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One of the least told and yet most significant events in the entire 250 year history of the American Republic (in my humble opinion at least) is what happened in the summer of 1787.
One can only imagine what would have happened if the outcome was different but one thing is certain:
There is a VERY important lesson here for the future…and not just for Americans!
This "first constitution of the United States" established a "league of friendship" for the 13 sovereign and independent states.
Each state retained "every Power...which is not by this confederation expressly delegated to the United States. The Articles of Confederation also outlined a Congress with representation not based on population – each state would have one vote in Congress.
Ratification by all 13 states was necessary to set the Confederation into motion. Because of disputes over representation, voting, and the western lands claimed by some states, ratification was delayed. When Maryland ratified it on March 1, 1781, the Congress of the Confederation came into being.
Just a few years after the Revolutionary War, however, James Madison and George Washington were among those who feared their young country was on the brink of collapse.
With the states retaining considerable power, the central government had insufficient power to regulate commerce. It could not tax and was generally impotent in setting commercial policy. Nor could it effectively support a war effort.
Congress was attempting to function with a depleted treasury; and paper money was flooding the country, creating extraordinary inflation.
The states were on the brink of economic disaster; and the central government had little power to settle quarrels between states. Disputes over territory, war pensions, taxation, and trade threatened to tear the country apart.
In May of 1787, the Constitutional Convention assembled in Philadelphia to revise the Articles of Confederation. They shuttered the windows of the State House (Independence Hall) and swore secrecy so they could speak freely. By mid-June the delegates had decided to completely redesign the government. After three hot, summer months of highly charged debate, the new Constitution was signed, which remains in effect today.
To add insult to injury, the civil war has further cemented the highly negative and emotionally charged meaning of the term CONFEDERACY in people’s minds, both in the US and elsewhere!
