Okla-homey
11/17/2006, 07:03 AM
Nov 17, 1777: "Articles of Confederation" submitted to the states
http://img297.imageshack.us/img297/2707/2222222222222222222222stk1777u58ld0.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
229 years ago, on this day in 1777, Congress submits the Articles of Confederation to the states for ratification.
"The stile of this confederacy shall be the United States of America."
These powerful words marked the first time the thirteen colonies – who had declared themselves independent from British rule on July 4, 1776 – came together to create the United States of America.
They are from the Articles of Confederation, one of the single most important documents in U.S. history. As an aside, most don’t realize that the draft document, which came to be known as the Articles of Confederation, was adopted in York, Pennsylvania in November 1777 by the Second Continental Congress, which met in York from September 30, 1777 to June 27, 1778.
http://img209.imageshack.us/img209/9827/22222222222222222222artjp2.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
On this day in 1777, the document was sent to the states for ratification. The Articles had been signed by Congress two days earlier, after 16 months of debate.
Bickering over land claims between Virginia and Maryland delayed final ratification for almost four more years. Maryland became the last state to approve the Articles on March 1, 1781, affirming them as the outline of the official government of the United States. The nation was guided by the Articles until the implementation of the current U.S. Constitution in 1789.
http://img209.imageshack.us/img209/9171/222222222222222222222mazy9.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Keep in mind, this means that it took from late 1775 until 1789 for the infant US to develop a governing document satisfactory to all the states. Fourteen years!. That, and we still had a Civil War in the 1860's over the whole dealio. Therefore, maybe we should be a little more patient with the Iraqis, who everyone seems to expect to be able to pull the same rabbit out of a hat in a couple years.
The critical distinction between the Articles of Confederation and the U.S. Constitution--the primacy of the states under the Articles--is best understood by comparing the following lines.
The Articles of Confederation begin:
"To all to whom these Present shall come, we the undersigned Delegates of the States…"
By contrast, the Constitution begins:
"We the People of the United States…do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."
The predominance of the states under the Articles of Confederation is made even more explicit by the claims of Article 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."
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.
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 the debate as the new American people decided what form their government would take.
Thus, between 1776 and 1787, Americans went from living under a sovereign king, to living in sovereign states, to becoming a sovereign people. That transformation defined the American Revolution and the rest of American history.
Epilogue:
IMHO, the whole gun rights debate comes down to this. Volumes have been written by both sides of the gun rights issue about the meaning and intent of the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
Suffice to say, I'm not going to resolve the matter here. To that end, however, the reader is invited to note that the U.S. Articles of Confederation, which as you know know, preceded the ratification of the Second Amendment by only foureen years, addressed the matter of firearms strictly within the context of the various state militia organizations.
" . . . [b]ut 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 filed pieces and tents, and a proper quantity of arms, ammunition and camp equipage." Articles of Confederation Art.VI
See also the Second Amendment language ratified in 1791 that states,
"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." U.S. Const. amend. II
Given the drafters of the Second Amendment certainly had the 1777 language of Article VI of the Articles of Confederation available, but chose not to adopt it, it seems plausible the drafters chose the language of the Second Amendment to more broadly limit the federal government's power to restrict individual gun rights within the states.
http://img208.imageshack.us/img208/685/insane7zosf2.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
http://img297.imageshack.us/img297/2707/2222222222222222222222stk1777u58ld0.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
229 years ago, on this day in 1777, Congress submits the Articles of Confederation to the states for ratification.
"The stile of this confederacy shall be the United States of America."
These powerful words marked the first time the thirteen colonies – who had declared themselves independent from British rule on July 4, 1776 – came together to create the United States of America.
They are from the Articles of Confederation, one of the single most important documents in U.S. history. As an aside, most don’t realize that the draft document, which came to be known as the Articles of Confederation, was adopted in York, Pennsylvania in November 1777 by the Second Continental Congress, which met in York from September 30, 1777 to June 27, 1778.
http://img209.imageshack.us/img209/9827/22222222222222222222artjp2.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
On this day in 1777, the document was sent to the states for ratification. The Articles had been signed by Congress two days earlier, after 16 months of debate.
Bickering over land claims between Virginia and Maryland delayed final ratification for almost four more years. Maryland became the last state to approve the Articles on March 1, 1781, affirming them as the outline of the official government of the United States. The nation was guided by the Articles until the implementation of the current U.S. Constitution in 1789.
http://img209.imageshack.us/img209/9171/222222222222222222222mazy9.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Keep in mind, this means that it took from late 1775 until 1789 for the infant US to develop a governing document satisfactory to all the states. Fourteen years!. That, and we still had a Civil War in the 1860's over the whole dealio. Therefore, maybe we should be a little more patient with the Iraqis, who everyone seems to expect to be able to pull the same rabbit out of a hat in a couple years.
The critical distinction between the Articles of Confederation and the U.S. Constitution--the primacy of the states under the Articles--is best understood by comparing the following lines.
The Articles of Confederation begin:
"To all to whom these Present shall come, we the undersigned Delegates of the States…"
By contrast, the Constitution begins:
"We the People of the United States…do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."
The predominance of the states under the Articles of Confederation is made even more explicit by the claims of Article 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."
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.
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 the debate as the new American people decided what form their government would take.
Thus, between 1776 and 1787, Americans went from living under a sovereign king, to living in sovereign states, to becoming a sovereign people. That transformation defined the American Revolution and the rest of American history.
Epilogue:
IMHO, the whole gun rights debate comes down to this. Volumes have been written by both sides of the gun rights issue about the meaning and intent of the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
Suffice to say, I'm not going to resolve the matter here. To that end, however, the reader is invited to note that the U.S. Articles of Confederation, which as you know know, preceded the ratification of the Second Amendment by only foureen years, addressed the matter of firearms strictly within the context of the various state militia organizations.
" . . . [b]ut 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 filed pieces and tents, and a proper quantity of arms, ammunition and camp equipage." Articles of Confederation Art.VI
See also the Second Amendment language ratified in 1791 that states,
"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." U.S. Const. amend. II
Given the drafters of the Second Amendment certainly had the 1777 language of Article VI of the Articles of Confederation available, but chose not to adopt it, it seems plausible the drafters chose the language of the Second Amendment to more broadly limit the federal government's power to restrict individual gun rights within the states.
http://img208.imageshack.us/img208/685/insane7zosf2.jpg (http://imageshack.us)