Establishing Governance and the Articles of Confederation
After declaring independence, the former colonies faced an urgent question: how do you actually govern a brand-new country? The Articles of Confederation were the first attempt at an answer. Ratified in 1781, they created a deliberately weak central government that gave most power to the individual states. The system's flaws became so serious that within just a few years, leaders scrapped it entirely and wrote the Constitution we still use today.
Governance after the American Revolution
Before the Articles even existed, the Second Continental Congress acted as the de facto government during the Revolutionary War. It managed the war effort, coordinated military strategy and supplies, and issued the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, formally severing ties with Great Britain.
The Articles of Confederation were drafted in 1777 as the first written constitution of the United States. Ratification took years because all 13 states had to agree, but they finally took effect in 1781. From 1781 to 1789, the Articles served as the governing document, establishing a loose confederation of states rather than a unified national government.
Structure of the Articles of Confederation
The Articles were designed with a clear goal: prevent any central authority from becoming too powerful. The colonists had just fought a war against a king, and they weren't about to create anything that resembled one.
- Each state retained its sovereignty, freedom, and independence, with the power to write its own laws and constitution.
- The central government consisted of a single body: a unicameral (one-house) Congress where every state got one vote, regardless of population.
- There was no executive branch (no president) and no judicial branch (no national courts), which made enforcing laws and settling disputes between states extremely difficult.
Congress did have some powers, but they were limited:
- Declare war and make peace (but could not raise a standing army or navy on its own)
- Manage foreign affairs, including negotiating treaties and alliances
- Coin money (but could not regulate its value)
- Establish post offices for communication between states
Two critical powers were missing. Congress could not levy taxes, relying instead on voluntary contributions from the states. It also could not regulate commerce between states. On top of that, amending the Articles required unanimous consent of all 13 states, meaning a single state could block any change.
Weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation
These structural limitations created real, practical problems that got worse over time.
Financial instability: Without the power to tax, Congress couldn't reliably fund the government or pay off debts from the Revolutionary War. States often simply refused to contribute money.
Economic chaos: Each state printed its own currency, leading to wildly fluctuating values. States also imposed tariffs and trade restrictions on each other, essentially waging small-scale trade wars. Without federal power to regulate interstate commerce, there was no way to stop it.
Weak foreign policy: Other nations didn't take the U.S. seriously. Britain, for example, kept troops stationed in forts on American soil in violation of the peace treaty, and the U.S. government lacked the authority to do much about it. Foreign powers could exploit the fact that there was no unified front.
Inability to respond to crises: This weakness was exposed most dramatically by Shays' Rebellion (1786–1787). Farmers in western Massachusetts, crushed by high taxes and mounting debt, took up arms against state courts that were seizing their property. The national government couldn't raise troops to respond. Massachusetts had to rely on a privately funded militia to put down the revolt. The episode alarmed leaders across the country and became a turning point in the push for a stronger government.
Transition to a New Government
Shays' Rebellion and the ongoing economic problems convinced many leaders that the Articles couldn't simply be patched up. In 1787, delegates gathered at a Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia. The original purpose was to revise the Articles, but the delegates quickly concluded that a completely new framework was needed.
The resulting Constitution replaced the confederation model with federalism, a system that divides power between a central government and state governments. Key changes included giving the national government the power to tax, regulate interstate and foreign commerce, and enforce its own laws. Unlike the Articles, the new Constitution required ratification by only nine of the thirteen states to take effect, avoiding the unanimity problem that had made the Articles nearly impossible to amend.