Honors U.S. History 2009/2010Name:PRP1, Week 6Mr. IrwinPeriod:
Lecture 7From the Articles of Confederacy to the U.S. Constitution1776 - 2
nd
Continental Congress
When the 2
nd
Continental drafted and ratified the Declaration of Independence, thisaction brought the original 13 colonies together into what is termed a
confederacy
.
confederacy
– a union or an alliance.
confederation
– a group of confederates (states) united for a common purpose.
state
– a body politic; specifically, one constituting a nation.
sovereign
– paramount; supreme, self governing; independent.
sovereignty
– supremacy of authority or rule, as exercised by a sovereign state.
United States of America
- At the time of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, there really was no United States in the sense that we think of today;rather, some historians believe that when the words, “the United States of America,”were written into the Declaration, that the phrase was meant to convey that the 13original English colonies were acting as independent states, but were united over theissue of their resolve to separate from and become independent of England, hence theywere the
United States of America
.Modern historians consider the United States of America, at the time of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, to be a loose confederation of independent states.The historical consensus is, that in 1776, individual colonists identified more with thepolitics and issues of their individual states than the politics and issues of any larger entity, such as a United States.The 13 states believed that they were sovereign, and as sovereign states, they wantedto maintain their own power and autonomy. They were really only uniting as a wartimenecessity, and probably thought that when the war with Britain was over, there would beno need to be part of the confederacy of the United States of America.
The Articles of Confederation
- While the war was going on, some form of government was needed in order to keep the confederacy organized. Power andauthority needed to be documented and agreed upon, so that the confederacy couldoperate in an organized and efficient manner while it was fighting England.www.mirwin.weebly.compage 1 of 3
In 1777, the 2
nd
Continental Congress adopted a set of laws to govern the UnitedStates. These laws were called the Articles of Confederation. Each of the statesneeded to approve, or ratify the Articles. The task of getting every state to ratify theArticles was not completed until 1781.
A Description of our first government
– Under the Articles of Confederation:
•
Most of the power rested with the individual states.
•
The national government created by the Articles, had only one “branch.”(The single branch of the government was a legislature, or Congress. TheCongress was made up of representatives, or delegates from the 13 states).
•
The Congress made laws, carried out the laws, and enforced the laws.(There was no real national court system. Each state maintained its own courts).
•
The Congress had the power to declare war & and to borrow money).
•
The Congress
did not
have the power to tax.
•
The Congress
did not
have the power to force one of the states to take a certainaction.
•
Passage of any measure requiring money required 9 out of 13 votes (more thana simple majority).
•
Changes to the Articles of Confederacy required
all
13 delegates approval.As time went on the colonists realized that this form of government made it difficult toget things done, and that the Articles of Confederation, as a government document, hadinherent weaknesses.The Articles were drafted in a time, and under circumstances in which the colonistswanted to move away from a government that had too much power, and especially onethat had too much power concentrated in the hands of one person (King George III).As a response to this feeling, The Articles of Confederation was built upon thesovereign power of each of the 13 independent states.
Nationalists
- By 1786, two distinct philosophies regarding governmental power hadsurfaced. One philosophy was that there needed to be more “national” power.
State Sovereignty
- An opposing popular philosophy concerning government was thatthe individual states should retain the most governmental power.www.mirwin.weebly.compage 2 of 3
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History, U.S. Honors - Lecture 7 - From the Articles of Confederation to the U.S. Constitution
U.S. History - Classroom Lecture: Shortly after declaring independence from Great Britain, delegates of the Second Continental Congress draft the Articles of Confederation, which outlines a wartime government. When weaknesses in the Articles become apparent, a…
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