Saturday, March 1, 2008

The Articles of Confederation

On this day in 1781, the Articles of Confederation were radified, and became the governing structure of the former British colonies. The Articles gave each state, "its sovereignty, freedom, and independence, and every power, jurisdiction, and right." As we all know, the Articles of Confederation were done away with only a few years later by the radification of the Constitution. As weak as the Articles of Confederation were, they still deserve the recognition of being the first governing system of the United States. Without the Articles, there is a good chance that we would have never adopted the Constitution. There can be little doubt that the Articles of Confederation played an important role in the development of our republic. I find it tragic that so many American know nothing about the Articles of Confederation. They are a national treasure that should be recognized. Click here for a link to the Articles of Confedration at the National Archives website.

3 comments:

David Mabry said...

The Articles of Confederation do deserve credit as our first true national government. All hail Lindsey!!! This government saw our fledgling nation through the Revolutionary War. In fact, this was the argument used by many Anti-Federalists against the Constitution. The original purpose of the Convention of 1787 was to repair the Articles, after all. Or at least that is the way the states were to understand it. If the true purpose of the convention became public knowledge, the states would have withdrawn their delegates rahter than lose soverignty. Some left on their own, like Luther Martin of Maryland because the Articles were not the focus of the convention. I love the argument that the Constitution should start as "We the states" and not "We the people". After all, who empowerd the delegates to attend the convention in the first place? From where does the power of government flow?
Now with that aside, in my teaching, I blame the Articles, partially, for the Civil War. The notion that a state has the power to challenge the federal government originates, in this country, from that document and government.

Lindsey Shuman said...

Well stated David! The Articles are so very important!

Anonymous said...

i like this article its a very nice article



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