Articles of Confederation

The Articles of Confederation, ratified by the colonies March 1, 1781, was the first written constitution of the United States. Signed by John Dickenson, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman and other future Framers of the U.S. Constitution, the Articles sought to bind together the thirteen colonies into a loose confederation that could operate unitarily in times of war. The Confederation was loosely based on the Iroquois Confederacy. The new national government consisted only of a Legislature, with one vote per state. A 3/4 vote was required to pass laws, and amendments required unanimous voting.

The Articles of Confederation invoked spiritual guidance:

Whereas the delegates of the United States of America in Congress assembled did on the fifteenth day of November in the Year of Our Lord 1777, and in the second year of the independence of America agree on certain Articles of Confederation and perpetual union between the States ...

The said states hereby severally enter into a firm league of friendship with each other, for their common defense, the security of their liberties, and their mutual and general welfare, binding themselves to assist each other, against all force ... or attacks made upon them ... on account of religion, sovereignty, trade, or any other pretense. ...

It has pleased the Great Governor of the World to incline the hearts of the Legislatures we respectively represent in Congress, to approve of and to authorize us to ratify the said Articles of Confederation.

Strengths and Successes

Land Ordinance of 1785

This law dictated that all states give up their claims to western lands. The Northwest Territory was then set up from these lands. Townships were to be surveyed before settlement. This provided the northwest with efficient and orderly towns, unlike the land claims in the trans-Appalachain south, which were often haphazard and led to often violent conflicts.

The Northwest Ordinance

The Northwest Ordinance set up a method of governing the western territories, and a gradual system of how to admit territories as states. When a territory had a population of 1-5000, Congress made laws that were enforced by a territorial governor. When population surpassed this mark, residents could elect territorial legislatures. When population reached 60,000, the territory was able to apply for statehood by writing a state constitution that was to be approved by Congress then ratified by the territory's voters. Then Congress would vote whether or not to admit the territory into the Union.

Weaknesses and Failures

Though the Articles did have two early successes, its weaknesses were far greater. It established no executive to enforce laws, no army or navy, no judiciary, no national currency, could not regulate trade, no way to collect taxes, and foreign policy was impossible. At the Mount Vernon Conference in 1785, George Washington called together elite statesmen (including Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and George Mason) to discuss the Articles. At the Conference, they decided they were a failure and needed to be rewritten, calling for an Annapolis Convention the next year. At the Convention, only five states sent delegates. They proposed to meet in Philadelphia the next year.