Summary—Canada
If Canada chooses to declare its independence and
agrees to the terms of the Articles of
Confederation, it can join the union and become
a fully sovereign state like the other thirteen
states. This offer does not include any other
colony but Canada, unless nine states agree to
extend this offer to another colony.
Commentary
Establishing both the means by which a new state
could enter the "union" on equal footing, and an
attempt for military security, Article 11
specifically targets one issue in a way that no
other article does.
Annexing Canada and formally absorbing it into the
folds of the United States would have increased the
power of the U.S. tremendously. The inclusion of
Canada in the union would significantly increase
the U.S. resources of land, people, types of
industry, and available ports. It would increase
the tax base of Congress as well as contribute
its valuable resources to the overall economic good
of the U.S. Furthermore, the annexation of Canada
would help to significantly eliminate the biggest
threat to American Independence: the presence of
Great Britain on the North American continent.
If Canada had overthrown British rule in the 1780s
and joined the United States as a sovereign state,
the British would have had no further holdings of
land in North America. However, after the war, the
British continued to violate the Treaty of
Paris by maintaining forts in the western
territory of the United States. The British
controlled the Great Lakes, which bordered the U.S.
and Canada and the St. Lawrence River, thereby
giving them powerful control over trade in the
interior of North America. The United States aimed
to eliminate the presence of as many of its
competitors as possible. Unfortunately, Canada had
no interest in joining the United States and
remained a British colony. The British presence
north and west of the United States continued to be
a problem, and eventually led to the War of 1812.
What this Article did accomplish, however, was to
establish the precedent by which new states would
be absorbed into the union. With this precedent, rather than
representing a governing body with fixed limits,
the United States would be able to expand and
absorb sovereign states on an equal basis, instead
of as colonies. This idea was later put into
practice in Thomas Jefferson's Land Ordinance
of 1784, which provided new states with the same
right to self-governance and representation in
congress as those enjoyed by older states.
