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The Continental Congress adopted the Articles of Confederation, the first constitution of the United States, on November 15, 1777, but the states did not ratify them until March 1, 1781. The Articles created a loose confederation of sovereign states and a weak central government, leaving most of the power with the state governments. Once peace removed the rationale of wartime necessity the weaknesses of the 1777 Articles of Confederation became increasingly apparent. Divisions among the states and even local rebellions threatened to destroy the fruits of the Revolution. Nationalists, led by James Madison, George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and James Wilson, almost immediately began working toward strengthening the federal government. They turned a series of regional commercial conferences into a national constitutional convention at Philadelphia in 1787.
John Jay to George Washington, March 16, 1786
Shortly after the revolutionary war began at Concord and Lexington, Benjamin Franklin submitted this plan for a united colonial confederation or American republic to the Continental Congress on July 21, 1775. Thomas Jefferson, a fellow delegate, annotated his copy of Franklin’s plan, which began a national debate on the creation of an American Republic.
Benjamin Franklin. Plan for a Confederation, July 21, 1775. Printed document annotated by Thomas Jefferson. Thomas Jefferson Papers, Manuscript Division. Library of Congress (46.01.01) [Digital ID#s us0046a_2, us0046a, us0046a_1] Bookmark this item: //www.loc.gov/exhibits/creating-the-united-states/road-to-the-constitution.html#obj0
Writing the Articles of Confederation
In 1781, James Madison (1751–1836) asked Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826) for his account of those tumultuous pivotal days in which the Declaration of Independence and the Articles of Confederation were drafted. Recognizing the importance of the process for the Revolution and for posterity, Thomas Jefferson prepared his notes of the proceedings in Congress, June 7–August 1, 1776. On this page, Jefferson’s notes reflect his interest in Article XVII, about representation in Congress.
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After undergoing more than a year of planning and compromise in the Continental Congress, the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union Between the States was finally ready to be sent to the states for ratification. Nearly four years would pass before all thirteen states had ratified the document—Maryland being the last to ratify on March 1, 1781—and it was put into action. The Articles provided for a one-house legislature, a weak executive, no national power of taxation, a lack of standard currency, and voting by state—flaws that would eventually lead to its failure.
United States Continental Congress. Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union Between the States. . . . Lancaster: Francis Bailey, 1777. Pamphlet. Rare Book and Special Collections Division, Library of Congress (048.05.00) [Digital ID# us0048_05] Bookmark this item: //www.loc.gov/exhibits/creating-the-united-states/road-to-the-constitution.html#obj17
The Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union was the first constitution of the United States. After more than a year of consideration, it was submitted to the states for ratification in 1777, but not enough states approved it until 1781. The Articles provided for a weak executive branch, no national power of taxation, and voting by states.
[United States Continental Congress]. Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union Between the States of. . . . Williamsburg, Virginia: J. Dixon & W. Hunter, 1778. Rare Book and Special Collections Division, Library of Congress (048.04.00) [Digital ID# us0048_04] Bookmark this item: //www.loc.gov/exhibits/creating-the-united-states/road-to-the-constitution.html#obj2
After Maryland’s ratification established the Articles of Confederation as the first United States constitution, Thomas Rodney (1744–1811), a delegate to the Continental Congress from Delaware, recorded in his diary on March 1, 1781, that “the Completion of this grand Union & Confederation was announced by Firing thirteen Cannon on the Hill” in Philadelphia. Bookmark this item: //www.loc.gov/exhibits/creating-the-united-states/road-to-the-constitution.html#obj2b
Between March 1, 1781, when the Articles of Confederation were enacted, and November 5, 1781, when a new Congress convened, Samuel Huntington and Thomas McKean served briefly as presidents of the body. Samuel Johnston had declined the presidency when elected. When the first Confederation Congress met on November 5, 1781, it elected John Hanson (1715–1783), delegate from Maryland, as its president. In this letter, Charles Thomson (1729–1824), secretary of Congress, informs George Washington of Hanson’s election. According to the Articles, the president of the Congress presided only over Congress; George Washington, chosen after the ratification of the Federal Constitution, was the first president of the United States.
Letter from Charles Thomson to George Washington, November 5, 1781. Manuscript. George Washington Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (48.01.00) [Digital ID# us0048_01] Bookmark this item: //www.loc.gov/exhibits/creating-the-united-states/road-to-the-constitution.html#obj3 Back to Top
With these words, Henry Knox (1750–1806), George Washington’s former artillery commander, described to Washington an uprising of indebted farmers and laborers in Massachusetts led by Daniel Shays in 1786 and 1787. Shays’ Rebellion was caused by excessive land taxation, high legal costs, and economic depression following the American Revolution, which threatened the stability of the Confederation. The protest was one of several that exposed the need to curb the excesses and inequities of state governments and led men such as Knox and Washington to seek remedies in a stronger national government. Bookmark this item: //www.loc.gov/exhibits/creating-the-united-states/road-to-the-constitution.html#obj9
Abigail Adams (1744–1818) predicted that the 1786 rebellion in Massachusetts led by Daniel Shays (ca. 1741–1825) “will prove sallutary to the state at large,” even though it was led by “ignorant, wrestless desperadoes, without conscience or principals.” Many in the United States believed a strong national government was needed to prevent such local uprisings against legitimate government. Shays and Job Shattuck (1736–1819), both veterans of the Revolutionary Army and leaders of the 1786 rebellion, are depicted in this scene. Bookmark this item: //www.loc.gov/exhibits/creating-the-united-states/road-to-the-constitution.html#obj10
In September 1786, delegates from five states met in Annapolis, Maryland, ostensibly to discuss barriers to trade under the Articles of Confederation. The commissioners decided that not enough states were represented to make any substantive agreement. Despite the failure of the “Annapolis Convention” to attract broad support, the nationalist delegates who had attended it, including Alexander Hamilton and James Madison, pressed on with a recommendation for a national convention to address defects in the Articles of Confederation.
