Page 84 - Beers With Our Founding Fathers

Beers with our Founding Fathers

financial and military aid. Six drafts were presented before

approval, in 1777, and then sent to the new states for ratification.
It was after declaring independence that the Continental

Congress reviewed the fourth draft, by John Dickinson of
Pennsylvania, and printed the same for deliberation. After two

additional drafts, in November 1777, a much altered Articles of
Confederation was sent to the states. By 1779 all the states, except

Maryland had ratified the Articles. There were several disputes
arising out of the new western lands and territories, access to ports,

and states attempted to add to their claims; several states were
prohibited from expansion by their charters. Thomas Jefferson

persuaded Virginia to forgo any claims to western expansion.
Through these negotiations, Maryland ratified the Articles and they

passed unanimously. However, it was no easy task. There remained
unsettled issues – primarily concerning the levying of taxes to the

states by the new government. As drafted, states would pay a tax
based on the population, not including native Indians – who were

exempt from paying taxes. This, argued the south, was unfair due to
the large population of slaves – they argued that only white

inhabitants should be counted for the purposes of taxation and
related representation. This argument had nothing to do with

whether slaves were inhabitants, humans, equal or lesser – it was a
financial argument. Slaves were owned property, and a large

population of the south. Therefore, slaves would not be providing

any taxable means for the states. The south won the argument –
but it was one that would rekindle the fire of states’ rights in just
less than one hundred years. Under the negotiated plan, states

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