Attempts to Revise the Articles of Confederation
Throughout the 1780s there were efforts within Congress to amend the Articles of Confederation to address the pressing financial situation facing the country. Some of these efforts to empower Congress were constructed so as to be temporary grants of power to tax or to regulate commerce. This approach would calm the fears of those who were fearful of an over-powering, consolidated government. Even these failed to gain the requisite approval of all thirteen state legislatures. The selections below illustrate numerous attempts to revise the Articles of Confederation. Several of the attempts at revision foreshadowed many of the issues that surfaced later at the Philadelphia Convention.
Attempts within Congress to Amend the Articles of Confederation
- Grant of Power to Collect Import Duties, 3 February 1781 (pdf)
- Amendment to Give Congress Coercive Powers Over the States and Their Citizens, 16 March 1781 (pdf)
- Committee Report on Carrying the Confederation Into Effect and on Additional Powers Needed by Congress, 22 August 1781 (pdf)
- Grant of Temporary Power to Collect Import Duties and Request for Supplementary Funds, 18 April 1783 (pdf)
- Amendment to Share Federal Expenses According to Population, 18 April 1783 (pdf)
- Grant of Temporary Power to Regulate Commerce, 30 April 1784 (pdf)
- Amendment to Grant Commercial Powers to Congress, 28 March 1785 (pdf)
- Amendments to the Articles of Confederation Proposed by a Grand Committee of Congress, 7 August 1786 (pdf)
Private Commentary on the Problems in the United States Under the Articles of Confederation
- William Barton: On the Propriety of Investing Congress with Power to Regulate Trade of the Unites States, American Museum, January 1787 (pdf)
- Benjamin Rush: Address to the People of the United States, American Museum, January 1787 (pdf)
- James Madison: Vices of the Political System of the United States, April 1787 (pdf)