Untidy Origins

US History – The Articles of Confederation, 1777-87

In this course, Professor Woody Holton (University of South Carolina) examines the Articles of Confederation to explain how this precursor government developed and changed as a result of the Revolutionary Period. In the first module, we examine the “untidy” origins of the Articles of Confederation and why it took so long for the States to ratify them. After this, we turn to look at the biggest disagreement over the articles - the war for the West. In the third module, we look at the weaknesses in the Articles that made them unworkable by the late 1780s. In the penultimate module, we take a closer look at the Northwest Ordinance of 1787. In the final module, we see how the Articles of Confederation were removed in favour of the Constitution.

Untidy Origins

In this module, we examine the “untidy” origins of the Articles of Confederation and why it took so long for the States to ratify them. The Articles took five years to develop after the Declaration of Independence in 1776 and were deliberately weak to allow for the States to act independently. There are three key reasons for why the Articles took so long to ratify: (i) Slave vs. Free States: could not agree on whether the enslaved should be counted for tax purposes; (ii) Equal vs. proportional representation: could not agree on whether votes should be split based on population or equally amongst the states; and (iii) The War for the West: could not agree on the settlement of the West.