I have received a great deal of positive feedback from last week’s article, especially regarding the need for many citizens to retake a civics class. For that, I thank you. As an educator at heart, I would like to conduct an in-depth, multi-installment study of our Constitution. These studies will not be every week. With our current political climate, as events unfold before us, they will need to be addressed. It is a good idea to look at what is actually said and not said in our Constitution. I have found that few have read it cover to cover and when cherrypicked, they miss important parts. With that being said, a little background first.For the first eight years of this nation’s history, 1781-1789, it was governed by what is known as the Articles of Confederation. The Articles were a “league of friendship” among otherwise sovereign states. Trying to break away from a strong central government, these 13 independent states purposely created a weak government with the intent that the states would retain most, if not almost all, of their powers. A few exceptions were given to the central government, but it is clear from the document that the authors’ greatest fear was losing their freedoms to a strong centralized government.The entire government under the Articles was composed of a single legislative body. Delegates from the states served one-year terms with a maximum of three years; after six years they could run again. Each state chose as many delegates as they wanted between 2-7, but each state only had one vote, so each state’s delegates had to come to a consensus.Article VI placed some restrictions on the state’s rights. States could not send or receive ambassadors to or from any foreign nations nor could they make treaties. States were also restricted from making alliances with each other, nor could they put import taxes on foreign goods on top of what the Congress placed. The rest of Article VI and through Article VIII all deal with war. Only Congress – not individual states – could declare war. States were also restricted from maintaining any standing armies; only militias of the people and a number of naval ships were allowed by Congress. The British Army had secured and amplified King George’s tyrannical rule over American colonists, and the authors of the Articles of Confederation did not want to repeat that mistake.As for legislation,
