In the history classes that I teach, I always pose the question whether we as a “nation” would be better off under the Constitution or the Articles of Confederation.
Now, this is a rich, tricky question because you have to factor in the issue of slavery. If you leave that issue to history (slavery everywhere was abolished by the mid-nineteenth century), there remain some interesting possibilities.
First off, we wouldn’t be a “great nation” or “superpower” under the Articles, but would things be better? Each state and region could decide its own politics and economics, which is what most states and regions want to do anyway. Also, we would fulfill George Washington’s admonition against “entangling foreign alliances” and Dwight Eisenhower’s warning about “the military-industry complex.”
Hmmm, but would we not be a “great nation”? Isn’t the urge to superiority and hegemony inherent in all governing bodies?
Anyway, I guess we’ll never know since the Civil War decided all these issues in favor of a strong central government. We can now just surmise.
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