Historical Documents
Declaration of Independence: Usurpation is Treason
Although we generally refer to that list of abuses in the Declaration of Independence as โgrievancesโ – thatโs not how they were described in the text. Instead, they were referred to as โusurpations,โ or a theft of power from the people. Sounds familiar, doesnโt...
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...