Written Assignment 4 David Spencer

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Written Assignment 4 In the decade after the Declaration of Independence of 1776, the men of the new United States were in search for a national government (Brinkley, 2012, p. 153). During this time, the states established their own governments, and then established a weak central government under the Articles of Confederation. Search for a National Government The search for a national government in the United States began in the turmoil of war and the complications of creation of the state governments. In the formation of the state governments that foreshadowed the processes of creating a national government, Americans agreed that their government should be republican (p. 151). This republican form of American government seen in the new states saw authority originate from the people instead of a central authority as it had in England (p. 152). And the governors, executive powers, were separate from the legislatures and did not have the power to dismiss the legislature. However, by the late 1770s divisiveness and instability crippled the new state governments. Some believed the infirmity of the state governments was a result of too much democracy in the republican state governments. These governments varied in their practice of popular democracy, but all states had one form or another of direct voting by fully vested common citizens (p. 152). Many of the states solved their weakness through empowering governors. While the power of the governor varied from state to state, the mean result of the revisions to the state governments and constitutions in the late 1770s was the curtailing of democracy in the name of stability and more effective government (p. 152).

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In forming the central government, there was no transfer of the newly gained power from the state governors. The first central government of the United States was a relatively weak and unimportant force (p. 153) among the several states that were nearly sovereign nations after the 56 signers declared independence. The Continental Congress adopted the Articles of Confederation in 1777, but they did not go into effect until 1781. The Articles gave the Congress a defined set of powers centering on foreign and monetary policy, but did not give the Congress the power to regulate trade, draft troops, or levy taxes directly on the people (p. 153). In contrast to the state governments with strengthened governors, the national government had no executive function; congress was the only principal institution of the national government. And the Congress was limited in gaining new authority as all thirteen state legislatures had to approve amendments to the constitution. The confederate national had little ability to police the states, and almost no standing in dealings with other nations. Confederate Failures It was on the diplomatic stage that the confederate government experienced some of its greatest failures. In particular, the national government had great difficulty securing the terms of the peace of 1783 from Great Britain and Spain (p. 153). When congress sent John Adams as a minister to London in 1784, it was unclear to the British if they were dealing with the representative of a single nation or thirteen different ones (p. 153). Indeed, the British government did not esteem the American capital worthy of a diplomatic minister and actively refused to send one (p. 153).

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The Articles of Confederation provided authorities to the national government to appropriate, borrow, and issue money (p. 153), but provided very few means for the generation of revenue. Just as the British had financed the French and Indian war with debt, the Confederate Congress paid for the Revolutionary War with foreign and domestic debt (p. 156). The primary method for the Congress to repay its debt was through requisition of funds from the states; however the Congress only received about one sixth of the funds it requisitioned, leaving it vulnerable to defaulting on its financial obligations (p. 157). Confederate Successes The national government under the Articles of Confederation was not a complete failure; indeed, the United States Army raised under the authority of the Continental Congress ultimately won the Revolutionary War. While the Congress may receive credit in proxy for the success of the Revolutionary War, the most significant directly attributable accomplishment of the Confederations Congress was the settling of questions regarding the disposition of western lands (p. 154). The Ordinance of 1784 divided the western territory into ten districts that would be apart from the existing states. These districts were self-governing, and could petition for statehood once their population reached that of the smallest existing state (p. 154). The Ordinance of 1785 provided the mechanisms through which the Ordinance of 1784 would be executed (p. 155). It divided the territory into rectangular townships, which would later be known as the grid (p. 155). These two ordinance provided for the creation of towns, cities, schools through the land distribution; however, it proved more favorable to land speculators than to ordinary settlers who could not afford to pay for the land. In response to these problems, Congress passed the Northwest Ordinance in 1787. It abandoned the ten districts of 1784 and created one Northwest

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Territory that could be divided into five territories. It guaranteed freedom of religion, right to trial, and prohibited slavery (p. 155). While ultimately a success in the Northwest Territories, the congress became a victim of that success as lands in what would become Kentucky and Tennessee received less attention from Congress, but still benefited from the improvements provided by the Northwest Ordinance. These southern areas of the west began forming governments and asking for recognition as states; the Continental Congress was never able to resolve the problems in that region (p. 155). Limited but Effective In both the creation of the original state governments and constitutions and under the Articles of Confederation, the people of the United States created very weak government institutions. In particular, the executive functions of government were left toothless. These early experiments in government are clear and direct reactions to the abuse of power exercised by the British Crown and policymakers. First in the states and then in the calling of the constitutional convention, the people of the United States pulled away from near anarchy to create a form of limited government that could still play an effective role in guaranteeing the rights and freedoms of the citizens that provide it authority.

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References

Brinkley, A. (2012). American history: A survey (14th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.