<P> To these partisans, voting was the only permanent defense of the people . Elected terms for legislature were cut to one year, for Virginia's Governor, one year without re-election . Property requirements for suffrage for men were reduced to taxes on their tools in some states . Free blacks in New York could vote if they owned enough property . New Hampshire was thinking of abolishing all voting requirements for men but residency and religion . New Jersey let women vote . In some states, senators were now elected by the same voters as the larger electorate for the House, and even judges were elected to one - year terms . </P> <P> These "radical Whigs" were called the people "out - of - doors ." They distrusted not only royal authority, but any small, secretive group as being unrepublican . Crowds of men and women massed at the steps of rural Court Houses during market - militia - court days . Shays Rebellion is a famous example . Urban riots began by the out - of - doors rallies on the steps of an oppressive government official with speakers such as members of the Sons of Liberty holding forth in the "people's "committees" until some action was decided upon, including hanging his effigy outside a bedroom window, or looting and burning down the offending tyrant's home . </P> <P> The government of the First and Second Continental Congress, the period from September 1774 to March 1, 1781 is referred to as the Revolutionary Congress . Beginning in 1777, the substantial powers assumed by Congress "made the league of states as cohesive and strong as any similar sort of republican confederation in history". The process created the United States "by the people in collectivity, rather than by the individual states", because only four had state constitutions at the time of the Declaration of Independence founding the nation, and three of those were provisional . Prior to the Articles of Confederation, and the Articles Congress, the Supreme Court in Ware v. Hylton and again in Penhallow v. Doane's Administrators, perceived Congress as exercising powers derived from the people, expressly conferred through the medium of state conventions or legislatures, and, once exercised, "impliedly ratified by the acquiescence and obedience of the people". </P> <P> The Articles of Confederation was unanimously adopted in 1781 . Over the previous four years, it had been used by Congress as a "working document" to administer the early United States government, win the Revolutionary War and secure the Treaty of Paris (1783) with Great Britain . Lasting successes prior to the Constitutional Convention included the Land Ordinance of 1785 whereby Congress promised settlers west of the Appalachian Mountains full citizenship and eventual statehood . Some historians characterize this period from 1781 to 1789 as weakness, dissension, and turmoil . Other scholars view the evidence as reflecting an underlying stability and prosperity . But returning prosperity in some areas did not slow the growth of domestic and foreign problems . Nationalists saw the confederation's central government as not strong enough to establish a sound financial system, regulate trade, enforce treaties, or go to war when needed . </P>

When did our first form of government began to govern the united states