1. At first, Americans had no intention of forming a national or central government that would hold power over the states. They had had enough of being bossed around by Britain.
Even after the Revolution, most people thought of themselves as citizens of a particular state, not citizens of the new country. They were loyal to their state first.
They ended up creating a confederation: a system where each individual state would keep its sovereignty (power), freedom and independence, but would cooperate with each other.
The document that described this system was called the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union. Today we usually shorten that to the Articles of Confederation or even just “AOC.” It was written by the Second Continental Congress during the Revolution. It went into effect in 1781.
How did the new government under the Articles of Confederation differ from the colonial system of King and Parliament?

2. So what did the government look like under the AOC?
It was a one-branch government. There was no court system and there was no President to make sure the laws passed by the congress were carried out. The states would have to make sure those laws were followed.
Each state got one vote in the AOC Congress although it could send between 2 to 7 representatives to sessions of congress.
In order to pass any laws, 2/3 of the states had to agree. That may sound good, but it’s very, very difficult to get 2/3 of any group to agree on things.
If any state wanted the AOC amended (changed or corrected), then all thirteen states had to agree on the change.

3. What powers did the AOC Congress have?
Declare war
Make treaties
Manage Indian affairs
Maintain an army and a navy
Make and borrow money
Set up a standard system of weights and measurements
Establish a postal service
Sounds pretty impressive, right? Well there were some important powers missing. Can you figure out what they were?

4. The value of money that Congress had printed during the war had plummeted. Many farmers could not earn enough money to pay their debts and taxes.
In Massachusetts judges ordered farmers to sell their land and livestock to pay their debts. These men, led by Daniel Shays, a hero of Bunker Hill, rebelled.
They closed down courthouses and marched on the national arsenal (weapons storehouse) in Springfield to arm themselves. Congress had already dismissed the Continental Army, so the national government was unable to stop them.
Massachusetts ended Shays' Rebellion by sending state militia troops to Springfield to restore order.
To many Americans, however, the uprising was a disturbing sign that the nation they had fought so hard to create was falling apart.

5. Missing Power #1: No power to tax.
How could Congress maintain an army and a navy or run a post office without money?
Under the AOC, Congress had to depend on the states to give it money.
I don’t know about you, but I don’t like to give my money to anyone. The states didn’t want to hand over cash to Congress either.

6. Missing Power #2: No power to regulate (make rules about) trade.
Each state functioned like a separate country.
As a way to raise money, some states charged a tax on goods that came from other states. This kind of tax also functioned as “protection” for businesses inside the state.
Protective tariffs are supposed to encourage people to buy from local businesses first rather than buying from outside their borders. The theory is, local businesses are protected by these taxes just like cities were protected by high, strong walls in the old days.
It sounds good, but protective tariffs make buying things from other states more expensive.
If one state charged a tax on imports, then the other states responded by charging import taxes too. Pretty soon states were in tax “wars” with each others.
No state could make or grow everything it needed to survive. People had to trade with other states.
It seems logical that Congress would try to settle this kind of dispute
between the states, but it didn’t have that power.

7. Despite its limitations, the AOC Congress managed to pass some very important laws stating how America’s western lands would be…
Divided up.
Governed.
Brought into the union as states.
Remember, the US had just won a huge chunk of new land from the British at the end of the Revolution.

8. This new land had a name: the Northwest Territory.
Geography quiz: What modern states were once part of the Northwest Territory?
Ohio
Indiana
Illinois
Wisconsin
Michigan
Part of Minnesota

9. The Land Ordinance of 1785 said how each new territory should be divided up.
First the land had to be surveyed (measured and examined).
Then it was divided up into “townships.”
Once the land was divided up, it could be sold at public auction for a minimum of $1.00 an acre.
One portion of every township would be set aside for public education.
Can you imagine how excited settlers were about moving out west?

10. The Northwest Ordinance of 1787 set up a system for governing the new territories.
It said that the entire Northwest Territory could be divided politically into no fewer than three but no more than five separate territories.
It also created a path to statehood for territories after they grew more settled.

11. What was so great about the Northwest Ordinance?

12. Change was on the horizon!
Even though the Articles of Confederation held the nation together throughout the war, Americans were losing faith in their form of government.
After Shays’ Rebellion, people began to fear that their was disintegrating.
James Madison wrote to a friend, “No respect is paid to the federal [national] authority. It is not possible that a government can last long under these circumstances.”
Change was on the horizon!