Articles Of Confederation Dbq Essay

After the American Revolution, the Articles of Confederation were created to create a stronger and more effective government. However, it failed as a result of an ineffective government. From 1781 to 1789, the articles of confederation were ineffective and failed to provide a strong government.

The Articles had their strengths and weaknesses. The Confederation Congress had the ability to declare war and raise an army but were unable to force other states to provide men nor money. They had the ability to sign treaties and pass laws but were unable to enforce them. Congress was unable to levy taxes, they were lacking a strong and steady leadership. There was no national court system nor executive branch to enforce any acts passed by Congress.

Although the Articles of the Confederation became known as the United States’ first written constitution, it did not became ratified by all states until after four years after it was adopted and only lasted for 12 years until it was later replaced with the Constitution we used today. The Articles did set a foundation for our modern day constitution but in its early stages posed serious problems that lead to the drafting of a new constitution. Some of those problems included vesting the entire central government within just Congress (lack of Executive, and Judicial Branch), giving central government very limited power on how it handled state to state affair, and lack of national army because the army was composed of state militias. The articles

The Articles of Confederation was the written document that established the functions of the national government of the United States after it declared independence from Great Britain. The Articles provided a system for the Continental Congress to direct the American Revolutionary War, conduct diplomacy with Europe and deal with territorial issues and Native American relations. The articles was supposed to be a legislative body serving as the nation’s executive rather than a parliament. It had full power over foreign affairs and questions of war and peace, it could decide disputes between the states, and it had authority over coinage, the postal service, and Indian affairs as well as the western territories. Nevertheless, the weakness of the government created by the Articles became a matter of concern for the American nation. The articles had no courts and no power to enforce its resolutions and ordinances. It also had no power to levy taxes and had to rely on requisitions from the states, which state legislatures could ignore. The articles didn’t have an executive or judicial branch of government, nor did it have an administrative head of government, and there were no federal courts (Shi &Tindall, 2013, P.239).

The Articles of Confederation are written by the Continental Congress wrote during the Revolutionary War. The purpose of writing the articles intended to give the colonies an acknowledgement of a unified government.The thirteen states began to act alone in its best interest. The only way for these new states to be unified and become a nation, a new governing document was needed. After all thirteen states ratified the Articles of Confederation became successful on March 1, 1781. The Articles of Confederation found the legislative branch. However, the Judicial Branch was limited and the executive branch had not been founded. The effective government was fragile and movements to make the government stronger crashed. Resulting in, a convention

The Articles of Confederation made for a confederation of independent states. The State governments had most of the power. It made for friendships between states and a process to cooperate together if they needed to fight a foreign enemy. Congress had little power over the states.

The Articles of Confederation were created as a loose binding of the colonies whilst they declared their independence from Britain, the document in itself worked well on paper, but when applied to an expanding nation that needed more intensive unification and strategic organization, the articles failed greatly. It didn’t build the internal systems that call for the calculated and precise decisions of a country. However, the Articles of Confederation provided a basis for the Constitution, to which is the basis of American government today.

There were two main achievements, “ (I) the Articles established the United States as a government of law that placed limited on governments authority, and (2) the Articles created a national citizenship, which gave equal rights to qualifying members. There would be no titles or codification of classes in America” (Schultz 116). However, there were three main weaknesses that stood out. First, the inability to raise funds because the new nation was badly in debt and taxes couldn’t be levied because of the Articles of Confederation. This then made it hard to find a creditor, which then made it an immediate disaster and leaded to trouble for the new nation. Second, the need for unanimity to make changes was one of the weaknesses under the Articles. In 1781, a nation bank was asked to help the national debt and facilitate credit. Because of this, a system of reserves was created by the capitol. This then put a 5 percent tax on all imported goods. Each state had to approve of these happenings under the Articles of Confederation, unfortunately Rhode Island didn’t agree on this taxation. This then forced the bill to die, and the plans were unable to be cleared. The last weakness of the Articles was the lack of authority over international trade. The commerce between states suffered because there was no centralized authority. Each state had its own form of currency and taxes it was hard to trade goods over their state

There were many weaknesses under the articles of confederation. For starters, each state had a single vote in Congress. This was argued to be unfair, because it didn't take into account the size of the state. It seamed that a larger state should have more votes because of a larger population. Second, congress did not hold certain powers necessary to operate appropriately. For example, each state could make their own money, but that money might not have been accepted or used in other states. In addition to the issues with this new created currency, the war left states in significant debt. This was problematic because the Articles didn't allow its congress to collect tax money. States were only allowed to borrow money from other states. Lastly,

Another key factor that stemmed from the creation of the Articles was the fact that there should be a strong central government. Opposition to strong government was high during this time because of localized fear that they would become just like the government they had been trying so hard to tear away from. However, the Articles made it incredibly clear that idly standing by and letting the states do their own thing wasn’t going to fly well. The failure of the Articles of Confederation would ultimately lead to the amount of federalist support that would come towards the early stages of the Constitution in the future.

The Articles of Confederation were exactly what was asked for by the colonists they sought after a weak government with little to no control (Schultz, 2014). It established the division of powers that required there be a Committee of States where a representative from each state occupied a seat. The Articles of the Confederation left the power to the states to levy taxes, and regulate commerce. It did accomplish what it was intended to do as far as placing limits on government authority, giving citizenship to the people, and give members the ability to expand into the western part of America to settle the land.

When the Article of Confederation was established it ensured Americans there would be no new monarchy. The Articles laid the foundation for a systematic government and brought together the 13 colonies. This was what the Southern States wanted continued. But when Abraham Lincoln was elected to be the President the

The Articles of Confederation was the first successful effort of organizing and mobilizing the original 13 colonies of the United States. Prior to its inception, all American activities deemed subversive to the Crown of England were view in the same way that terrorism is deemed today. The American Constitution was adopted in 1789, replacing the Articles of Confederation permanently. This document laid out a much more expensive system of governance, creating the checks and balances between the three branches of government. The U.S. Constitution is one of the shortest constitutions in existence to date.

1The first weakness of Articles of Confederation is the power of a state is supreme over the national government and the national government lack of power to tax without permission. Congress had no power to impose tariffs or regulate trade, so Individual states often placed high taxes on goods from other states. The Constitution fixed this problem by giving the Congress the power to levy taxes and regulate commerce in Article, and congress is given the power to anything "necessary and proper" And now the Congress are able to control commerce and print money.

The Articles failed to lead the country through war debts, multistate and international trade agreements, and Shay’s Rebellion. Like any war, the American Revolution was very expensive to have, especially on their own turf. The country borrowed money from the richer states in the form of war bonds, and when it was time to pay up, the country did not have the money, and defaulted on repayment. Congress did have the ability to create coin, but no ability to back it up. Plus, without having access to tax (the states kept rejecting Congress’s proposal), there was no way to raise revenue. After the war was over, multiple states made trade agreements with different, and at times, conflicting countries. This was a dangerous game, because as states in the same ‘unified’ country, a foreign entity may see one state trading with a country that they do not associate with, and another state may miss out on that trade opportunity that might benefit the country as a whole. The catalyst that brought the entire Articles down is Shay’s Rebellion. 1500 farmers marched to the Massachusetts capital to ensure the state does not close their mortgages, and the state government was too broke to muster up an army. After the other states refusal to help, Massachusetts had to use private funds to pay an army to put it down. All in all the Articles of Confederation created a weak central government, which led the Founders having to come together(O’Connor 32-34).