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The Formation of the United States |
| Section: CULTURE / AMERICAN HERITAGE |
| Author: Gordon L. Anderson |
| Publication:
The World & I Online |
| Issue Date: 1/1/2005 |
| Size: 4,597 Words, 29,329 Characters |
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This article appeared as a chapter in Gordon L. Anderson's Philosophy of the United States, published by Paragon House. For more information on the book, please go to http://www.paragonhouse.com/ catalog/product_info.php?products_id=380. (Just copy and paste this Web address into your browser.)
Failure of the Articles of Confederation
The victory of the Continental Army, with the assistance of the French, at the Battle of Yorktown in 1781 gave the colonies their freedom. However, there was little unity of national purpose. Everyone tried to return to "business as usual." Each colony wanted to retain its freedom and independence.
The following excerpts from the Articles of Confederation are fascinating to consider:
I. The Stile of this Confederacy shall be "The United States of America."
II. Each state retains its sovereignty, freedom, and independence, and every power, jurisdiction, and right, which is not by this Confederation expressly delegated to the United States, in Congress assembled.
III. The said States hereby severally enter into a firm league of friendship with each other, for their common defense, the security of their liberties, and their mutual and general welfare, binding themselves to assist each other, against all force offered to, or attacks made upon them, or any of them, on account of religion, sovereignty, trade, or any other pretense whatever...1
The Confederation failed to work. States that had not paid their share of expenses for the war refused to pay anything. Massachusetts ended up paying a disproportionate amount--about as much as New York. Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Maryland combined. Disputes between states erupted with no successful means of resolution; there was no executive or judicial branch of government with the power to compel arbitration. Congress only had power to make war and peace, draft treaties, and maintain a postal service. After several years, George Washington's troops had not been paid. States erected tariffs on one another and coined their own money.2
The Constitutional Convention
The leadership of Washington. George Washington, who had returned to private life at Mount Vernon, was among those dissatisfied with national disunity under the Articles of Confederation. Washington advocated a stronger central government, hosting the Mount Vernon Conference (1785) at his estate, though he apparently did not directly participate in the discussions. In May 1787, at the urging of friends, after first writing to them to say that he would not attend,3 he went to Philadelphia and was elected to preside over the Constitutional Convention.
What Washington did not know, he made sure to learn from a variety of scholars and leaders whose opinions he respected Washington s letters from the time contain correspondence with among others. James Madison, John Jay, and General Knox In this correspondence. John Jay argued for...
Read Full Article
...efferson, ed. Julian P. Boyd (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1958), Vol. 12, p. 442.
© 2004 Gordon L. Anderson. This article appeared as a chapter in Philosophy of the United States, published by Paragon House. For more information on the book, please go to http://www.paragonhouse.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=380. (Just copy and paste this Web address into your browser.)
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Publication Details
(The World & I Online) |
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The World & I Online is a
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Originally published monthly in print as The World & I, our site
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