The thirteen American colonies had finally become "free and independent states," but the task of knitting together a nation still remained. The Revolutionary War had served as the catalyst for the American debate over the form of government that would best serve an independent republic. The colonists posed a range of questions about their new nation’s government. They tried to determine who ‘the people’ were in the Declaration of Independence, and how their definition would affect slaves, women, those without property, and Native Americans, among others.
While the war was still being waged, notions of what republicanism meant were being formed on a state by state basis. Many, like Thomas Paine, felt that republicanism was a moral code of behavior, as well as a system of government in which the supreme power of the country is vested in an electorate. Citing England’s history, he believed that when citizens became selfish or corrupt the republic would give way to tyranny. Fewer supported the opposing point of view that the importance of individual self-interest was the basis of a republic's strength.
In 1776, the Continental Congress called the colonies to draft new state constitutions. As the states formed their constitutions, colonists considered the balance of power between the state governments and the government at the national level. Using their colonial charters as a basis, the states implemented their own ideas for the role of government in society.
All of the new constitutions were built on the foundation of colonial experience combined with English practice and showed the impact of republican ideas. Some state constitutions reflected the approach that the sovereignty of the states would rest on the authority of the people, while others allowed the government to wield more power. This debate helped to frame each of the state constitutions.
Connecticut and Rhode Island created their constitutions by simply removing any language that referenced colonial ties. In contrast, most of the other colonies reworked their constitutions in great detail, trying to capture the spirit of republicanism, an ideal that had long been praised by Enlightenment philosophers.
The Massachusetts assembly contributed an important procedure to American constitution-making when they called a special convention to draft their constitution. Once the document was created it was then submitted directly to the people at town meetings for ratification, with the provision that two-thirds would have to approve it, which they did. The procedures used by the Massachusetts convention were later imitated during drafting and ratification of the federal Constitution. Massachusetts also had a much stronger executive branch than the other states did.
The new state constitutions varied mainly in detail. All of them combined the best of the British government, including its respect for status, fairness, and due process, with unique American inclusions of individualism and control over excess governmental authority.
Each constitution began with a bill of rights, which protected people’s civil liberties against all branches of the government. Virginia's bill of rights served as a model for all the others, and included a declaration of principles, such as popular sovereignty, rotation in office, freedom of elections, and a list of fundamental rights such as humane punishment, speedy trial by jury, freedom of the press and of conscience, and the right of the majority to reform or alter the government. Other states added to this list of rights, including guaranteed freedom of speech, of assembly, and of petition. State constitutions frequently included the right to bear arms, to a writ of habeas corpus, and to equal protection under the law.
Generally the states incorporated a separation of powers to safeguard against abuses. Many limited the powers of the executive and judicial branches, while increasing the power of the annually elected legislative branch to ensure that much of the authority rested with the people.
The state constitutions had some obvious limitations. The constitutions were established to guarantee people their natural rights, but they did not secure equality for everyone. Women were not allowed to participate in politics, many southern colonies excluded slaves from their inalienable rights as human beings, and no state permitted universal male suffrage.
The Revolution also left the colonists with the responsibility of creating a new national government. Even before the Peace of Paris, the delegates of the Continental Congress recognized that they were essentially a legislative body exercising governmental powers without any constitutional authority. Plans to frame a permanent government were started as early as July 1776 when a committee headed by John Dickinson prepared to draft a national constitution. Congress debated the “Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union” for more than a year before submitting them to the states for ratification.
All of the states were required to approve the Articles before they would go into effect. They were promptly ratified by every state except Maryland who insisted that the seven states who claimed lands west of the Appalachians —New York, Virginia, Massachusetts, Connecticut, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia—should cede them to Congress
Maryland cited several reasons for this requirement. The claims in the west were overlapping and vaguely defined. The six states without western lands felt those who did have land holdings would not have retained them if it had not been for the unified efforts of all the states in the Revolution. Colonies claming western lands had an unfair advantage because they could sell the property off to pay war debts, while those colonies without western lands would have to rely heavily on tax receipts to recoup war costs.
Maryland finally gave in when New York surrendered its western claims, and Virginia finally relinquished a large region north of the Ohio River in early 1781. Thus, the transfer of public land from the states to the central government helped to solidify the union. Congress promised to use these western lands for the “common benefit” by creating a number of new states.
The Articles of Confederation were put into effect in March of 1781, just a few months before the victory at Yorktown. The Articles linked the 13 states together to deal with common problems, but in practice they did little more than provide a legal basis for the limited authority that the Continental Congress was already exercising. The Congress still had no courts, no power to levy taxes, no power to regulate commerce, and no power to enforce its resolutions upon the states or individuals. Each state had a single vote regardless of population. A vote from nine states was required to approve bills dealing with war, treaties, coinage, finances, or the military, while amendments to the Articles themselves required unanimous ratification. In whatever areas Congress held authority, it had no way of enforcing the powers it did have.
Despite their weaknesses, the Articles were the most practical form of government for the new nation. The establishment of a more formal and powerful central government would have caused dissention and prolonged debates between the colonies at a time when the focus needed to be on the Revolution that had yet to be won. The Articles also provided a clear stepping-stone to America’s present Constitution by promoting the formation of a union and clearly outlining the powers the central government could exercise.