How Did Thomas Paine Create A Decentralized Government

Despite their effort to create a new government different from Britain's following their Independence in 1776, America’s executive branch paralleled Britain’s. One of the main concerns many Revolutionists had with Britain’s government was that it had too much unregulated power. To avoid this, America wrote down its laws clearly in the Articles of Confederation and ratified it among the colonies in 1781, creating a decentralized government. Through practice, the colonists realized the Articles of Confederation needed tweaking; Massachusetts farmers saw the prices for crops plummet in 1786 but the government still demanded they their mortgages. Shay’s rebellion followed, in which the farmers insisted that it was the government’s job to assist

Instead of a revision though, the delegates met and decided to create a new government and ratified its guidelines, the Constitution, with only nine states’ approval. This was illegal according to the Articles of Confederation, where it stated, “nor shall any alteration at any time hereafter be made in any of them [articles]; unless such alteration be agreed to in a congress of the united states, and be afterwards confirmed by the legislatures of every state.” This blatant disregard for the law and the wishes of the general public shows that the American government at that time was more tyrannical than the republic it portrayed itself as. Thomas Paine, a popular Revolutionist writer of the time, wrote on law and monarchs, “For as in absolute governments the king is law, so in free countries the law ought to be king.” Despite Paine voicing the opinion of the public, that is not what happened when they called for a rewrite of the Articles of Confederation. America had tried to craft a decentralized government but in it’s failure, the leaders switched to what they knew and created a very strong central government, much like

In the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson wrote, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” Although Jefferson claimed all men are endowed with liberty, he himself owned slaves his entire life. Jefferson also mentions men, which was not meant in the general all-of-mankind sense, but rather that only wealthy white men are entitled to these rights. Abigail Adams, John Adams’ wife, realized the lack of power women had and tried to point it out to her husband, yet he wrote back, “As to your extraordinary code of laws, I cannot but laugh.” John Adams then went on to write about how he will make sure the men do not abuse their power. He did not mention any plan to give his power to women or the other minorities. This translates to a government who was more concerned with their own freedom and privileges than those of others. We see this disdain of women echoed by George Washington. Historian Davidson wrote, “An even larger number of women accompanied the redcoats:their presence was the only thing that Washington did not admire about the British army and could barely tolerate in his own.” Even when the circumstances were terrible and morale and support in his army was