The Birth of a Nation

[Online Professor]

When the War for Independence came to an end, the 13 Colonies were separate and distinct sovereign nations. The joined together to form an alliance in order to protect themselves against an invasion from European nations. The document that bound the nations together was called the Articles of Confederation. This document was more of a treaty or a charter between thirteen sovereign states than it was a Constitution. Each of states that were a part of the Confederation already had their own state Constitutions.

When the delegates met in Philadelphia they were assigned the task of revising the Articles of Confederation. The result of the Convention was to propose a Constitution that would create one nation with 13 subdivisions. Each of the states were required to give a portion of their sovereignty to the central government. The powers not granted to the central government were to be retained by the states.

Those Patriots that opposed the ratification of the Constitution realized that in order to create a centralgovdernment for the colonies it would be necessary for the states delegate some of their sovereign powers to the newly created central government. With the ratification of the Constitution the states and the central government were to share the the authority in a system of dual sovereignty. The majority of the power was to be vested in the states while a short list of powers were to delegated by the states to central government.

The framers of the Constitution knew that unless a series of checks and balances were employed the states would overpower the central government or the central goverment would overpower the states. When Federalism is operating properly neither the states or the central government can usurp the enumerated power from the other.

The Framers wrote the Contitution in order to give their new central government enough power to defend the colonies, while the states were assigned the task of defending the lives, liberty and propert of the people, When a central governmentis is created, there is a tendency for those in leadership positions to embrace the idea that any legislation can be justified if it is for the greater good of the greater number. The ratification of the Constitution opened the door to the creation of a collectivist state where the government took on the role of providing for the people rather than protecting their right to compete for the bounties of life.

In order to create the new central government the people would be required to give up some of their unalienable rights in order for the greater good of the greater number. In the very first Article in the Constitution, Congress is given the power to tax. In other words the property rights of the people were no longer unalienable. When people are compelled to give up a portion of their property to their government, they are no longer sovereign. A government has the right to charge a person for services rendered but does not have a right to take property from one individual and give it to another.

Click Here to Read the Articles of Confederation