The Evolution of American Government

Kayla R. Turley
History 1700
Professor Henri I Miller
October 8, 2015

The American government has come a long way since the start of the American
Revolution in 1775. First we had to win our independence from Britain in The War of
Independence that lasted for eight brutal years. Then we started a new form of government called
The Articles of Confederation which took us from having a much too controlling government to
a government that didnt have enough regulation to keep a country stable and standing, the main
reason why it lasted for only four years1. When The Articles of Confederation failed we finally
got to the government of bi-cameral legislation that we have today. This government was to
provide a balance between executive power and the power that the people have. The question to
ask is how did we get here?
The place to start comes towards the end of the revolutionary war. This war was not only a war
against the Colonists and Britain but would also be considered a civil war. About twenty-five
percent of the Colonists were still loyal to Britain even when the war was starting to lean towards
the Colonists winning. Along with the twenty-five percent that supported Britain there were also
a good amount of African American slaves that were fighting on the side for Britain. They were
told that when the war concluded they would be given their freedom. 2The estimated amount of
African American slaves that fought for Britain was around 9,000 men, most of whom were
encouraged to join the war by Lord Dunmores Ethiopian Regiment.3 With a little less than
seventy percent of the citizens actually living in America being in support of the separation of the

1 The articles of Confederation 1777 http://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?

flash=true&doc=3
2 African Americans in the Revolutionary War
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_Americans_in_the_Revolutionary_War
3 See Footnote 2

American continent from Britain, the Colonists had a tough time winning the war, until France
joined the war in 1778. 4
When the war finally concluded in 1783 the colonists got together and wrote up the Articles of
Confederation. This consisted of thirteen different articles (structured similarly to the
constitutions structure today with a few of the same ideas). These articles were to be used as a
basic rule book for the states. The First Article stated that the country was to be named The
United States of America. The Second Article was when the important stuff started, stating:
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. 5This essentially means that every state is its own government meaning
that each state would need to make its own constitution and was responsible for running itself.
The lack of Central Government made it hard for anything to get done. There was not a main
person over the country like most countries at the time had. Who was to be contacted on matters
concerning war and alliances? The decision could not be made by any individual state as stated
in Article 6. 6 With the little power that congress had at the time any laws they made were easily
reversible by the states if any of them disagreed. The states did not hold as strong a bond of
friendship as the writers of the articles had hoped. Each state was doing what was best for their
state at that specific time. The Central Government was allowed to regulate small amounts of:
forming a military, negotiating with foreign powers and establishing a postal service.
4 American Revolutionary War
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Revolutionary_War
5 Articles of Confederation http://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/artconf.asp
(Primary)
6 See Footnote 5

With no way of enforcing any of these, they really had no way of actually doing any of
these to benefit of our country. The Central Government was allowed to form a military but they
were not allowed to tax. They were to ask the states for money to run the things they needed and
the states were allowed to deny giving the Central Government any money all together or could
give a fraction of what was needed. 7 If you were a king or monarch in those times and you were
trying to communicate with a newly organized country who would you want to talk to? The
person in charge? The problem with not having an executive was that there was not a person to
be contacted by other countries which made negotiating with the foreign powers especially
difficult also.
Our nation also owed a lot of money, not just to other nations but also to some of the
soldiers in the country who had not yet been paid for their service in the Revolutionary War.8
With the Government unable to tax and the states unwilling to give money there was no way to
pay the money that was owed and run the government programs that the Central Government
was responsible for. Those programs that were supposed to benefit all states and citizens were
going unaccomplished because of the lack of funding.
But, one of the largest problems with the articles confederation was the lack of people
involvement in the government. The Central Government was answering to the states and the
states were answering to each other. There was no room for the Central Government to answer to
the citizens. If they were being treated wrongly by the states the Central Government had no
power to fix it. This is when Shays rebellion started. The citizens having nowhere to take their
7 Articles of Confederation http://www.history.com/topics/articles-of-confederation
8 The Pros and Cons of the Articles of Confederation
http://www.etownschools.org/cms/lib/PA01000774/Centricity/Domain/629/Articles
%20of%20Confederation101.pdf

problems with the local government began to rebel all over the nation. The main rebelling was
happening in Massachusetts led by Daniel Shay (hence the name Shays Rebellion).
The rebellion came about due to high taxation and people having the inability to pay off
debt being imprisoned. There were many other states that passed Pro-Debtor laws that would
forgive the debt of people and gave the state ability to print more paper money, which
Massachusetts was refusing to do. 9 The rebellion set off wild fires all over. People were unhappy
with their governments set up. Shays Rebellion had political leaders majorly alarmed at the
uprisings. Even though Shays Rebellion was nowhere close to taking down the United States
Government the leaders knew a fix was needed, the largest Supporter of this being George
Washington 10. They called together what now is called The Constitutional Convention. This
Convention was originally called together to revise the existing Articles; however James
Maddison and Alexander Hamilton suggested that the throw out the old Articles all together and
try starting from scratch.11
Once everyone actually arrived at the convention they started discussing the changes that
they were going to propose. By this point the Virginia plan had already been written up by James
Maddison and was the starting point for the discussion of the new Government.12 By the end of
this discussion, which went from May 25 to September 17, 1787, we had the Articles of the
Constitution that we have today.13 At this point it had yet to be ratified by the states. Some states
were even refusing to ratify it until a bill of rights, that had a clear outline of what we were
9 Shay Rebels http://www.ushistory.org/us/15a.asp
10 See Footnote 8
11 See Footnote 4
12 See Footnote 4

entitled to as citizens, was added. On June 21, 1788, New Hampshire became the ninth state to
ratify the constitution. On that day the fathers made a date that the constitution would go into
effect, March 4, 1789.
The major ideas in the Constitution were clearly outlined. Starting with the fact that we
have a bi-cameral legislation. They started with outlining the requirements of The Congress,
House of Representatives and Senate. Then onto the outlining of the Presidential position, the
court system, laws, the amendment process, and state that the constitution is the highest of all the
laws (a law made that went against the constitution was to be over ruled). 14 The bill of rights was
later added to the constitution clearly outlining what rights we had a citizens from the right to
bear arms to the powers of the state being anything not outlined in the constitution. 15
The constitution that was put together in that convention is in most points the same
constitution that we have today. Some things have been added and others re interpreted to mean
things completely different than what the founding fathers wrote it for. Having started with a
government that could not stay afloat and getting to the legislation that we have today proves that
we have come a very long way, farther than the founding fathers probably thought we would. We
have added many things to the bill of rights and have further outlined the rights we have as
United States Citizens.

13 Constitution Faqs http://constitutioncenter.org/learn/educationalresources/constitution-faqs/

14 The Constitution
http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/constitution_transcript.html
15 The Bill of Rights http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/bill_of_rights_transcript.html

Bibliography:
Primary Sources:
The Articles of Confederation http://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/artconf.asp
The Constitution http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/constitution_transcript.html
The Bill of Rights http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/bill_of_rights_transcript.html

Other References:
The articles of Confederation 1777 http://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?flash=true&doc=3
African Americans in the Revolutionary War
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_Americans_in_the_Revolutionary_War
American Revolutionary War https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Revolutionary_War
Articles of Confederation http://www.history.com/topics/articles-of-confederation

The Pros and Cons of the Articles of Confederation

http://www.etownschools.org/cms/lib/PA01000774/Centricity/Domain/629/Articles%20of
%20Confederation101.pdf
Shay Rebels http://www.ushistory.org/us/15a.asp
Constitution Faqs http://constitutioncenter.org/learn/educational-resources/constitution-faqs/