A first try: the Articles of Confederation
After independence, the states created a loose union under the Articles of Confederation (ratified 1781). The fear of a distant, strong ruler shaped the design. There was no president and no national court system. Congress had one vote per state, could not tax, and could not regulate trade between states. Amending the Articles required every state to agree.
Weaknesses soon showed. Congress could not pay its war debts. States taxed one another's goods. In Shays' Rebellion (1786-87), indebted farmers in Massachusetts shut down courts, and the national government had no army to respond. Many leaders concluded that the union needed a stronger centre. One success should be noted: the Northwest Ordinance (1787) set a path for new territories to become states and banned slavery north of the Ohio River.
The Philadelphia Convention (1787)
Delegates met in secret, with George Washington presiding, and wrote a new plan instead of fixing the old. Their key compromises:
- Great Compromise: a House of Representatives with seats by population and a Senate with two seats per state.
- Three-fifths compromise: for representation and taxation, each enslaved person counted as three-fifths of a person. This gave slaveholding states more power in the House and Electoral College, and it is a lasting moral stain on the document.
- Separation of powers and checks and balances: three branches, each able to limit the others.
- Federalism: power divided between national and state governments.
Ratification and the Bill of Rights
Supporters, the Federalists, wrote essays now called The Federalist Papers to argue for ratification. Anti-Federalists feared a government too strong and lacking a list of protected rights. A promise to add amendments helped win approval. The first ten, the Bill of Rights (1791), protect rights such as free speech, religion and trial by jury.
Worked example: matching a problem to its fix
- Problem: Congress under the Articles could not raise money. Fix: the Constitution gave Congress the power to tax.
- Problem: states set up trade barriers against each other. Fix: Congress received the power to regulate interstate commerce.
- Problem: no national executive to enforce laws. Fix: Article II created a president.
- Problem: fear of tyranny. Fix: separation of powers, and later the Bill of Rights.
When studying any founding document, ask what failure each clause was written to prevent.