Problems in American Democracy

by Thames Williamson

A. THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

CHAPTER XXXIX

THE FEDERAL SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT

A. BACKGROUND OF THE FEDERAL CONSTITUTION [Footnote: For a fuller discussion of the background of the Federal Constitution, see Chapters II and III.]

493. COLONIAL GOVERNMENTS.—It is possible to classify the American colonies as charter, royal, and proprietary, and to point out important differences between these three types.

But these differences fade in importance before the broad and fundamental similarities existing among the colonies. Just as there was among the colonies a substantial unity of race, language, and religion, so there was a basic similarity in political institutions. All of the colonies were under relatively the same degree of control by England, and consequently all of them had much the same degree of freedom in managing their own affairs. In each colony a governor acted as chief executive. In each colony, likewise, there was a legislature. In most of the colonies this legislature consisted of two houses, the lower of which was elected by the people. Colonial jurisprudence everywhere grounded upon the common law of England. In each colony there was a system of courts, largely following English judicial procedure. In local government there was a good deal of variation among the colonies, but everywhere the English model was followed, and everywhere the principle of local autonomy was asserted and championed.

494. EARLY ATTEMPTS AT UNION.—These fundamental similarities, together with the rise of common problems and the pressure of outside enemies, encouraged federation among the colonies. A notable attempt at union was made in 1643, when Massachusetts Bay, Plymouth, Connecticut, and New Haven united in a league of friendship, primarily for mutual defense against the Indians. This league rendered effective service during the forty years of its life. In 1754 delegates from seven colonies met at Albany and adopted a plan of union proposed by Benjamin Franklin. The project was never carried through, but it is significant as indicating the trend toward union. Still later (1765) the Stamp Act Congress showed that the delegates of at least nine colonies could join in a protest against England's taxation policy. The two Continental Congresses may also be considered as steps toward union. The first of these (1774) concerned itself chiefly with a declaration of rights and grievances, but the second (1775-1781) went so far as to assume and exercise revolutionary powers.

495. THE ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION.—Impelled by the necessity of a united front against England, the Second Continental Congress sought to give force to the Declaration of Independence by drawing up a comprehensive plan of union. This plan, embodied in the Articles of Confederation, was put into operation on March 1, 1781. The new government was a confederation or league of states, rather than a federal government such as we have to-day. The states gave up such important powers as the right to declare war, and the right to borrow and coin money, but the Articles specifically declared that "each state retains its sovereignty, freedom, and independence, and every power, jurisdiction, and right which is not by this federation delegated to the United States in Congress assembled."

The Confederation government was seriously defective. There was no national executive and no judiciary. All authority was concentrated in a one-chambered congress, the delegates to which were entirely under the control of the state legislatures which chose them. The central government had no real authority or power. Its congress could reach the individual only through the action of the state governments, and these it could not coerce. The Confederation government managed to carry the states through the last two years of the war, and then declined rapidly in power and influence. The Congress could not force the states to co÷perate with one another in matters of national interest. The inability of the central government, either to pay the interest on the national debt or to force the states to observe treaties which we made with foreign powers, cost us the respect of Europe. "We were bullied by England," writes John Fiske of this period, "insulted by France, and looked askance at in Holland."

The defects of the Articles could not be remedied, for amendment was by unanimous consent only, and on every occasion that an amendment was proposed, one or more states refused their assent. By 1786 it was the conviction of most American statesmen that if the country were to be saved from anarchy and ruin the central government would have to be reorganized.