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Federal Government Vs States

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Somehow, everybody always wonders what power the Federal government and the States should have? This question is one of the biggest problems in our country during that time when Founding Fathers were creating a government for the United States. A lot of conversations today have been revolving around the relationships between the federal government and states. The article of Confederation, 1777 – 1781, was our first constitution that was completed after it declared independence from Great Britain. The articles created a weak national government and left most power in the hands of states. Our country was only one year old at that time, but many states had existed over one hundred years already. So people seemed like they didn’t want a big another government to control them. In addition, in 1777, most Americans …show more content…

Virginia was the first state to ratify on December 16, 1777, and later other states ratified in 1778. However, the Articles needed unanimous approval from all states in the country. There were some states that refused to ratify the Articles such as Maryland, Delaware and New Jersey because they were afraid that big states would have too much power. Somehow, New Jersey and Delaware eventually accepted to ratify the conditions of the Articles, with New Jersey on November 20, 1778 and Delaware on February 1, 1779. So Maryland became the last remaining state that didn’t want the Articles completed. Unpleasant with Maryland’s recalcitrance, some other state government wanted the Articles completed without an agreement from Maryland, but a Congressman named Thomas Burke of North Carolina convinced them to not do that. He believed it would make the new country weak, divided and might be invaded by other countries. In 1780, British forces began to attack Maryland, the state government asked for French assistance from French minister Luzerne. He urged the government of Maryland to ratify the Articles of Confederation. Finally the Articles were completed

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