The Articles of Confederation

Historical Background of the Articles of Confederation.

The Articles of Confederation have been much maligned as a failure. And while true that the
government they formed would become unstable and the Articles would require replacement, given
the challenges the framers faced, the Articles may have been the best result that any one could have
achieved.
In the summer of 1776 with Independence all but formally declared, the Continental Congress set
about to devise a plan for the national government. This would be no small undertaking. The framers
of the articles had to strike a balance between the strong states' rights sentiments predominant
amongst the people and the national powers required to successfully prosecute the war against
Great Britain.
States' Rights and the Articles of Confederation
The people of Revolutionary America identified themselves as citizens of the states they lived in. The
idea of a national identity would be as foreign to them as the idea of being a "citizen of the North
Atlantic Treaty Organization" is to Americans today. This can be traced back to the original settling
of the American colonies as well as their original royal charters. Some colonies were settled by
puritans seeking a religious utopia, some by joint-stock companies seeking to extract wealth from
the New World, and still others by people seeking land ownership or escape from political or
criminal persecution. The revolutionary colonists were also separated by geography as much as by
culture. Traveling between colonies was a difficult and time-consuming affair that could only be
undertaken by a very few. This resulted in the majority of the people having very little knowledge of
the culture and operation of colonies other than their own.
The disparate backgrounds of the states
caused an understandable mistrust of each
other. The smaller states naturally assumed
the larger states would conspire against them
in any powerful national government. The
southern agricultural states were weary of
what plans the commercial New England states might hatch, given access to an energetic federal
plan. Combine this distrust with the fact that states were currently at war trying to overthrow a
tyrannical king and parliament abusing governmental power and the need to provide for a strong
states rights' confederation becomes readily apparent.
National Powers and the Articles of Confederation
The desire for state sovereignty not withstanding, the need for necessary national powers could not
be ignored. Not the least of the powers being the ability to raise and equip a national military. It
must be remembered that during the time the articles were written, things were not going well for
the Continental Army. Washington had been forced out of New York by General Howe and the
American's had lost Philadelphia to the British. Washington's letters to Congress spoke of his
desperation. One of Washington's largest problems was provisioning the Continental Army with
needed supplies. There was no standing agreement between the states and the Congress on how
funding was to be raised. This basically left the congress to ask the individual states for
contributions and hope that they came through. This method of charitable taxation was proving itself
to be quite ineffective and could in fact cost the Americans the war.
In addition to the problem of raising and funding a military, there were also other areas that would
require powers to be ceded by the states to the national government. One of the most important of
these areas was the conduct of foreign relations during the revolution. At the time, the United States
was trying to form an alliance with France. This alliance could very well be the deciding factor in the
success or failure of the revolution. Could there be any hope for success if thirteen different
ambassadors, proposing thirteen different agreements attempted to secure this alliance? This
clearly, along with international trade, would necessarily have to be controlled by the national
government. Additionally, future questions that could bring the states into conflict with each other
would have to be addressed. Issues such as border disputes and the distribution of lands not
currently under the boundaries of any state could not be left to a hope of peaceful negotiations
between the states. These problems would require a confederation in which national powers would
be bestowed upon the government.
The problem of reaching a compromise between the desire for strong states' rights and the need to
have a national government strong enough to conduct foreign policy and provide for the defense of
the nation was the challenge facing the framers of the Articles of Confederation. That they were able
to achieve this compromise and form a transitional government that would last for ten years was
indeed a great accomplishment.
Sources:
The Articles of Confederation. Charles Tansil arranged and indexed. Government Printing Office,
1927.
Madison, James. Notes of Debates in the Federal Convention of 1787. Adrienne Koch intro. NY: W.
W. Norton and Company. 1987. Introduction, Ohio University Press. 1966
Prince, L. Bradford. The Articles of Confederation vs. The Constitution. NY: G.P. Putnam & Son.
1867.
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