Articles Of Confederation Dbq Analysis

The Founding fathers did not want to create a government with too much power so they created the Articles of Confederation. This government turned out to be a failure. In 1787, the founding fathers met again to create a new framework of government. Most people feared creating a government that was too strong. To create a new government there had to be many compromises, the U.S. Constitution is the result of these compromises reached in Philadelphia in 1787. The Articles of Confederation were too weak and created many problems which led to a stronger National government. Two weaknesses of the Articles of confederation were that Congress did not have the power to tax. Another problem was that the states had most of the power and the National Government had little power. Two decisions made by the

--Through thorough analysis, what are the reasons for the Anti-Federalists’ opposition to ratifying the Constitution?

The history of North America has been based off the thirteen colonies; how they had not united to face many of the problems they could have solved together, instead of apart. With the current issues surrounding the colonies, such as the French and Indian War and Britain wanting to tighten their hold in the colonies, it was crucial for them to form some kind of plan to unite. Although many plans had been formulated, none of them had gone into effect. Which leads to the question, did the colonies ever have a sustainable need for government?

Fifty-five men were chosen to tweak a broken government’s system into working well. However, by that same system, they could not. In response to this, they did something that would change the course of American history. The Articles of Confederation were the first constitution America had. However, a previous rebellion proved its weakness. With this in mind, fifty-five men from 12 out of the 13 states (Rhode Island abstained at first, before joining later) convened to improve the government’s constitution via minor adjustments; but there had to be a unanimous vote to pass any law, which could not have been done, as Rhode Island didn’t join. Because of this, these delegates broke multiple laws by changing the minimum number of votes from 13

In Essay 15 Hamilton begins with talking about the “importance of the Union to your political safety and happiness”. Then he changes to subject to the “insufficiency of the present confederation to the preservation of the union”. He claims that if people follow the current form of government it will gradually lead

While the Articles of Confederation unified the American colonies for the first time, the individual states had a hard time allowing a central government to solely control their territory. Due to fear of an all powerful monarchy like the one they had experienced in England the colonies were wary of allowing a central government certain powers. These certain powers included control of commerce, ability to tax, and even the ability to act directly upon individual citizens of a state. While the Articles provided a loose confederation to unify the new country, they were only a temporary solution due to their obvious weaknesses in several areas. The Articles of Confederation were essentially

A key concern the federalist’s held since the start of the war with parting from England is that citizens of America could ultimately divided against each other if their voice is not heard with the new form of government that

In the late 1700’s a debate broke out about the Constitution and its ratification. The debate was between two groups of Americans, Federalists, who supported the ratification, and Anti-Federalists, who opposed it. Federalists supported the constitution’s ratification because they wanted a strong government to rely on, however, Anti-Federalists opposed the constitution because they wanted more individual power and a weaker central government. Anti-Federalists were Americans who opposed the Constitution and its ratification for various reasons including their fear of individual rights being lost.

Speaking against the ratification of the Constitution, Patrick Henry says, "If a wrong step be now made, the republics may be lost forever. If this new government will not come up to the expectation of the people...their liberty will be lost and tyranny must and will rise..." The leaders of the country created the U.S. Constitution due to an immense dissatisfaction with the system of government stated in the Articles of Confederation. The Articles of Confederation support a government in which there is only one branch, but it's power would be limited in order to protect the people's liberty and rights. Although the Articles of Confederation establish a better system of government than when the states were under British rule, some weaknesses were found and amended in a new document called the United States

The Constitutional Convention convened in 1787 to discuss to revision of the Articles of Confederation. However, as the debates went on, the delegates soon discovered they needed to write a completely new form of government rather than revise the old one. This convention which created the ensuing Constitution was called because of the various problems with the Articles of Confederation, such as a federal government that was too weak and economic laws that were causing the American economy to decline rather than grow. These characteristics of the Articles built up over the years until the unrest became apparent to the state governments with a rebellion in Massachusetts. The first major problem with the Articles which led to the calling of the convention was the limited power they gave the federal government.

In conclusion, the Articles of Confederation provided the United States with an ineffective government in the 1780’s because of the lack of power to tax, raise an army, or regulate trade; however, it redeemed itself with the creation of the land ordinances of 1785 and 1787, and keeping the states together after the American Revolution. This government held the states together after the war, but it would not have for much longer if the constitutional convention did not draft a new document with which to govern the country that would fix the arising issues that came with the Articles of

The Articles of Confederation served as the written document that established the functions of the national government of the United States after it declared independence from Great Britain. Although, it established a weak central government, it contributed to U.S principles because The Articles of Confederation were the basis of the first government of the United States of America. The Articles were essentially the “training wheels” of the government; it was a learning point to create something much greater which became the Constitution. The problems that this weak document created, combined with the Confederation government’s ineffectual response to Shays’ Rebellion, convinced national leaders that a more powerful central government was necessary.

Throughout this chapter Hamilton shares a variety of methods that he used to question the country’s ability to join together after the fall of the confederacy. Hamilton tries to calm many American who fear that the government is too strong because they were created by the new constitution of the United States. Although many people were in distress Hamilton knew how to handle the situation and states that the government

Richard Henry Lee is another Anti-Federalist who displays his views throughout his article. Lee discusses some arguments, but the main point of his article is about how the Constitution came to be and the problems associated with it. He says "by making tender, suspension, and paper money laws, have given just cause of uneasiness to creditors. By these and other causes, several orders of men in the community have been prepared, by degrees, for a change in government" (Lee in Unger, p. 119). Lee believes that if these things had not occurred, the idea of a new government would have never been thought of. Another point that Lee makes is about the delegates that were chosen to go to the convention. He says that the intentional purpose of the convention was to amend

“This country and this people seem to have been made for each other, and it appears as if it was the design of Providence that an inheritance so proper and convenient for a ban of brethren, united to each other by the strongest of ties, should never be split into a number of unsocial, jealous, and alien sovereignties.” (Jay 1787) This was written by John Jay in one of a collection of 85 essays written by John Jay, James Madison and Alexander Hamilton known as The Federalist Papers. (Henretta, Edwards, Self, 2012) The Federalist Papers were written during a time of uncertainty, when a new nation was attempting to do what no other nation in the world had ever done, set up a government of the people, by the people and for the people. These essays were influential, well written and published at a juncture in history where they were needed the most. The Federalists Papers were instrumental to the ratification of the U.S. Constitution and perhaps some of the most important documents in U.S. national history for without the Federalists Papers, our constitution and nation would not be what they are today.