Articles Of Confederation Dbq Essay

The Articles of Confederation Following the Revolutionary War, the new American Government was set up under the Articles of Confederation. The Articles of Confederation did not give the federal government enough authority to be effective. So in 1787 delegates from all the states attended a meeting known as the Constitutional Convention. Among those attending were James Madison, representing Virginia, William Paterson, representing New Jersey, and Roger Sherman, representing Connecticut.

With the United States new found independence from Great Britain, its founding fathers realize from their historical experiences that a document of law needed to be crafted and established to preserve its new found independence, while maintaining order. However, the first document crafted by the founding fathers, the Articles of Confederation, did preserve the country new found independence but it did not maintain order. The Articles of Confederation described by many founding fathers to be a document that was crafted to satisfy needs of every state for its ratification, even when the document did not present a responsible democracy. The Articles of Confederation granted all national powers to the congress; however, it allowed each state

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

Unfortunately for the National Government, Congress did not have any power to collect taxes from people in each individual state. The Congress could ask for money, but could not by any mean force states to pay them. The National Government greatly needed money to cover expenses and debts. Congress could not pay the Nation’s debt, which meant they could not provide much needed

During the eight years under the Articles of Confederation, the national debt continued to grow. The country came up with solutions, but the states ignored them. A correspondent in the Independent Chronicle in 1787 plead, “How long are we to continue on our present in-glorious acquiescence in the shameful resistance that some of the states persist in, against federal and national measures?” (Humphrey 2003, 113). Printer Nathaniel Willis called the young country a “union in crisis” (Humprey 2003, 106). Lack of revenue and no way of forcing states to contribute was one of the major and most noted flaws in the Articles of Confederation (Henretta et al. 2010).

However, the most important power was that Congress had the right to obtain territory and control development of the western territories, which was previously controlled by their mother country, Great Britain. (Doc D) With the Articles of Confederation, the United States was able to break away from their mother country and become a free nation, setting up their own government. Although the articles set the United States free, it was unable to provide them with a solid government. Leaders like John Jay and James Madison criticized the Articles of Confederation because of the weak government. (Doc G) There were several problems between the states and the central government. For instance, sometimes the states refused to give the government the money it needed, and they engaged in tariff wars with one another, bringing interstate trading to a halt. The government could not pay off the debts it had incurred during the revolution, including paying soldiers who had fought in the war and citizens who had provided supplies to the cause. (Doc C) In addition, the new nation was unable to defend its borders from British and Spanish encroachment because it could not pay for an army when the states would not contribute the necessary funds. Another serious problem was that Congress could not pass needed measures because they lacked nine-state majority required to become laws. The states

For example, the Articles could not prevent the practice of state tariffs because the government was not allowed to interfere in interstate commerce; this discouraged trade between states and made it so there was no advantage to buying domestic rather than foreign product which weakened the American economy. Americans had also been cut off from trade with the British sugar colonies and American exports to Britain were restricted. These were two major sources of income for colonial America that were now gone, and with the limited federal government could do little to help. There was also a problem with inflation, because while the federal government did have the power to coin and print money, the states could each issue their own individual money as well. There was no way for the federal government to stop the states from doing this, and so the continental dollar continued to inflate and depreciate.

The time between the American Revolution and the presidency of George Washington was one of learning, experimentation, and confusion. No patterns existed to model the new government being established for the thirteen American states. Although it would be incorrect to say that the government of the Articles of Confederation was a complete failure, it would be logical to advance the idea that the more powerful national government established under the constitution of 1787 was essential to the survival of the American Union. Between the two documents there were some drastic differences of opinion on governing tactics as mentioned in the Articles of Confederation compared to the Constitution of 1787 (Doc. C). Major differences were composited

The Articles of Confederation had many ups and downs throughout its script. While it may have been successful in enabling the various states in pursuing their own interests, it was unsuccessful in granting the national interests. One part I liked from the Articles of Confederation was that the document was able to restrict land movements. This was done to control the land extents of the larger states so the smaller states wouldn’t be overtaken. According to the textbook “Articles until all states turned over their western lands to the United States....Consequently, the landed states gave up their western claims, and with Maryland’s.approval, the Articles of Confederation went into effect in March 1781.” Due to the fact that the Articles of

The Articles of Confederation were put in place in 1781, after the Revolutionary War. This period of time in our country’s history was marked by experimentation. After gaining independence from Britain, a system of government was necessary to meet the needs and desires of the country as a whole. The Articles of Confederation served as this system of government, but ultimately failed for a number of reasons.

The United States during the Revolutionary War used a constitution that loosely connected the states called the Articles of Confederation. Seven years later they realized the document was insufficient and began to revise it. The Framers came to the conclusion that a new document must be written all together and they produced the Constitution we have today. However, the Framers did want the states to have representation similar to the Articles of Confederation but not quite as troublesome for lawmakers.

The United States Constitution replaced the Articles of Confederation because the document lacks the complete effectiveness to govern a body of people. The initial Constitution (articles of confederation) asked a lot from its colonies that wasn’t reciprocated. The articles were all over the place in-structure, causing many discrepancies. Within less than a decade its weakness in the ability to govern a body of people and required complete restructure, if the people were to move forward. At a time when the new states were operating on their own no longer under British rule.

After gaining independence from England, the Founding Fathers created a government under the Articles of Confederation. This was conceived around an almost powerless central government, and very powerful state governments. However, when the Articles of Confederation failed, they decided it was time for something new. The Articles of Confederation were too weak and created major problems which led to the conception of the United States Constitution. There are two flaws of the Articles of Confederation, and building on the first, how two of the decisions made by the Framers of the Constitution fixed issues of the Articles of Confederation.

In attempting to limit the power of the central government, the Second Continental Congress created one without sufficient power to govern effectively, which led to serious national and international problems. The greatest weakness of the federal government under the Articles of Confederation was its inability to regulate trade and levy taxes. “Sometimes the states refused to give the government the money it needed,

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