranteed, andprocedures for the trials of accused criminals were outlined. The articlesestablished a national legislature called the Congress, consisting of two toseven delegates from each state; each state had one vote, according to its si zeor population. No executive or judicial branches were provided for. Congress wascharged with responsibility for conducting foreign relations, declaring war orpeace, maintaining an army and navy, settling boundary disputes, establishingand maintaining a postal service, and various lesser functions. Some of theseresponsibilities were shared with the states, and in one way or another Congresswas dependent upon the cooperation of the states for carrying out any of them. Four visible weaknesses of the articles, apart from those of organization, madeit impossible for Congress to execute its constitutional duties. These wereanalyzed in numbers 15-22 of The FEDERALIST, the political essays in whichAlexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay argued the case for the U.S. CONSTITUTION of 1787. The first weakness was that Congress could legislate onlyfor states, not for individuals; because of this it could not enforcelegislation. Second, Congress had no power to tax. Instead, it was to assess itsexpenses and divide those among the states on the basis of the value of land. States were then to tax their own citizens to raise the money for these expensesand turn the proceeds over to Congress. They could not be forced to do so, andin practice they rarely met their obligations. Third, Congress lacked the powerto control commercewithout its power to conduct foreign relations was notnecessary, since most treaties except those of peace were concerned mainly withtrade. The fourth weakness ensured the demise of the Confederation by making ittoo difficult to correct the first three. Amendments could have corrected any ofthe weaknesses, but amendments required approval by all 13 state legislatures. None of the several amendments that were proposed met that requirement. On thedays from September 11, 1786 to September 14, 1786, New Jersey, Delaware,Pennsylvania, and Virginia had a meeting of there delegates at the AnnapolisConvention. Too few states were represented to carry out the original purpose ofthe meetingto discuss the regulation of interstate commercebut there was alarger topic at question, specifically, the weakness of the Articles ofConfederation. Alexander Hamilton successfully proposed that the states beinvited to send delegates to Philadelphia to render the constitution of theFederal Government adequate to the exigencies of the Union. As a result,the Constitutional Convention was held in May 1787. The ConstitutionalConvention, which wrote the Constitution of the United States, was held inPhiladelphia on May 25, 1787. It was called by the Continental Congress andseveral states in response to the expected bankruptcy of Congress and a sense ofpanic arising from an arme d revoltShayss Rebellionin New England. Theconventions assigned job, following proposals made at the Annapolis Conventionthe previous September, was to create amendments to the Articles ofConfederation. The delegates, however, immediately started writing a newconstitution. Fifty-five delegates representing 12 states attended at least partof the sessions. Thirty-four of them were lawyers; most of the others wereplanters or merchants. Although George Washington, who presided, was 55, andJohn Dickinson was 54, Benjamin Franklin 81, and Roger Shermen 66, most of thedelegates were young men in their 20s and 30s. Noticeable absent were therevolutionary leaders of the effort for independence in 1775-76, such as JohnAdams, Patrick Henry, and Thomas Jefferson. The delegates knowledge concerninggovernment, both ideal and practical, made the convention perhaps the mostintelligent such gathering ever assembled. On September 17 the Constitution wassigned by 39 of the 42 delegates present. A peri od of national argumentfollowed, during which the case for support of the constitution was stronglypresented in the FEDERALIST essays of Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and JamesMadison. The last of the 13 states to ratify the Constitution was Rhode Islandon May 29, 1790.