Did the Articles of Confederation Fail?

            The discussion on how the Articles of Confederation failed to meet the challenges facing the new American republic is subjective based upon an individual’s interpretation of what the new American republic was meant to be. The argument then is a debate over governing powers between the States and a strong central federal government or a limited federal government. If the Articles of Confederation was devised to ensure that more power was held by the individual States, while the federal government was granted limited powers to act as a liaison with foreign nations and with the other States respectfully, then it came close to fulfilling its purpose. However, if the American republic was intended to be a strong central government, then the Articles of Confederation failed due to its strict restraints and limiting properties to impede such a government.

            An 18th century definition of a “republick" is: “Commonwealth; state in which the power is lodged in more than one.”[1] The States formed a confederation of independent governments and not a complete union prior to the completion of the Revolutionary War; thus the name, ‘The United States of America.’ The citizens of the various States were not interested in exchanging one strong central government for another; “their loyalties were much more local; they were Marylanders, New Yorkers, and Pennsylvanians, for example.”[2] However, it was evident that the Articles of Confederation was still not sufficient to meet the needs of the individual States.

            Even Thomas Jefferson had indicated that there was need to create “a new compact,” which would establish a “more perfect” constitution.[3] Jefferson like others realized that the Articles of Confederation offered no power to a central government to raise federal revenue, to control commerce internationally or across State lines, to enforce any laws passed, nor to provide for a court system, or even an official city from which to govern from. The other difficulty facing the federal government was that “the Articles were virtually impossible to amend, so unanticipated problems were not easily resolved.”[4]

            The Constitutional Convention and the new governing document, the Constitution, was produced, with great debate, to solve these and many other problems with the Articles of Confederation. With the development of the two-party system and varying opinions on the purpose of the federal government, it is still be debated whether or not the Constitution established a more perfect union and met the challenges facing the republic and the individual States.

           

Bibliography

Callahan, Kerry P. The Articles of Confederation: A Primary Source Investigation Into the Document that Preceded the U.S. Constitution. New York: The Rosen Publishing Group, Inc., 2003.

Feinberg, Barbara Silberdick. The Articles of Confederation: The First Constitution of the United States. Brookfield: Twenty-First Century Books, 2002.

Johnson, Sameul. A Dictionary of the English Language. Dublin: W.C. Jones, 1768.

McDowell, Gary L. The Language of Law and the Foundations of American Constitutionalism. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2010.

  

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[1] Samuel Johnson, A Dictionary of the English Language, (Dublin: W.C. Jones, 1768).

[2] Barbara Silberdick Feinberg, The Articles of Confederation: The First Constitution of the United States, (Brookfield: Twenty-First Century Books, 2002), 13.

[3] Gary L. McDowell, The Language of Law and the Foundations of American Constitutionalism, (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2010), 253.

[4] Kerry P. Callahan, The Articles of Confederation: A Primary Source Investigation Into the Document that Preceded the U.S. Constitution, (New York: The Rosen Publishing Group, Inc., 2003), 13.