Types of Governments

The colonists eventually thought they should be able to govern themselves. One of the colonists’ grievances was that Great Britain would send troops to the colonies, and colonists were responsible for paying to house and feed them. Another thing that angered colonists was a series of taxes they felt were unfair. They also believed they had no voice in the government. The colonists first resisted these taxes with boycotts and protests. Colonists told members of the British government and King George III their grievances, but the British government ignored them.

The Articles of Confederation was the United States’ first constitution. It was a written document that described the powers of the central government as the colonists fought for their independence from Britain. The Articles called for a confederation of sovereign states that were loosely connected by a weak central government. The federal government was made up delegates from each state. There was no president. The states were hesitant to give a lot of power to a central government because they were rebelling against a government that they felt had abused its power. The Articles of Confederation outlined how states would vote and how they would pay taxes. Some people, such as Benjamin Franklin, suggested the Framers would need to revisit the document in the future.

Several years after the adoption of the Articles of Confederation, representatives from all states except Rhode Island met in Philadelphia to revise the Articles. The meeting became known as the Constitutional Convention. Instead of revising the document, the Founders replaced it with the U.S. Constitution.

One aim of the new document was to give the federal government enough power to operate without infringing on any rights of the people. The Constitution included a structure for the three branches of government, including the responsibilities of the branches. This new document added a chief executive, known as the president. Thus, America became a presidential democracy, a type of government in which citizens elect a president to serve as head of state and chief executive.