Articles Of Confederation Dbq Essay

However, an uprising led by Revolutionary War captain Daniel Shays that took place in western Massachusetts in 1786 was the event that got the attention of the founding fathers. The Shay’s Rebellion demonstrated to the founding fathers that the Articles of Confederation brought commercial problems, threaten civil order, and conflicts between states. Likewise, at the constitutional convention the founding fathers crafted and ratified the U.S constitution to address the problem the Articles of Confederation could not tackle. Unlike the Articles of Confederation, the divided the powers of the national government into three branches: executive, legislative, and judicial. Furthermore, the constitution established a one true currency system and presented the job duties and requirements the three branches and individual states. Unlike the Articles of Confederation, the constitution presented the rights of its people (Bill of Rights) and a system of check of balance and separation of powers that the United States as democratic country. The Articles of Confederation was a popular democracy with its chaotic results and the constitution was a responsible democracy with its civilized outcomes.

“From 1781 to 1789 the Articles of Confederation provided the United States with an effective government.” This statement is quite bold considering that the Articles lasted only eight years. In some ways this form of government was effective and in some ways it was not. It did provide the newly formed American colonies with the means to govern themselves in the manner that they wished to be governed and set the rules for operations of the United States government. On the other hand, it was ineffective because there was no president or executive agencies or judiciary, nor was there a tax base or even a way to pay off state and national debts from war years. They could also be called ineffective because of their limited scope and the

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

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

After the Articles of Confederation was ratified, their weakness was known. Not only did they lack power, but were relying on donation from other states. The economic decreased when the Articles of Confederation were ratified in 1781 (doc B). This was because the central government didn’t have the power to regulate trade or tax. States could tax themselves. The states didn't want to pay their debt. Most people were not aware of the situation around their government. People felt they were being taxed unfairly and this led to the Shay’s rebellion which threatened the government. The government could not regulate trade and the Rhode Island Assembly responded in a letter (doc A). The assembly thought it would good to give the congress money so that “they would become independent of their constituents” (doc A). The money donated were not enough off the debt. The government owed money to farmers, foreign nations, and wealthy Americans. In (doc C), Joseph says he is disappointed by the in congress because they refuse to pay and are not capable to pay the soldiers and commanders. Since the farmers are not getting their pay, the farmers started the Shay’s rebellion which lasted 2

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 were developed after the Revolutionary War, and were a good idea to help set standards for America. However, they had some major problems that needed to be solved in order for America to become a strong nation. After these problems were addressed the Constitution was developed.

Daniel Shays’ rebellion consisted of the angry farmers who were being over taxed to the point of homelessness they had marched on to the continental stores to show their mistreatment (shaysrebellion.stcc.edu). The main point to the march was to oppose the taxing of the farmers’ needs so heavily. The farmers had been subjected to high taxes and, when they failed to pay, lawsuits were given to them (shaysrebellion.stcc). After having to endure the unfair treatment the farmers decided to attempt to make the government see their faults and change the balance of power over to the central government instead of the states. After Shays’ Rebellion, Washington wrote to Madison describing the current state of the nation and the chaos unfolding (Washington). Washington saw the disorderly conduct The Articles of Confederation have caused. The economy had suffered as well as the people and he sought a way to improve the unity of the nation. Not only did the lack of strength in the government become a reason to abolish The Articles of Confederation, but the lack of funds also had a

The Constitution succeeded where the Articles of Confederation for one major reason was that it had created a government that was acceptable to those with the real power in early America. The Articles failed because they were not able to create a government under which there could be a "good business climate." The lack of a national government and the excess of democracy in the states meant that people who owned businesses could not feel secure and could not trade well with other states. This meant they could not make much money. It also meant that the economy of the nation suffered.

The Articles of Confederation was the United State’s first constitution, it was written in an effort to unite the states after the American Revolution and served as a blueprint for the modern constitution. In order for the Articles to become official, they had to be approved by all thirteen colonies. Although Congress sent the Articles of Confederation to the states around the end of 1777 to become ratified, they were not officially adopted until March 1, 1781. Under these Articles, the states remained sovereign and independent, with Congress serving as the last resort on appeal of disputes. The American people feared a strong national government and as a result of this, the Articles of Confederation were specifically designed to be weak in the sense that each state maintains its own sovereignty and all rights to govern themselves, with the except of the rights exclusively granted to Congress. Since the Articles lacked many necessary components to keep a nation properly structured, they were eventually revised into the constitution we recognize today. Although, the Articles of Confederation seemed as though it only contained weaknesses, within the document, many strengths and accomplishments were made. Overall, the Articles of Confederation were proven to be both efficient and non-efficient during the time period they were in effect.

The Constitution of 1787 tried to fix the problems of the Articles of Confederation by allowing the federal government to tax the states, giving states better representation in the legislative branch, and centralizing the federal government. Though many Americans had originally not wanted a strong national government, after seeing the chaos of a weak central government, it was realized a strong national government was necessary. In addition, better state representation in the legislative branch of government gave more reassurance of a strong resistance to tyranny in the government. Furthermore, though some resisted the taxes of the federal government, the government’s response to such rebellions (for example, the Whiskey Rebellion) further displayed the capability and willingness of the central government to enforce its laws. In brief, the Articles of Confederation set up a weak central government, which the Constitution of 1787 responded to with strong federal government with more authority.

Some problems were involved throughout the steps that the Founding Fathers took to create a new country. The Articles of Confederation was created because the thirteen states were separate from each other and needed a central form of a government to help resolve their differences. Many states rejected the Articles because they didn’t want to risk having an overpowering government similar to the monarchy of England. An example of this fear about creating a new oppressive government was that the smaller states would be in favor of the Articles on all states due to their fewer resources and less decision making power than the larger states. The Articles gave smaller states more power in situations such as how to raise money for war and to settle debts for war. The central government that the Articles of Confederation created turned out to be very weak, and

“The Constitution devotes the national domain to union, to justice, to defense, to welfare and to liberty” (Maier 154). This quote, stated by William Henry Seward, displays the strength and stability that the Constitution had over the nation, and the liberty and justice it supplied for all of its citizens. Although the Constitution and the Articles of Confederation have similarities, they have many differences, which proved that the Articles of Confederation were a weaker document in comparison. It can be said that the Articles were the “rough draft” to the final living document, which significantly influenced and “ruled” our government, as it still does today.

Due to issues including enforcement, taxation, and voting requirements, the Articles of Confederation proved to be an ineffective and somewhat useless form of government. One problem existed which caused the Articles to not require the states to follow any laws Congress passed, resulting from the declarations being unable to be enforced. Because of this, Congress was unable to control the states. Every state owned the ability to pass any laws that said state decided to pass, without anything holding them in check. Also, the inability of Congress to collect taxes from the citizens, which proves to be the only way for a small government like the young America to effectively make money. Because Congress did not control the ability to tax Americans,

After the Revolutionary War, the newly formed United States still had a major task ahead of them. They had to form a new government that would satisfy the demands of the people and ensure the success of their nation. The Articles of Confederation was the first system of government that was proposed and put into effect. This attempt at creating a system that protected the people form a strong central government ultimately failed but was an important step in the development of the current government system. The weaknesses presented by the Articles of Confederation helped lead to reforms that made the Constitution successful. Both the Articles and the Constitution demonstrate the struggles that the colonists went through with the British and