03/01/2018 What was the government in the United States before the U.S. Constitution was written? (Part 1)
http://www.wnd.com/2018/02/what-was-our-nation-like-before-constitution/?It was the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union, which were introduced in the Continental Congress July 12, 1776, a little over a week after Congress approved the Declaration of Independence.
After a long debate, the Articles of Confederation were approved on November 15, 1777 and sent to the States for ratification.
The Articles of Confederation were an attempt to loosely knit the thirteen States together, while leaving most of the authority under each individual State's jurisdiction.
The Articles of Confederation:
a. - GRANTED TO CONGRESS the power to raise armies, declare war and sign treaties;
b. - WITHHELD FROM CONGRESS the power to raise revenue through taxes, regulate trade or collect tariffs.
The Articles of Confederation were signed by such statesmen as:
John Hancock,
Samuel Adams,
Roger Sherman,
John Witherspoon,
Richard Henry Lee,
Robert Morris,
John Dickinson,
Daniel Carroll, and
Gouverneur Morris.
The original States finally ratified the Articles of Confederation on MARCH 1, 1781.
The Articles of Confederation were fully in effect as the government in the United States for over 6 years.
After Daniel Shay led 4,000 in Shay's R*******n, 1786-1787, which almost toppled the government of Massachusetts, it became apparent that the Federal Government was limited in its ability to reduce interstate conflict.
A nationalist movement spread calling for a revision of the Articles of Confederation, though it was opposed by Anti-Federalists.
On May 25, 1787, Congress met in Philadelphia to simply REVISE the Articles of Confederation, but instead, ended up REPLACING them with the United States Constitution.
Abraham Lincoln considered the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union as expressing the will of the founders, so he cited them in his First Inaugural Address, March 4, 1861, to support his view not let States leave the Union:
"The UNION is much older than the Constitution ... The faith of all the then thirteen States expressly plighted and engaged that it should be PERPETUAL, by the Articles of Confederation in 1778."
The Articles of Confederation declared:
"Whereas the delegates of the United States of America in Congress assembled did on the fifteenth day of November in the Year of Our Lord 1777, and in the second year of the independence of America agree on certain Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union between the States ...
The said States hereby severally enter into a firm league of friendship with each other, for their common defense, the security of their liberties, and their mutual and general welfare, binding themselves to assist each other, against all force ... or attacks made upon them ... on account of religion, sovereignty, trade, or any other pretense."
The Articles of Confederation ended with the line:
"It has pleased the "Great Governor of the World" to incline the hearts of the Legislatures we respectively represent in Congress, to approve of and to authorize us to ratify the said Articles of Confederation."
VIRGINIA was the first State to ratify the Articles of Confederation on December 16, 1777.
At that time, Virginia's Constitution, adopted 1776, stated in its Bill of Rights:
"That religion, or the duty which we owe to our Creator, and the manner of discharging it, can be directed only by reason and conviction, not by force or violence;
and therefore all men are equally entitled to the free exercise of religion, according to the dictates of conscience; and that it is the mutual duty of all to practice Christian forbearance, love, and charity towards each other." (current)
SOUTH CAROLINA was the 2nd State to ratify the Articles of Confederation, February 5, 1778.
At that time, South Carolina's Constitution, adopted 1778, stated:
"We, the people of the State of South Carolina ... grateful to God for our liberties ...
No person shall be eligible to sit in the House of Representatives unless he be of the Protestant religion ... (changed in 1870 to current "the existence of the Supreme Being")
All persons and religious societies who acknowledge that there is one God, and a future state of rewards and punishments, and that God is publicly to be worshiped, shall be freely tolerated.
The Christian Protestant religion shall be deemed ... the established religion of this State.
That all denominations of Christian Protestants in this State ... shall enjoy equal religious and civil privileges ...
That every society of Christians ... shall have agreed to ... the following five articles ... (See Locke's Constitution, Article 97-100):
1. That there is one eternal God, and a future state of rewards and punishments.
2. That God is publicly to be worshiped.
3. That the Christian religion is the true religion
4. That the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments are of Divine inspiration, and are the rule of faith and practice.
5. That it is lawful and the duty of every man being thereunto called by those that govern, to bear witness to the t***h ...
No person shall officiate as minister ... until the minister ... shall have ... subscribed to the following declaration ..:
That he is determined by God's grace out of the Holy Scriptures, to instruct the people committed to his charge, and to teach nothing as required of necessity to eternal salvation but that which he shall be persuaded may be concluded and proved from the Scripture;
That he will use both public and private admonitions, as well to the sick as to the whole within his cure, as need shall require and occasion shall be given, and that he will be diligent in prayers, and in reading of the same;
That he will be diligent to frame and fashion his own self and his family according to the doctrine of Christ, and to make both himself and them, as much as in him lieth, wholesome examples and patterns to the flock of Christ."
NEW YORK was the 3rd State to ratify the Articles of Confederation.
At that time, New York's Constitution, adopted 1777, stated:
"Whereas the Delegates of the United American States ... solemnly ... declare, in the words following; viz:
'... Laws of nature and of nature's God entitle them ...
All men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights ...
Appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions ...
with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence ...'
This convention doth further ... declare, that the free exercise and enjoyment of religious profession and worship, without discrimination or preference, shall forever hereafter be allowed, within this State, to all mankind:
Provided, That the liberty of conscience, hereby granted, shall not be so construed as to excuse acts of licentiousness." (till 1846)
RHODE ISLAND was the 4th State to ratify the Articles of Confederation, February 9, 1778.
At that time, Rhode Island was continuing to use its 1663 Charter, which stated:
"That they, pursuing ... religious intentions, of Godly edifying themselves, and one another, in the Holy Christian faith and worship ...
Together with the gaining over and conversion of the poor ignorant Indian natives, in those parts of America, to the sincere profession and obedience of the same faith and worship ... by the good Providence of God ... there may, in due time, by the blessing of God upon their endeavors, be laid a sure foundation of happiness to all America ...
that among our English subjects, with a full liberty in religious concernements; and that true piety rightly grounded upon Gospel principles, will give the best and greatest security ...
to secure them in the free exercise and enjoyment of all their civil and religious rights, appertaining to them, as our loving subjects; and to preserve unto them that liberty, in the true Christian faith and worship of God ...
and because some of the people and inhabitants of the same colony cannot, in their private opinions, conform to the ... ceremonies of the Church of England ... our royal will and pleasure is, that no person within the said colony ... shall be any wise molested, punished, disquieted, or called in question, for any differences in opinion in matters of religion ...
not using this liberty to licentiousness and profaneness ... that they may be in the better capacity to defend themselves, in their just rights and liberties against all the enemies of the Christian faith ...
and ... by their good life and orderly conversations, they may win and invite the native Indians of the country to the knowledge and obedience of the only true God, and Savior of mankind." (changed in 1842 to "So help me God.")
(End Part 1)