Historical Documents
Tax Battle! Henry vs Hamilton on the Requisition System
In a huge change from the Articles of Confederation, the Constitution eliminated โrequisitions,โ what many saw as a primary reason for the new system of taxation. Rejecting Alexander Hamilton and other Federalists in this debate were Patrick Henry and the...
Articles of Confederation: An Introduction
March 1, 1781 – the Second Continental Congress put into effect the Articles of Confederation as the law of the land, making it the first Constitution for the United States. The Articles have been mostly thrown in the dustbin of history, but doing so skips over...
Benjamin Franklin’s Articles of Confederation
In July 1775, Benjamin Franklin introduced a formal plan for uniting the colonies – โThe Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union.โ He read it to the Second Continental Congress nearly a year before the Declaration of Independence and the first drafts of...
Today In History: Samuel Huntington Born
On this date in 1731, Samuel Huntington was born. Due to his time as President under the Articles of Confederation, some actually consider him the first president of the United States. Huntington was a signer of the Declaration of Independence and the Articles of...