Eleanor Finch
The US Constitution, which has served as the supreme law of the United States since 1789, was not the first attempt to establish a constitution in the country. The Articles of Confederation, America's first constitution, was ratified in 1781, but it had several flaws, including a lack of standard currency, no national power of taxation, and a weak central government. The weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation became increasingly apparent, and divisions among the states threatened to tear the young country apart. In 1787, delegates from 12 of the 13 states gathered in Philadelphia to write a new constitution, and they decided to completely redesign the government. The US Constitution was ratified through a series of state conventions in 1787 and 1788, and it established a powerful central government and a bicameral legislature.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| First constitution of the United States | Articles of Confederation |
| Date of adoption | November 15, 1777 |
| Date of state ratification | March 1, 1781 |
| Type of government | Loose confederation of sovereign states with a weak central government |
| Legislature | One-house |
| Executive | Weak |
| Taxation | No national power |
| Currency | Lack of standard currency |
| Voting | Voting by state |
| Amendments | Article 13 stated that the union was "perpetual" and any alterations must be "agreed to in a Congress of the United States, and be afterwards confirmed by the legislatures of every State" |
| Ratification of the new constitution | Ratified by 9 of the 13 states |
| Bicameral legislature | Enacts law only with national majorities in both the Senate and the House |
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What You'll Learn
The Articles of Confederation
The delegates at the Constitutional Convention assembled in Philadelphia in May 1787 to revise the Articles of Confederation. However, by mid-June, they had decided to completely redesign the government. They compromised by giving each state one representative for every 30,000 people in the House of Representatives and two representatives in the Senate.
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The Continental Congress
The First Continental Congress was a response to escalating tensions between the colonies and the British, which culminated in the passage of the Intolerable Acts by Britain. The Congress first met in Philadelphia on September 5, 1774, with delegates from each of the 13 colonies except Georgia. The delegates included future presidents John Adams of Massachusetts and George Washington of Virginia, and future U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice and diplomat John Jay of New York. The Congress adopted the Articles of Association, which stated that if the Intolerable Acts were not repealed by December 1, 1774, a boycott of British goods would begin in the colonies.
The Second Continental Congress convened in 1775, soon after hostilities broke out in Massachusetts. It served as the provisional government of the U.S. during most of the Revolutionary War. The Second Congress sent the Olive Branch Petition to King George III, established the Continental Army, and elected George Washington as commander of the new army. The Second Congress continued to meet until March 1, 1781, when the Articles of Confederation that established a new national government for the United States took effect.
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The Annapolis Convention
Twelve delegates from five US states (New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Virginia) gathered to discuss and develop a consensus on reversing the protectionist trade barriers that each state had erected. At the time, under the Articles of Confederation, each state was largely independent of the others, and the national government had no authority to regulate trade between and among the states.
The delegates to the meeting were tasked with discussing measures to enable the Confederation Congress to regulate interstate and foreign commerce. However, they adopted a different resolution, inviting the states to send commissioners to a second convention in Philadelphia in May 1787. This convention would have a much more ambitious and open-ended task: "to take into consideration the situation of the United States, to devise such further provisions as shall appear to them necessary to render the constitution of the Federal Government adequate to the exigencies of the Union."
The final report of the convention, authored by Alexander Hamilton, sought support for a broader constitutional convention to be held the following May in Philadelphia. The report expressed the hope that more states would be represented and that their delegates would be authorized to examine areas beyond trade alone. The recommendation was adopted by Congress, and the 1787 Philadelphia Convention resulted in the drafting of the United States Constitution.
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State constitutions
In the United States, each state has its own written constitution. These constitutions are typically much longer than the US Constitution, which only contains 4,543 words. State constitutions are all longer than 8,000 words because they are more detailed regarding the day-to-day relationships between the government and the people. They outline the structure of the state government and typically establish a bill of rights, an executive branch headed by a governor, a state legislature, and state courts, including a state supreme court. Many state constitutions also include an invocation of God.
The process of ratifying the US Constitution bypassed the state legislatures, instead relying on special ratifying conventions in each state. This was due to concerns that state legislators would be reluctant to cede power to a national government. Despite this, the ratification of the Constitution faced significant opposition from Anti-Federalists, who viewed the powerful central government as reminiscent of the monarchy they had recently overthrown.
The territories of the United States, such as Puerto Rico and the Northern Mariana Islands, do not have organic acts but operate under their own local constitutions. These constitutions outline the relationship between the territories and the United States and provide a fundamental framework for their legal and political organizations.
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A monarchy
In the years leading up to the creation of the US Constitution, there was a strong aversion to the idea of a monarchy in the US due to the recent war with Britain and the memory of British rule. The majority of people were not open to the idea of having a king.
The United States Constitution, which came into effect in 1789, was the result of efforts to reform the Articles of Confederation, which was the country's first constitution. The Articles of Confederation created a loose confederation of states with a weak central government, leaving most of the power with the state governments.
The Articles of Confederation were adopted by the Continental Congress on November 15, 1777, but they were not ratified by all 13 states until March 1, 1781. The Articles provided for a one-house legislature, a weak executive, no national power of taxation, a lack of standard currency, and voting by state. These flaws ultimately led to their failure.
The Constitutional Convention, which took place in Philadelphia in May 1787, was originally intended to revise the Articles of Confederation. However, the delegates decided to completely redesign the government. They created a powerful central government, addressing issues such as congressional representation and slavery.
The US Constitution, which has been amended 27 times since 1789, established a bicameral legislature with a House of Representatives and a Senate. It provided for a stronger national government while also addressing the concerns of those who feared a central authority that resembled the one they had just overthrown.
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Frequently asked questions
Before the US Constitution, the US was a loose confederation of sovereign states with a weak central government. Each state was largely independent from the others, and the national government had no authority over matters like commerce.
Yes, the Articles of Confederation, America's first constitution, gave the Confederation Congress the power to make rules and request funds from the states, but it had no enforcement powers, couldn't regulate commerce, or print money.
The Articles of Confederation had several flaws, including a lack of enforcement powers, no standard currency, and a weak executive. It also provided for a one-house legislature and voting by state, which contributed to its eventual failure.
The Articles of Confederation ultimately failed because they could not effectively address the disputes and divisions among the states. State disputes over territory, war pensions, taxation, and trade threatened to tear the young country apart.
The Constitutional Convention assembled in Philadelphia in May 1787, with delegates from 12 of the 13 states. They decided to redesign the government and, after much debate, a Committee of Style and Arrangement put the decisions into a final form, creating the US Constitution.
