Articles of Confederation Notes

Even prior to the Revolutionary War, American colonial leaders discussed how they could organize a unified government. In 1754, the English Board of Trade, the organ of the British government responsible for the colonies, called for a meeting of representatives of all British colonies and six allied Native American nations to develop a plan to defend their land from the French during the French and Indian War. Benjamin Franklin, one of the congress delegates, proposed the Albany Plan of Union. Franklin's proposal called for an annual congress of delegates from the 13 colonies with the authority to organize military forces, regulate trade, and collect taxes and customs duties. While the delegates attending the meeting supported the Plan, not a single colonial assembly would ratify it, and the British refused to endorse the proposal. Even though it did not win approval, the Albany Plan laid the groundwork for the republic that would eventually become the United States of America.
During the Revolutionary War, the Continental Congress created the Articles of Confederation as a format for a united government. The Articles were influenced by the Iroquois Confederacy, a league of independent Iroquois tribes that united to create a common defense against their Huron enemies. The Iroquois Confederacy was so successful that it lasted more than 200 years.
The 13 Articles of Confederation created a model for what later became the United States Government by establishing a "league of friendship and perpetual union" among the states.
The Articles of Confederation linked the 13 states together to deal with common problems, but in practice they did little more than provide a legal basis for the limited authority that the Continental Congress was already exercising. The national government still had no courts, no power to levy taxes, no power to regulate commerce, no power to conscript an army, and no power to enforce its resolutions upon the states or individuals. Each state had a single vote regardless of population. A vote from nine states was required to approve bills dealing with war, treaties, coinage, finances, or the military, while amendments to the Articles themselves required unanimous ratification. In whatever areas the Congress held authority, it had no way of enforcing the powers it did have.
The limited authority the Articles granted the central government caused a variety of problems for the emerging nation. The inability to levy taxes led to funding shortages when the states refused the central government's request for additional funds. The money problems led the government to sell off land to raise capital and to print devalued currency. The central government's inability to regulate commerce resulted in economic rivalries between the states, which were manifested in disputes over currency and protective tariffs. The absence of executive authority also left the government powerless to deal with economic disputes and territorial conflicts, which led to civil unrest.
In 1786, economic strife resulted in a citizen uprising in Massachusetts. After the state legislature refused to provide relief to debt-stricken farmers, an armed mob stopped foreclosures by forcibly preventing the courts from holding their sessions. Under the leadership of Daniel Shays, a farmer and former army captain, a group of nearly 1,200 disgruntled farmers marched to the federal arsenal at Springfield. Although the uprising—known as Shays's Rebellion—was quickly quashed, the Massachusetts legislature did approve some of the rebels' demands for debt relief in its next session. News of the "rebellion" spread quickly. The rebellion, along with the national government's inability to draft an army, provided ample evidence of the weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation.
Despite its weaknesses, the Articles did function as a wartime government, allowing the colonies to win the Revolutionary War. By creating a United States, the Articles gave the colonies a national identity for the first time. The Articles also allowed Congress to pass a landmark document known as the Northwest Ordinance of 1787, which encouraged development of the area that eventually became the states of Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and Wisconsin. The Northwest Ordinance established a method for new state creation, outlawed slavery in the territory, and set aside land for education.