The Declaration And Its Implications

The Drafting of The  Constitution

Given the extreme distrust of central authority which had come to the fore during the American Revolution, it is obvious that when the leaders of the newly formed states met at the Continental Congress after the Revolution was won, they would choose a confederation as the arrangement of authority between the local and national government. This, after all, was the political arrangement through which the states would maintain almost all their power, and in which the national government would be delegated very little authority. Along these lines, it is interesting to note that in the 1700s and early 1800s Europeans often tended to view the various states in America as separate political entities. It was only after the Civil War (or if you prefer, the War Between the States) that many European newspapers began to use the terminology the United States is doing such and such, rather than the United States are doing such and such, as they were previously used to writing.

According to the Articles of Confederation, the newly formed stated would send their representatives to the Continental Congress which would represent the states, rather than the people directly. The Continental Congress in turn would select an executive officer to preside over it--in other words, a President. Thus, although George Washington was the first President under the Constitution of 1789, in actuality the first President to be selected in the United States was John Hanson, who was chosen by the Continental Congress acting under the Articles of Confederation. In addition to the President, the structure of the Continental Congress also included a number of functional committees which were necessary to carry out the various activities of the new national government.

Well, as any of us who have participated in committees know, trying to do anything by committee is an arduous--if not impossible--task. If one person can do something in one hour, five people might conceivably be able to do the same thing in ten. This is especially true if the participants in the committees represent very different individual units of government which are jealous of their powers, and if important matters have to be carried by a two-thirds vote, and very important matters can be decided only by unanimous consent--which indeed was the case under the Articles of Confederation. The structures and procedures of government under the Articles of Confederation were, to say the least, extremely inefficient. During the approximately dozen years of its existence, the Continental Congress was not able to carry out national policy effectively.

The governmental arrangements under the Articles were an important attempt at what during the late 1960s might have been called "participatory democracy." However, after a dozen years or so of such "democracy," one might well see leaders clamoring for "efficiency in government." And so it was that during the later 1780s, James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and to a lesser extent John Jay got together and began to write a number of essays in favor of a strong central government. This series of writings came to be known collectively as the Federalist Papers.

Economic Problems

One of the major difficulties in running the government under the rather loose structure of the Articles of Confederation involved the economic problems which plagued this country during its early years of development. At the end of the Revolutionary War, the British government had accepted the expressed desire of its former colonies for political independence, and had recognized the United States as a separate country. However, although the British government has ceased direct military hostilities toward our new nation, it still continued to harass it economically. American merchants experienced all sorts of difficulties in trying to use British ports. They also encountered many problems with the settling of debts between America and Britain. Moreover, the British generally interfered with the ability of the new American nation to trade with Europe, including the direct harassment of American shipping. Such economic interference did not cease, in fact, until we actually became involved in military hostilities with Britain again during the War of 1812.

In addition to the difficulties that American merchants had in terms of international trade, they also faced many difficulties in simply trying to conduct business among the various states. Under the Articles of Confederation, each state could coin its own money, enact very different business laws, impose all sorts of duties and tariffs on trade between it and neighboring states, and enforce other regulation of interstate commerce. This, coupled with the lack of good roads or canals to provide adequate transportation within and among the various states, made the conduct of business extremely difficult during the early days of our nation's history.

And so it was that for these and other reasons, a second group of Founders found themselves meeting once more in Philadelphia in 1787--this time to amend the Articles of Confederation. However, it should be remembered that this second grouping of Founding Fathers was meeting for a purpose far different from that of those who had met in Philadelphia some twelve years earlier to draft the Declaration of Independence. In 1776 the purpose of the meeting was to express opposition to the policies of a central authority--i.e., the British Crown. Some had simply wanted to change the policies of the Crown; others were intent on removing that authority altogether. Nevertheless, the general spirit of 1776 was one of freedom and independence from authority. In 1787, however, the thrust of the meeting was almost diametrically opposite. Instead of opposition to a central authority, those meeting in Philadelphia in 1787 were interested in establishing a stronger and more efficient central authority. Given these vastly different historic conditions, it is not surprising that the emphasis of the Constitution was very different from that of the Declaration of Independence.

This shift in attitude between the two documents may also be attributable to the fact that the make-up of the group meeting in Philadelphia in 1787 was strikingly different form that of the group that had met there some twelve years earlier. Missing form the convention in Philadelphia in the late 1780s were such people as Patrick Henry, Thomas Jefferson, Samuel Adams, and others among the earlier grouping who might be considered to have been the more radically-minded members of the Continental Congress present at the drafting of the Declaration in 1776.

For these and other reasons, it is most important that we do not overlook the events which occurred during the twelve-year period when we were governed under the Articles of Confederation, nor forget the differences in the conditions leading to the drafting of the Declaration of Independence and those preceding the framing of the Constitution. Both the historic events surrounding the development of these two documents and the people involved in writing them differed markedly. In fact, it is probably not helpful in discussing the early history of our country to talk of one group of Founders. There were actually two: a first more radically tempered, politically-orientated group involved in drafting the Declaration, and a second more conservative-minded, business oriented group participating in the framing of the Constitution.
 
 

The Declaration And Its Implications

The Articles Of  Confederation

The Drafting of The Constitution