Prior to the American Revolution, colonists had several of their own models of self-government, among them were the

Virginia

House of Burgesses, Mayflower Compact, Fundamental Orders of Connecticut, Toleration Act of 1649. With the signing of the

Declaration of Independence, the colonists were no longer subjects of the British government and as such, no longer subject to

British laws. Each one of those scenarios occurred during the United States’ first several years of existence during the American

Revolutionary War and into the years that followed Which brings us to the Articles of Confederation.

Written between 1776 and 1777, the Articles of Confederation were adopted after much debate by the Continental Congress on

November 15, 1777. The Articles of Confederation thus created the national

(federal) level of government that would govern the thirteen states. Once enacted, the Articles of Confederation became the first

constitution of the United States. Definition of confederation: An agreement to support one another.

In essence, the Articles of Confederation was an agreement amongst the 13 states that:

● Congress would be the ONLY branch of government

● There would be no executive branch of office (president) or judicial branch (national court system)

● Each state would receive ONE vote in Congress

● To make any changes to the Articles of Confederation, it’d require the consent of ALL 13 states

● Congress had the authority to settle disputes amongst states

● Each state would have its own form of currency

● Congress had the authority to borrow money and make treaties with other nations and Native Americans

While the Articles of Confederation served to unite the 13 states under a single form of a national (federal) level of government,

there were numerous major issues with it. From limited abilities and powers to protect the freedoms,

liberties, and rights of the people, to make it almost impossible to function as a government, the weaknesses of the Articles of

Confederation were vast and many. While each state had agreed to support one another under the Articles of Confederation, since

there was no form of a strong central government to oversee them, they each did as they pleased. Examples of this include each

state having their own laws, own tax system, own trade policies, and own currency. In addition, there was no president or supreme

court, so there was no way to enforce the laws that Congress passed. Congress had no power or authority to levy taxes or regulate

trade, and making things even MORE difficult was the fact that if Congress wanted to amend the Articles of Confederation, it’d

require the UNANIMOUS consent of ALL 13 states. Interestingly though, the Articles of Confederation was meant to be weak.

This is largely because Americans had great fears and concerns over a strong central government, like those of Britain and other
European nations. And this is why HISTORICAL CONTEXT is so IMPORTANT! At that time, Americans felt that a strong

central government would grant too much power to one individual (much like a King or Queen in a monarchy, for example King

George III of England). Making matters worse was the deep economic depression that the nation fell into shortly after the

Revolutionary War began. Since each state had its own currency under the Articles of Confederation, it was difficult for merchants

and farmers to conduct trade because they often didn’t know how much to sell goods for in order to make a profit. An economic

depression is a sustained, long-term decrease in economic activity. To stay in business and save money, businesses will often do

one, or ALL of the following: With less economic activity (people buying and selling goods) businesses are less prosperous.

a) Reduce the wages of current employees. b) Stop hiring workers. c) Terminate the employment of current employees.

The economic depression was especially difficult for farmers who’d relied on the ability to sell their cash crops and livestock to

other states (which was now much more difficult with no single form of currency). In addition, many farmers could no longer

afford to pay the loan(s) that they’d taken out to purchase their farm. Banks began foreclosing on those farmers who were

delinquent in paying back their loans and resulted in many losing their farms. This led to around 1,200 frustrated and upset farmers

to rise up against the United States government in an armed rebellion. The rebellion occurred in Massachusetts in 1786 and was led

by a man named Daniel Shays. The farmers refused to pay their taxes, attacked tax collectors, overtook local courthouses and

destroyed official government and court documents. Depiction of a tax collector being attacked by rebelling farmers. Under the

Articles of Confederation, the national government was so weak that it had virtually no way to put down the armed rebellion. State

troops eventually ended the rebellion, but after all was said and done, many Americans began to wonder if other such rebellions

could threaten to tear the young nation apart. IMPORTANT NOTE: While the Articles of Confederation were adopted by the

Continental Congress in 1777, they weren’t ratified by all 13 states until 1781! This is because Maryland refused to ratify it until

other states gave up their claims to western lands. Maryland leaders were concerned that western lands could be absorbed by

existing states making them much larger, as opposed to creating new states. It wasn’t until Maryland leaders received the assurance

from Thomas Jefferson (a Virginian) that western lands would become new states and not absorbed into existing states that

Maryland ratified the Articles of Confederation. Which leads us to a massive piece of land known as the Northwest Territory. The

Northwest Territory consisted of land in 6 present-day states: Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, & Wisconsin. Congress

needed to raise money to pay some of the nation's debts and had to decide what to do with the Northwest Territory – western lands

that were now under the control of Congress. To do this, Congress passed the Land Ordinance of 1785. The Land Ordinance of

1785 devised a system to survey and divide western lands. The land would be split up into townships which were all divided into
36 lots, each lot being 640 acres. One of the thirty-six lots would be allocated for a public school, four of them would be given to

veterans, and the thirty-one others would be sold to the public. Then, in order to establish a political system in this region,

Congress enacted the Northwest Ordinance of 1787. The Northwest Ordinance of 1787 formally established the Northwest

Territory. In addition, the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 also established a system to bring new states into the Union. The

Northwest Territory was divided up into smaller territories, each one having a governor that was appointed to it by Congress. The

Northwest Ordinance of 1787 established that a territory could draft its own constitution and could ask to join the Union as a new

state once its population reached 60,000 people. The Northwest Ordinance of 1787 is also important because it required access to

public education in these territories and the protection of people’s liberties. Also of note, the Ordinance stated: “there shall be

neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in the territory”. Not only did the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 determine how the U.S.

would allocate land and set the requirements for future states to join the Union, but it also outlawed the practice of slavery in the

Northwest Territory. While slavery was banned in the Northwest Territory, setting the precedent for future territories, the issue of

slavery would continue to be controversial and plague the nation for many years afterward.