British abuses inspired both the American Revolution and establishment in 1777 of a legal framework called the Articles of Confederation for the new nation. The Continental Congress convened under the Articles soon floundered, however, unable to agree on important issues like taxation. This first attempt at American self-governance was chronically hobbled because Congress chose to operate under supermajority-rules – laws required approval by at least 9 of 13 states. Institutions vital to survival of the new nation favored by a majority of leaders such as an American Army and Navy, a President or a court systems were rejected year after year.
By 1787, this dysfunction had so alarmed George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and other founding fathers that they abandoned the flawed Articles of Confederation. It led Alexander Hamilton (Federalist 22) to declare that supermajority-rule “contradicts the fundamental maxim of republican government, which requires that the sense of the majority should prevail…. a poison…a weakness.”
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