GHIST 225: US History
Kevin R. Hardwick
Spring 2012
LECTURE 10
The “Critical Period:” 1781-1787
GHIST 225: US History
Kevin R. Hardwick
Spring 2012
Part One: The Articles of Confederation
Part Two: Arguments for a stronger national
government: concerns for property and order
Document: Publius [James Madison], Federalist 51
Articles of Confederation:
Each state had a single vote
Granted Congress the authority to:
--handle diplomatic missions,
--requisition men and arms from the states,
--mint and borrow money,
--regulate Indian affairs.
Articles of Confederation:
Article Two:
“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.”
Articles of Confederation:
Article XIII:
“The Articles of this confederation shall be inviolably
observed by every state, and the union shall be
perpetual.”
James Madison, Vices of the Political System (1787):
“As far as the Union of the States is to be regarded as a
league of sovereign powers, and not as a political
constitution by virtue of which they are become one
sovereign power, so far it seems to follow from the
doctrine of compacts, that a breach of any of the articles
of the confederation by any of the parties to it, absolves
the other parties from their respective obligations, and
gives them a right if they choose to exert it, of dissolving
the Union altogether.”
James Wilson, opening speech to the Pennsylvania
Ratifying Convention, 1 December 1787:
“In order to keep republics together they must have a
strong binding force, which must be either external or
internal. The situation of this country shows, that no
foreign force can press us together, the bonds of our
union ought therefore to indissolubly strong.”
Fisher Ames, on Shay’s Rebellion:
"the people have turned against their teachers the doctrines which
were inculcated to effect the late revolution."
Alexander Hamilton, Letter to James Duane, 1780
(criticizing the draft of the Articles that a year later
was ratified):
The primary source of weakness in the Articles was:
an excess of the spirit of liberty which has made the
particular states show a jealousy of all power not in
their own hands; and this jealousy has led them to
exercise a right of judging in the last resort of the
measures recommended by Congress, and of acting
according to their own opinions of their propriety or
necessity.
Alexander Hamilton, Letter to James Duane, 1780
(criticizing the draft that a year later was ratified):
The confederation itself is defective and requires to be
altered; it is neither fit for war, nor peace. The idea of an
uncontrolable sovereignty in each state, over its internal
police, will defeat the other powers given to Congress,
and make our union feeble and precarious. There are
instances without number, where acts necessary for the
general good, and which rise out of the powers given to
Congress must interfere with the internal police of the
states, and there are as many instances in which the
particular states by arrangements of internal police can
effectually though indirectly counteract the
arrangements of Congress.
Alexander Hamilton, Letter to James Duane, 1780
(criticizing the draft that a year later was ratified):
In our case, that of an empire composed of confederated
states each with a government completely organised
within itself, having all the means to draw its subjects to
a close dependence on itself--the
danger is . . .
that the common sovereign will not
have power sufficient to unite the
different members together, and direct
the common forces to the interest and happiness of the
whole.
Alexander Hamilton, Letter to James Duane, 1780
(criticizing the draft that a year later was ratified):
A single man, in each department of administration,
would be greatly preferable. It would give us a chance
of more knowledge, more activity, more responsibility
and of course more zeal and attention.
Alexander Hamilton, Letter to James Duane, 1780
(criticizing the draft that a year later was ratified):
Hamilton wanted to replace the Confederation with "a
solid coercive union."
The confederation in my opinion should give Congress
complete sovereignty; except as to that part of internal
police, which relates to the rights of property and life
among individuals and to raising money by internal
taxes. It is necessary, that every thing, belonging to this,
should be regulated by the state legislatures. Congress
should have complete sovereignty in all that relates to
war, peace, trade, finance, and to the management of
foreign affairs, . . .
James Madison, Vices of the Political System, 1787
The Practice of many states in restricting the commercial
intercourse with other States, and putting their
productions and manufactures on the same footing with
those of foreign nations, though not contrary to the
federal articles, is certainly adverse to the spirit of the
Union, and tends to beget retaliating regulations, not
less expensive & vexious in themselves, than they are
destructive of the general harmony.
James Madison, Vices of the Political System, 1787
"A sanction is essential to the idea of law, as coercion is
to that of government."
James Madison, Federalist 51, 1788
"If men were angels, no government would be
necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither
external nor internal controls on government would be
necessary. In framing a government which is to be
administered by men over men, the great difficulty is
this: you must first enable the government to control
the governed; and in the next place, oblige it to control
itself."
James Madison, Federalist 51, 1788
"The great desideratum in government is such a
modification of the sovereignty as will render it
sufficiently neutral between the different factions and
interests, to control one part of the society from
invading the rights of another, and at the same time
sufficiently controlled itself, from setting up an interest
adverse to that of the whole of society."