Five Stops, One Weak Government: A Historian's Field Notes, 1781–1787

Follow a historian from Princeton to Gunston Hall to explain the Articles' weaknesses and the debates of 1787.

The field notes

Read the field notes and the timeline. Then answer the questions.

Field Notes of Dr. Leah Okonjo, Historian

1Stop 1: Nassau Hall, Princeton, New Jersey. This stone college building once housed the national government. In June 1783, several hundred Continental soldiers who had not been paid surrounded the Pennsylvania State House in Philadelphia, where Congress met. Congress asked Pennsylvania's leaders to call out the state militia to protect it, but they refused. With no army or money of its own, Congress left Philadelphia and met here for several months.

2Stop 2: the state archives, Providence, Rhode Island. In 1781, Congress asked the states to let it collect a 5 percent tax on imported goods to pay the war debt. Because the Articles could be changed only if all thirteen states agreed, Rhode Island's refusal in 1782 ended the plan. Rhode Island earned money from its own import taxes, and many of its leaders feared giving a distant government the power to tax. A second request in 1783 also failed to win every state.

3Stop 3: a museum in Marietta, Ohio. Congress under the Articles did pass two lasting land laws. The Land Ordinance of 1785 had surveyors divide western land into square townships, with one section in each set aside for public schools. The Northwest Ordinance, passed on July 13, 1787, set rules for dividing the territory into three to five states that would join the Union as equals of the original thirteen. It banned slavery in the territory and promised "utmost good faith" toward Native nations. Yet this was the homeland of the Shawnee, Miami, Lenape (Delaware), Wyandot and other nations. U.S. armies fought them in the years that followed, and in the Treaty of Greenville of 1795 they gave up most of what is now Ohio. These nations still govern themselves today, many of them in Oklahoma.

4Stop 4: the Assembly Room of Independence Hall, Philadelphia. The convention met here from May to September 1787 and agreed to keep its debates secret. Most of what we know comes from James Madison's notes, published in 1840, four years after his death. One long debate was about the executive. Edmund Randolph of Virginia warned that a single leader could become a king and proposed sharing the job among three people. James Wilson of Pennsylvania argued that one person could act with energy and be held responsible. The convention chose one president who would serve four years and could be removed by impeachment.

5Stop 5: Gunston Hall, Virginia, the plantation home of George Mason, who enslaved many people here. In August 1787, Mason told the convention, "Every master of slaves is born a petty tyrant," and he urged an end to the slave trade. Delegates from South Carolina and Georgia said their states would not join without it. In a compromise, Congress could not ban bringing enslaved people into the country before 1808. Some historians point out that Virginia enslavers could profit if imports stopped, because they could sell enslaved people to states farther south. On September 17, Mason refused to sign the Constitution, partly because it had no bill of rights.

A Timeline, 1781–1808
Date	Event
February 1781	Congress asks for a 5% import tax
March 1781	Articles of Confederation take effect
1782	Rhode Island rejects the import tax
June 1783	Soldiers protest; Congress leaves
May 1785	Land Ordinance passes
May 1787	Convention opens in Philadelphia
July 13, 1787	Congress passes Northwest Ordinance
September 17, 1787	Constitution signed; Mason refuses
1795	Treaty of Greenville
1808	Congress may now ban the slave trade

Based on Stop 1, why did Congress leave Philadelphia in June 1783?

A. British troops had taken back the city.
B. Pennsylvania would not send militia to protect it.
C. The soldiers had been paid and sent home.
D. The Articles named Princeton as the capital.

Which weakness of the Articles do Stops 1 and 2 both show?

A. Large states had more votes in Congress than small ones.
B. Congress gave too much power to a single president.
C. The national courts overruled the state governments.
D. Congress had no reliable way to raise money of its own.

In 1786, Congress again asks for the power to tax imports, and twelve states agree. One state refuses. Based on Stop 2, what happens?

A. Congress sends the army to collect the tax.
B. The plan passes, because nine states are enough.
C. The plan fails, because one state said no.
D. The plan passes in the twelve states that agreed.

Underline the sentence from Stop 3 that shows how Congress planned for new states in the West.

The Land Ordinance of 1785 had surveyors divide western land into square townships, with one section in each set aside for public schools.The Northwest Ordinance, passed on July 13, 1787, set rules for dividing the territory into three to five states that would join the Union as equals of the original thirteen.It banned slavery in the territory and promised "utmost good faith" toward Native nations.Yet this was the homeland of the Shawnee, Miami, Lenape (Delaware), Wyandot and other nations.

Based on Stop 3, how did events after 1787 compare with the Northwest Ordinance's promise to Native nations?

A. U.S. armies fought them, and they gave up most of Ohio.
B. Congress bought their land from them at fair prices.
C. The nations joined the Union as new states in the territory.
D. The nations moved west by choice to find better hunting.

Sort each item: does it show a weakness of the Articles, or something Congress under the Articles was able to do?

Fled unpaid soldiers in PhiladelphiaSet aside land for public schoolsLost the import tax to one state's voteBanned slavery in the Northwest TerritoryNeeded a state's militia to protect itSet rules for new states to join as equals

Shows a weakness	Something Congress did

Debates of 1787

Use Stops 4 and 5 and the timeline.

Why are Madison's notes so valuable to historians of the convention?

A. He wrote them for newspapers each night of the convention.
B. They were the official minutes the delegates approved.
C. The debates were secret, and his notes are the fullest record.
D. They were printed in 1787 so voters could read them.

Why did Randolph propose sharing the executive job among three people?

A. He feared one leader might rule like a king.
B. He believed one leader would act too slowly.
C. He wanted each region to choose its own president.
D. He wanted Congress to be able to remove leaders.

Mason spoke against the slave trade. Which detail from Stop 5 should a historian weigh when judging his reasons?

A. The convention met in Philadelphia that summer.
B. Virginia enslavers could profit if imports stopped.
C. He spoke to the convention in August 1787.
D. He served as one of Virginia's delegates.

10.

Use the timeline. Subtract the years.

Under the slave trade compromise, Congress had to wait years after the Constitution was signed before it could ban the trade. The Land Ordinance passed years before the convention opened.

11.

Claim: "The Articles of Confederation failed mainly because the states would not give Congress real power." Do you agree or disagree? Make your own claim, use at least two pieces of evidence from the field notes or the timeline, and explain your reasoning. Mention one thing Congress was able to do under the Articles.