Why Did The Founding Fathers Decide To Replace The Articles Of Confederation?

A portion of the first page of the Articles of Confederation.

When the United States was still a young country back in the late 1700s, the Founding Fathers had to create a new kind of government. Therefore, they came up with the Articles of Confederation, which was the first governing document and was ratified in 1781. However, the Founding Fathers quickly substituted the Articles of Confederation in 1789 because the system could not fulfill the needs of the new nation. Once the country had gained independence from Britain, it needed a government to hold the states together and manage national affairs. The Articles, ratified in 1781 after being written in 1777, was drafted as an initial attempt to tackle this. By the late 1780s, however, the leaders and delegates all saw that the structure under the Articles of Confederation was not working. Major flaws in the document created problems with money, trade, defense, and unity, which led to the decision to leave the Articles behind and create a new Constitution in 1787.

The Articles of Confederation created a government where the states held most of the power. Congress was technically the main power, but it was weak. Additionally, each state got one vote despite its size or population, and the people did not have the right to vote for a president. The states also managed their laws and courts separately. Congress also could not tax people directly or force states to comply with its decisions, and nine of the thirteen states had to consent to pass important laws, with changes to the Articles themselves needing the consent of all thirteen states. This made it slow and difficult to make changes, and this was realized early on by leaders like George Washington, James Madison, and Alexander Hamilton. They started to shift their focus on building a system of government that worked better for the whole country, not just for the individual states.

One of the largest issues was money; Congress couldn't impose taxes on states under the Articles. Congress could only request money from states, and the states would usually refuse or send very little. Because of this, since Congress had borrowed a lot during the Revolutionary War to pay for soldiers and supplies, it couldn't repay those loans once the war was over. States also printed their own money, which confused commerce and decreased faith in the economy. By 1786, the federal government was millions of dollars in debt to other countries as well as its own citizens, and without the authority to levy taxes, Congress was helpless as the debt grew. Hamilton, soon-to-be Treasury Secretary, wrote letters detailing how this weakness hurt the nation's reputation abroad. The lack of a solid currency and consistent revenue induced the delegates to rethink the government's structure.

Trade matters only added to the turmoil. The Articles failed to grant Congress control over trade among states or with other nations. Each state made its own rules, taxing goods from neighbors or foreign traders as it suited them. New York would charge high taxes on goods from New Jersey, and New Jersey would do the same. This turned business into a tangle of taxes and quarrels. Foreign countries, like Britain, took advantage of the confusion. They shut their ports to American vessels while flooding U.S. markets with cheap goods. American traders and farmers could not compete. The states disagreed on a single method of retaliation, and the economy suffered. Leaders understood that a common trade policy needed a more central government.

Defense was another problem. The Articles weakened the nation. Congress could not declare an army or a navy by itself. It had to rely on states to provide soldiers and ships, and states would not do it or would do it slowly. Britain kept troops in forts along the northern border following the war, contrary to the peace treaty. Spain controlled the Mississippi River, not allowing American farmers to ship produce downstream. Indian tribes in the West battled settlers, and the national government was too weak to step in. Pirates attacked American ships in the Mediterranean, and Congress could not fund a navy to stop it. Washington, a former general, warned that without a real military, the nation looked weak to the world. The states’ militias alone couldn’t handle these threats, so a better defense system became a priority.

Unity among the states crumbled under the Articles too. With no strong national government, states acted like separate countries. They fought over borders, trade, and money. Rhode Island refused to help pay national debts, and bigger states like Virginia grew tired of shouldering the burden. In 1786, Shays' Rebellion showed just how serious the situation was. Farmers in Massachusetts, angered by debt and taxes, shut down courts and threatened the state government. Congress couldn't send troops to help because it had no army and no money. The uprising subsided when local militias stepped in, but it scared leaders. They realized that the nation needed a government powerful enough to keep the peace and settle disputes between states. The rebellion proved that the Articles couldn't handle internal conflict.

The process for amending legislation under the Articles also didn't work. It took too much time to reach agreement on anything with nine states. Amending the Articles themselves was almost impossible under the “all-thirteen” rule, and small states like Delaware and big states like Pennsylvania had the same vote, causing gridlock. So, by 1787, everyone agreed that the system needed to be rebuilt from the ground up, not simply tinkered with. The Annapolis Convention in 1786 tried to address commercial issues, but only five states showed up. That failure led to a larger convention in Philadelphia, where delegates voted to abolish the Articles altogether. The old system couldn't keep pace with the country's growing pains.

The Articles also lacked a way of enforcing laws. Congress passed rules, but states ignored them if they didn't feel like obeying them. There were no national courts either to settle fights between states or punish lawbreakers. If a state owed money to another state or backed out of a trade deal, Congress couldn't make it cough up. This left the government weak. Leaders such as Madison believed that a country lacking enforcement power wasn't a country. They studied history, such as the Greek city-states, and saw how disunity resulted in downfall. A more robust system with courts and executive power appeared to be the only method for keeping the nation together.

Foreign relations faltered under the Articles as well. Other nations did not take the United States seriously because it was unable to speak with a single voice. States made their own deals with foreign powers, confusing friends and enemies. Britain refused to leave its forts in part because the U.S. lacked any ability to force it, and Spain stonewalled on the Mississippi because it knew that Congress had no bargaining leverage. Diplomats like John Adams, who was in Europe, begged for a government that could back up its word. Lacking a collective presence, the nation could not inspire trust or secure trade agreements. This embarrassment motivated leaders to build something that could stand on its own in the world.

By 1787, the problems piled too high to ignore. The Philadelphia Convention started as a call to amend the Articles, but delegates quickly resolved to start from scratch. Fifty-five gentlemen from twelve states—Rhode Island sat out—met to pen the Constitution. They argued for months, working out specifics such as representation and limits on power. The outcome provided Congress with the power to tax, regulate commerce, and maintain an army. It established a president to serve as chief executive and courts to adjudicate. Some rights were retained by the states, but the federal government was given the power that it had previously lacked. The transformation wasn't painless. A few were afraid of too much centralized power, but most considered the Articles a failed experiment. The Constitution was signed on September 17, 1787, and ratified in 1789.