The American Revolution, Episode 10: The Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union

The United States of America has existed for 236 years under the same government, perpetuated by the United States Constitution. But the Constitution is a strong document that establishes a rather strong central government, and the American citizens of the late 1770s and early 1780s would never have adopted such a document. First, we had to go through the weeds and suffer the slings and arrows of a national government founded on a much weaker document, one that allows only a toothless and perpetually broke national government. Only after the failure of that document would the United States be ready to try something else. That original document was the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union, commonly known as Articles of Confederation. In this episode we go through that document and see just where it failed. Also, *bunny trail warning*, this class and its professor chase several bunny trails in this lecture.