U.S. Constitutional History Before 1877

THE ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION AND THE CONSTITUTION

br The Articles of Confederation were originally drafted early in the Revolutionary War , shortly after the adoption of the Declaration of Independence , and these Articles reflected the sentiments of that document . They first became effective among the signatory states in 1777 . The nation envisioned in the articles was a '93loose , low-key grouping of highly sovereign states '941 1Lawrence Friedman , History of American Law , 2d ed (New York , New York : Simon Schuster , 1985 115 . Critically , under the Articles , each state had a single vote in

br all matters , reflecting a the idea that the states were sovereign .2 2William Peters , A More Perfect Union (New York , New York : Crown Publishers , Inc , 1987 , 32 The resulting national government had a single-chamber legislature , with a weak executive that was an outgrowth of that legislature , and no federal judiciary as such , although this confederated government was expected to resolve as a last resort disputes between the states .3 3Michael Kammen , A Machine That Would Go of Itself (New York , New York : Alfred A . Knopf , 1986 , 115 Peters , A More Perfect Union , 5 Friedman , American Law , 115-16 This system proved unworkable . As the first attempt to organize the new American nation , the Articles of Confederation proved unsatisfactory . The government created by the Articles foundered as the states acted out of narrow self-interest . The government lacked the power to carry out simple and necessary business .4 4Friedman , American Law , 107 Edward Larson Michael Winship , The Constitutional Convention (New York , New York : The Modern Library , 2005 , 4

The Congress had no power to tax , no power to regulate commerce , and no power to enforce its own laws .5 5Peters , A More Perfect Union , 5-6 The process of funding government did not work . The Congress would decide on a budgetary amount , then allocate shares based on a valuation of property in each state , and ask the states to their shares , but it had no ability to compel payment . In practice , every state tended to its own internal needs first , while the credit of the national government crumbled .6 6Peters , A More Perfect Union , 6 . Further , the quorum requirement for Congress was so stringent that any one state could stop all governmental business merely by failing to send delegates : all business required the presence of at least two delegates from every state .7 7Ibid . A revenue measure that would impose tariffs on imported goods failed because tiny Rhode Island would not agree to it . The confederated government was not able to raise revenue or to maintain any sort of a standing army . Passed in the heady days following the adoption of the Declaration of Independence , the Articles were more a means of preventing any seizure of power than a plan for effective government . Further , by requiring unanimous approval of any amendment , they made correction impossible .8 8Larson Winship , The Constitutional Convention , 4-5 . At the same time , the individual states wrote state constitutions creating much stronger and more resilient governments than the Articles of...