Introduction to American Law (Part 4)
By Kelley Keller
Knowing where we came from, where we are, and where we’re going as a country is important to all citizens — including journalists and communication specialists. I’m pleased to share the fourth part of a special series on American Law by Kelley Keller.
Welcome to Introduction to American Law (Part 4). If you missed Parts 1, 2, or 3, you can find them here , here , and here. This is a building series, so be sure to read these parts before proceeding to this Part 4
One need not be an expert in history, economics, or political philosophy to read the Constitution. But knowing the historical context and background that gave rise to its structure and content will help the reader understand why certain provisions are included and others aren’t, and why some provisions are articulated in painstaking detail. Understanding the philosophical underpinnings of the Declaration of Independence, which we explored in Part 2, is a great first step in getting a sense of the American colonists' frustration with increasingly authoritarian British rule.
The Constitution Isn’t America’s First Constitution
Recall that the colonial delegates to the First Continental Congress (September 5 - October 26, 1774) drew up a Petition to King George III in response to the Intolerable Acts, hoping to resolve their differences with the Crown through diplomatic means. But the Petition fell on deaf ears. A few months later, on April 19, 1775, the British provoked hostilities in the Massachusetts towns of Lexington and Concord, resulting in the opening shots of what became the American Revolutionary War.
In response, the delegates convened a Second Continental Congress to establish a Continental Army and manage the war. Along the way, while functioning as the first de facto national government, the Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence (1776) which established the new nation and then outlined the framework of the new government in what became known as the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union. The Articles of Confederation were drafted by the Congress in 1777 and ratified by the states in 1781, shortly before the war ended. The Articles served as the first American Constitution and were in operation until the government drafted a new Constitution in 1787, which was subsequently ratified by the states in 1788 and implemented on March 4, 1789.
Fast Facts on the Articles of Confederation
As we know, the Articles of Confederation ultimately failed since they didn’t give the national, or central, government enough authority to compel interstate cooperation to end the war with Britain. Failing to provide a clear vision for a strong unified nation, the Articles ultimately resulted in chaos, confusion, and frustration among the states.
The Articles, however, are an important bridge between the Declaration of Independence and our current Constitution and thus merit review. It was from the Articles of Confederation that we quickly learned what worked and what didn’t vis-a-vis the central government and were able to incorporate those lessons into the new Constitution.
By way of review, the Articles of Confederation had 13 sections, or articles. As stated above, they were very loosey-goosey, but “did the trick” until the Constitutional Convention of 1787 produced a superior document and superior structure.
Here's a quick breakdown:
Article 1: Created the name of the combined 13 states as The United States of America.
Article 2: State governments retained all powers not listed in the Articles of Confederation.
Article 3: The combined states were responsible for protecting one another from attacks.
Article 4: Citizens could travel freely from state to state, but criminals would be sent back to stand for trial.
Article 5: Created the Congress of the Confederation. Each state got one vote and could send between 2 and 7 people to participate in the Congress.
Article 6: The new central government was responsible for international matters, including trade agreements and declaring war. States were required to have trained soldiers who could be ready to fight.
Article 7: States could choose their own military leaders.
Article 8: Each state had to raise money to fund the newly created central government.
Article 9: Only the new central government had the power to declare war, and make peace with foreign countries. The central government was also responsible for assigning Ambassadors to represent the United States in other countries.
Article 10: Created a group called the Committee of States who could act for the Congress of Confederation when the Congress was not working.
Article 11: Invited Canada to join the United States of America if it declared independence from England.
Article 12: Stated that the new nation agreed to pay for earlier war debts.
Article 13: Declared that the Articles of Confederation were forever and could only be changed by the Congress of Confederation and if all the states agreed.
The White House website does a great job of explaining why we needed an upgrade from the Articles of Confederation. Here’s an excerpt of the text:
Why a Constitution?
The need for the Constitution grew out of problems with the Articles of Confederation, which established a “firm league of friendship” between the States, and vested most power in a Congress of the Confederation. This power was, however, extremely limited—the central government conducted diplomacy and made war, set weights and measures, and was the final arbiter of disputes between the States. Crucially, it could not raise any funds itself, and was entirely dependent on the States themselves for the money necessary to operate. Each State sent a delegation of between two and seven members to the Congress, and they voted as a bloc with each State getting one vote. But any decision of consequence required a unanimous vote, which led to a government that was paralyzed and ineffectual.
A movement to reform the Articles began, and invitations to attend a convention in Philadelphia to discuss changes to the Articles were sent to the State legislatures in 1787. In May of that year, delegates from 12 of the 13 states (Rhode Island sent no representatives) convened in Philadelphia to begin the work of redesigning government. The delegates to the Constitutional Convention quickly began work on drafting a new Constitution for the United States.
Creating the Constitution
In the summer of 1787, the delegates, or Framers, spent four very hot months behind closed doors redesigning the United States government into a new form that would first and foremost protect the people and their unalienable rights. By creating a federal republic with three coequal branches of government and a unique power-sharing structure among the people, the states, and the national government, the Constitution became what is now the longest enduring written charter of government in the world.
Most importantly, the Framers warned that being ignorant of freedom and how it works will lead to the loss of that freedom. In an 1816 letter to Charles Yancey, Thomas Jefferson wrote, “If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be.The functionaries of every government have propensities to command at will the liberty and property of their constituents. There is no safe deposit for these [liberty and property] but with the people themselves; nor can they be safe with them without information. Where the press is free and every man [is] able to read, all is safe.”
Among the existential threats to the United States republic today is the shipwreck of our inability to understand exactly what freedom and liberty are and how they work in society. We’ve come a long way from Alexis De Tocqueville’s observations of Americans, American government, and American life in his 1835 book Democracy in America and it would behoove us to reconnect with his reflections of why republican democracy had succeeded so well in America but failed so miserably in France and many other places.
A Closing Thought
As noted by Jefferson, American citizens rely on the press to remain independent and free and to hold the government accountable by speaking truth to power, not seeking power by manipulating the truth. It is your responsibility, as journalists, to conduct the research, gather the relevant facts, and then translate them straightforwardly to the people. It is not a journalist’s job to interpret the facts through a set of political preferences or predetermined narrative. As John Adams said, facts are stubborn things. But we need all the facts, good, bad, and ugly.
Next time we’ll begin our tour through the structure and content of the Constitution, highlighting, in particular, the at least 286 natural and unalienable rights protected by it.
Copyright © Kelley Keller, 2025
Kelley Keller is a writer, researcher, and public speaker focusing on themes and issues at the intersection of law, society, and worldview and why they matter to everyday Americans. In addition to writing for third-party publications, Kelley publishes The Savvy Citizen, an online magazine with a supporting podcast chock full of insights on the rights and responsibilities of American citizenship and how those rights are secured by and protected under the U.S. Constitution and the government it creates.
Before her writing career, Kelley spent 27 years working on intellectual property, privacy, and Internet law matters in various professional capacities, including 8 years supporting international training programs on trade-related aspects of intellectual property and 15 years in the private practice of law. Kelley’s work took her to numerous countries, including China, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Turkey, Kenya, and South Africa, giving her significant breadth and depth of experience with complex matters having a global impact. Most recently, Kelley presented a seminar on Lawfare in Great Power Competition at the Führungsakademie der Bundeswehr (German Army Staff College) in Hamburg, Germany.
Kelley holds a Bachelor of Arts from Penn State, a Juris Doctor from The Catholic University of America, and is a candidate for the Doctor of Ministry in Apologetics degree at Southern Evangelical Seminary. In September 2024, she was commissioned as a Fellow with the Colson Center for Worldview.
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