Articles of Confederation: Majority vs. Minority Quotes

How we cite our quotes: (Article.Sentence)

Quote #1

No State shall be represented in Congress by less than two, nor more than seven members. (5.2)

Why bother apportioning more delegates to some states? After all, every state still got one vote. One answer is influence. Early American politicians spent a lot of time trying to change each other's minds and build consensus. More members meant more of a voice in Congress.

Quote #2

In determining questions in the United States in Congress assembled, each State shall have one vote. (5.4)

Nowadays, most people would probably think this rule, designed to protect the minority populations in small states, was downright whacky. It would be the same as if California, with a population of tens of millions of people, had the same number of representatives as Montana, which has a population of mostly deer.

Quote #3

All charges of war, and all other expenses that shall be incurred for the common defense or general welfare, and allowed by the United States in Congress assembled, shall be defrayed out of a common treasury, which shall be supplied by the several States in proportion to the value of all land within each State. (8.1)

In other words, the richer a state was, the more they had to pay in taxes. There was much debate over how this should be measured (in terms of land or property value). In the end, large states were asked to pay more taxes even though they didn't get more votes, which sounded a little bit like "taxation without representation" to Anti-Federalists.