Letter from James Madison to James Monroe, September 11, 1786. Manuscript. James Madison Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (51.01.00) [Digital ID# us0051_01] Bookmark this item: //www.loc.gov/exhibits/creating-the-united-states/road-to-the-constitution.html#obj12 Back to Top
The Northwest Ordinance, adopted by the Confederation Congress on July 13, 1787, established a precedent for the organization of territories outside of the nation’s original thirteen states. A minimum of five territories or states were to be created. Each was to have a republican government with an executive, legislative council (upper house), assembly, and judiciary. Not only was the territory north and west of the Ohio River to be settled by Americans and admitted into full statehood in the union, but the Ordinance stipulated that those territories would be free from slavery or involuntary servitude and have a bill of rights.
United States Continental Congress. Ordinance for the Government of the Territory of the U.S. Northwest of the Ohio. New York, 1787. Broadside. Rare Book and Special Collections Division, Library of Congress (049.04.00) [Digital ID# us0049_04] Bookmark this item: //www.loc.gov/exhibits/creating-the-united-states/road-to-the-constitution.html#obj18
The Northwest Ordinance, adopted by the Confederation Congress on July 13, 1787, established a precedent for the organization of territories outside of the nation’s original thirteen states. A minimum of five territories or states were to be created. Each was to have a republican government with an executive, legislative council (upper house), assembly, and judiciary. Not only was the territory north and west of the Ohio River to be settled by Americans and admitted into full statehood in the union, but the Ordinance stipulated that those territories would be free from slavery or involuntary servitude and have a bill of rights. Nathan Dane (1752–1835), who authored the clause prohibiting slavery, annotated this copy. Bookmark this item: //www.loc.gov/exhibits/creating-the-united-states/road-to-the-constitution.html#obj19 Back to Top
Philadelphia, site of both Continental Congresses, was one of the most urban, advanced cities in America in the eighteenth century. Originally drawn by George Heap (1714–1752), a surveyor and mapmaker in Philadelphia, and Nicolas Scull (1687–1762), Surveyor General of the Province of Pennsylvania, this map was engraved and published by Matthäus Albrect Lotter (1741–1810), and shows streams, roads, and names of the landowners in the vicinity of Philadelphia. The bottom of the map contains an illustration of the State House, home of the second Continental Congress and the Federal Convention of 1787. Bookmark this item: //www.loc.gov/exhibits/creating-the-united-states/road-to-the-constitution.html#obj20
James Madison worried that George Washington would waste his political capital by attending an “abortive” convention. He thought Washington should delay his appearance until some progress at the Constitutional Convention had been made and suggested that in the meantime, Benjamin Franklin might provide “sufficient dignity into the Chair.” Before Madison could address the matter, however, Washington had already left for Philadelphia, as indicated by this letter from John Dawson (1762–1814), a fellow Virginian, who realized the high stakes of the convention. Bookmark this item: //www.loc.gov/exhibits/creating-the-united-states/road-to-the-constitution.html#obj22
During the American Revolution the Continental Congress issued paper currency to finance the Revolutionary War. These notes, called “Continentals,” had no backing in gold or silver, but were instead backed by the “anticipation” of tax revenues. Easily counterfeited and without solid backing, the notes quickly lost their value, so that the term “not worth a Continental” became common slang. After the war Congress and the state governments continued to produce money contributing to what Madison referred to as the “mortal diseases” of the government under the Articles of Confederation and resulting in calls for a new federal constitution to strengthen the national government.
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Rufus King (1755–1827), a member of the Confederation Congress and a delegate to the Federal Constitution Convention of 1787, expressed concern for a 1785 Massachusetts legislative call for a national convention to revise the Articles of Confederation. In his letter to Nathan Dane (1752–1835), a Massachusetts delegate to the Confederation Congress and architect of the Northwest Ordinance of 1787, King correctly predicted that any new government would be less republican and that the larger states would want more control of the new government. The Massachusetts delegates refused to submit the request to Congress or to the other states. Bookmark this item: //www.loc.gov/exhibits/creating-the-united-states/road-to-the-constitution.html#obj24 Back to top |
What was the justification for replacing the Articles of Confederation with a different document?
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