Government and Administration of the United States | Page 9

the Articles of Confederation.#--The
Articles of Confederation established a framework of government for
the confederated colonies, which government was to control those
matters that experience had shown could be executed only by united
action. As a scheme of government it was no better than a makeshift. It
was an effort to form a federal power without diminishing the powers
of the States--an effort "to pare off slices of state government without
diminishing the loaf." That such a union could be perpetual, as the
scheme professed, was impossible.
Under these Articles of Confederation the sole functions of the federal
authority, legislative, executive, and judicial, were vested in a
Continental Congress, consisting of a single house of delegates, who
voted by States, and were appointed annually in such a manner as the
respective States directed. Each State was entitled to not less than two
nor more than seven delegates, a majority of whom decided the vote of
the State in question. The executive functions were largely performed
by a Committee of States, which was empowered to sit during recesses.
For all important measures the vote of every State was required. The
vote of all thirteen was required for an amendment.
#Defects of the Articles of Confederation.#--In this scheme of union
there were many fatal defects. The principal of these defects were--
1. The want of some compulsory means of enforcing obedience to the
acts of Congress. The articles provided neither an executive power nor
a national judiciary worth mentioning. As one writer has said:
"Congress could declare everything, but do nothing." A single colony
could with impunity disregard any decree of the Congress.
2. The large vote required to pass all important measures.
3. The absence of the right to regulate foreign commerce, and make
duties uniform, and to collect those duties. This defect, as we shall find,
was one of the most vital, and more than any thing else decreed the
failure of the practical working of the Confederation, and showed the

necessity of a better and stronger National government.
4. The virtual impossibility of amendment. Since a unanimous vote was
required, the selfish interest of one State could, and did, stand in the
way of an amendment beneficial and necessary to the other twelve.
5. There was no power to enforce treaties. Foreign countries recognized
this, and therefore refused to enter into any treaties with us.
Washington said: "We are one nation to-day, and thirteen to-morrow.
Who will treat with us on such terms."
England refused to carry out the conditions of the treaty of 1783, and
continued to keep troops on our Western borders.
6. The central authority had insufficient power to control disputes
arising between the States.
7. The lack of a Federal judiciary.
8. Lack of power to collect taxes, or to raise revenue to defray even the
ordinary expenses of government. This was the most striking and
important defect of them all. The whole power given to Congress under
this head was the power "to ascertain the sum necessary to be raised for
the service of the United States, and apportion the rate or proportion on
each State." The collection of such taxes was left to the States
themselves, and if they refused (as they frequently did) the Federal
Government had no power to compel them.
Our present better government was "wrung from the grinding
necessities of a reluctant people."
#Adoption of the Constitution.#--Actual hostilities ceased in 1781. In
1783 peace with England was declared, and the independence of the
colonies was achieved. The war left the American people with an
empty treasury, and a country drained of its wealth and impoverished
by the exhaustive struggle. It left us with a large national debt, both to
our own citizens and friends abroad, and most of all, left us with an
army of unpaid patriotic soldiers. And no sooner had foreign danger

been removed than domestic troubles arose which filled all with
gloomy forebodings for the future. With the loss of that cohesive
principle which common danger supplied them, the colonies now began
to fall apart. Even during the progress of the war the weakness of the
Union had shown itself. Washington unhesitatingly declared that it was
the lack of sufficient central authority that caused the prolongation of
the war. One instance will show how weak was the Federal authority.
During the summer of 1783, when Congress was at Philadelphia, some
eighty deserters from the army so threatened Congress as to force a
removal of our Federal capital from that place to Princeton. The
Continental finances were in a deplorable condition. Congress could
not even collect sufficient taxes for the payment of the interest on the
public debt. The States could, and often did, refuse to pay their
proportion of taxes imposed upon them by Congress. Congress made a