Lifelong Learning Lecture: What Was Wrong with the Articles of Confederation?
Guest Speaker: Dr. Joseph M. Adelman, Professor of History, Framingham State University
During the Revolutionary War, Americans drafted over a dozen constitutions: at least one for each state plus the Articles of Confederation, which bound the states together in a “perpetual Union.” The Articles were controversial from the beginning. Originally drafted in 1776, Congress took over a year to approve a final version to send to the states, and only on March 1, 1781 did the thirteenth state agree to them. Within five years after that, some Americans believed the Articles to be fatally flawed and pushed for fundamental revisions to the document. By 1789, the United States was inaugurating government under the Constitution, brushing aside the Articles.
In this talk, we examine the Articles—both their merits and their flaws—and discuss why some Americans wanted to replace them so quickly with a more robust national government.
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