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Okla-homey
11/15/2007, 07:39 AM
November 15, 1777: Articles of Confederation adopted

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Amid the fire of the Revolution and after 16 months of debate, the Continental Congress, sitting in its temporary capital of York, Pennsylvania (no word if they munched on Peppermint Patties while debating), agrees to adopt the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union on this day in 1777. Not until March 1, 1781, would the last of the 13 states, Maryland, ratify the agreement.

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In 1777, Patriot leaders, stinging from British oppression, were reluctant to establish any form of government that might infringe on the right of individual states to govern their own affairs.

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I hear tell there are still a few folks around who sting when the federal government puts the smackdown on an individual state...but I digress. Back to our story.

The Articles of Confederation, then, provided for only a loose federation of American states. Congress was a single house, with each state having one vote, and a president elected by the assembled congressmen to chair the assembly.

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Under the Articles, Congress did not have the right to levy taxes. That meant the government had to rely on donations from the states to function. As you can imagine, that worked about as well as a screen door on a submarine.

Under the Articles, Congress did have authority over foreign affairs and could regulate a national army and declare war and peace, but of course, it couldn't pay the army and navy or afford to equip them because it had no means of raising the bucks.

Amendments to the Articles required approval from all 13 states. Most problematically, the Congress had no power to pass binding nationwide laws as they do under the Constitution. That meant Congress couldn't referee and decide interstate issues or regulate commerece between the states. On March 2, 1781, following final ratification by Maryland, the 13th state, the Articles of Confederation became the law of the land.


Presidents under the Articles of Confederation

Samuel Huntington (March 1, 1781 – July 9, 1781)
Thomas McKean (July 10, 1781 – November 4, 1781)
John Hanson (November 5, 1781 – November 3, 1782)
Elias Boudinot (November 4, 1782 – November 2, 1783)
Thomas Mifflin (November 3, 1783 – October 31, 1784)
Richard Henry Lee (November 30, 1784 – November 6, 1785)
John Hancock (November 23, 1785 – May 29, 1786)
Nathaniel Gorham (June 6, 1786 – November 5, 1786)
Arthur St. Clair (February 2, 1787 – November 4, 1787)
Cyrus Griffin (January 22, 1788 – November 2, 1788)

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John Hancock. The only guy to sign the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation and the Constitution. He even had a stint as President (see the list above)

Less than five years after the ratification of the Articles of Confederation, enough leading Americans decided that the system was inadequate to the task of governance that they peacefully overthrew their second government in just over 20 years.

See, the Articles simply were'nt practical and proved to be a dismal failure. The difference between a collection of sovereign states forming a confederation and a federal government created by a sovereign people lay at the heart of debate as the new American people decided what form their new national government would take.

In 1787, an extra-legal body met in seclusion during Philadelphia’s summer heat to create this new government. On March 4, 1789, the modern United States was established when the U.S. Constitution formally replaced the Articles of Confederation.

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Constitutional convention. Philadelphia, March 4, 1789.

In a very real sense, the drafters created the world's first economic common market and gave the national government the power to tax the states in order to develop a national infrastructure that would benefit all the states.

Between 1776 and 1789, Americans went from being subjects of a sovereign king, to living in former colonies of that king that had transformed into sovereign states, to becoming a sovereign nation. That evolution defined the American Revolution.

Worth noting, the issue of the federal government's ultimate authority over the states under the Constitution would not be decided once and for all until the federal victory in the Civil War.

Postcript

On the gun rights issue:


Article Four of the Articles of Confederation:
"[...]but every state shall always keep up a well regulated and disciplined militia, sufficiently armed and accoutered, and shall provide and constantly have ready for use, in public stores, a due number of field pieces and tents, and a proper quantity of arms, ammunition and camp equipage."


Second Amendment to the Constitution:
"A well-regulated Militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed."

Now, considering the different language used, and the fact the Constitutional amendment's drafters certainly could have imported the language from the Articles if they wanted, I believe the Second Amendment establishes your individual right to own a gun.

Further, your correspondent hopes SCOTUS will resolve this issue once and for all this session when they issue their opinion in the appeal of the DC Circuit Court of Appeals ruling gun rights are individual rights and not tied to the notion the Second Amendment is all about enabling the national guard.

In short, I'm hoping they affirm the DC Circuit's ruling, which will end the 70 year debate over individual versus collective gun rights.

Preservation Parcels
11/15/2007, 08:15 AM
Homey,

Well done, once again. Even for history lovers, this is one of those pivotal events that is usually reduced to a quickly forgotten question on a test. You're so good at succinctly defining and then explaining the significance of such things. Thank you.

TUSooner
11/15/2007, 09:29 AM
Nicely done. :)

olevetonahill
11/15/2007, 09:37 AM
Kudos to the Homester ;)

SoonerDood
11/15/2007, 10:10 AM
why does that name Elias Boudinot ring a bell?

Okla-homey
11/15/2007, 11:21 AM
why does that name Elias Boudinot ring a bell?

Indian affairs.

Jimminy Crimson
11/15/2007, 05:46 PM
Indian affairs.

Yep. The former Buck Watie.

StoopTroup
11/15/2007, 05:47 PM
Homey...Do you ever wear a powdered wig when you post these?

Jerk
11/15/2007, 06:20 PM
Come on, man. Everyone knows that the second amendment was meant for the government and no one could take guns away from the government, especially ... the government. It's like free speech: collective right. Due process: collective right. Quartering of troops: collective right of government. Cruel and unusual punishment: No, you can't cruel and unusually punish the government! See the pattern? We know that they said 'the people,' but freedom of religion was meant for the national guard, which wouldn't exist until 120 years later. Can I get an amen?