Articles Of Confederation Economic Flaws

Financial problems were a major issue in the Confederation, laws were usually hard to pass since nine out of thirteen colonies

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

The Articles of Confederation did not allow the national government to collect taxes. After the Revolutionary war, America had many war debts. They also needed to be able to pay the soldiers who served in the army. However, because of their inability to tax, they were unable to get the money to pay off debts. In a letter to George Washington, James Madison once wrote that the government should have “the right of taxing both exports and imports”, and that they should have the regulation of trade. Also, there was no official currency while the Articles were taking effect. There

The central government and all of the states could hardly function and stay together as what could be conceived as a country rather than multiple little countries. With congress being denied the ability to tax and only being able to request money from the states that they had gained themselves the country was not moving forward economically. WHen congress requested money from the states they were ignored or declined most of the time so they instead used the power they did have which was to create money in order to fulfill the financial obligations they had owed to other countries. This led to inflation of the continental dollar. Many people were falling into debt without any way of coming back out of it and there was no reliable source of money besides silver and gold.

The Articles of Confederation provided the United States with an ineffective government from 1781 to 1789. The Articles of Confederation created a weak foundation for the early United States. The absence of an executive branch, Congress’s inability to tax and establish armed forces, and the lack of faith of the people, contributed to the feebleness of the government due to the Articles of Confederation.

The Articles of Confederation was an ineffective government, failing both externally and internally due to a weak central government. Externally, other nations refused to trade with America and disputed over territorial gain. Internally, the Articles of Confederation had little distinct power over the states, forcing a split into differing political parties and social stratification. With a lack of both external and internal control, the negative aspects of the Articles of Confederation prompted the nation to adopt the Constitution.

One major reason is that the Articles failed to correct for the weak and decentralized government system. Without a central decision-making body, the system was chaotic. For example, states had difficulty coordinating war efforts. No one knew who was in charge. In addition, the wording in the Articles of Confederation was unclear. Congress did not have any authority, for example, to levy taxes. This made it difficult to finance the war, as Congress could not demand money from the states. The inability of Congress to control the nation’s money supply was also manifested in another way. There was no central authority with control over the printing of currency. As a result, improper handling of the money supply led to inflation. Congress also had no power to regulate interstate commerce, which led to more chaos between states. There was no clear authority to solve disputes in between the states, and a quality of lawlessness pervaded

But the articles denied Congress the power to collect taxes, regulate interstate commerce and enforce laws. Because of this, the central government had to request donations from the states to finance its operations and raise armed forces. The states attempted to limit the power of the national government because they feared that it would become a monarchy. In an effort to limit the power of the national government, Congress created one without enough power to govern effectively, which led to serious national and international problems.

The main downfall of the Articles of Confederation was that taxes could not be collected. Since they couldn’t collect taxes, some states had a large debt remaining from the war against England. As a result international trade started to become a total mess. Since the United States defeated England in the war they were unwilling to trade with Americans.

As the United States continued to develop as a new nation, it also began to change policies and ideas that were holding the country back from maturing. Many problems arose during the 18th century, and so, the Articles of Confederation were made to make a stronger government. Over time it was made clear that the Articles of Confederation were lacking something that the country needed. Although the Articles of Confederation were set up to unify the country, it caused troubles like rebellion against the government, the lack of power in Congress, and inflation because of a weak central government. Congress had to make a choice whether they would keep the Articles of Confederation or replace them with completely new articles.

The Congress was under the Articles of Confederation and their power was limited to regulate trade. There was not strong leadership, legislative incapability, and economic confusion. England had banned all American ships from the West Indies and put restrictions on competitive items. American forces were inadequate to the Mediterranean pirates, who disliked American trade ships in the Atlantic and the Caribbean. “Without the capital to maintain a strong army or navy, the government under the Articles could do little to stop the marauding of American ships and pillaging of American goods.” (Schultz, p. 123, 2009) The Articles of Confederation created financial hardship for America by asking states to help pay off debt. The Articles of Confederation also gave authority to the state, which led to much conflict in judicial, handling foreign relations, and threats against America.

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,

The weaknesses of the Articles were; the helplessness in producing funds; having to be in agreement with all partied to make changes; and absence of power over internal trade.  The government under the Articles of Confederation had three notable problems; controlling the western expansion, foreign relations, and debt. Land in the West was the most pushed issue. Americans made their way westward, and in the 1780s the vast majority of Americans moved to the Pennsylvania, Kentucky, and Nashville area (Schultz,

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,

As stated above in Article VIII, these funds “shall be supplied by the various States in part to the value of every land in each State.” Only the states and not congress had the power to impose taxes and raise revenues. As such, congress had to request to obtain funds from the states. As a result, during the years serving under the Article of Confederation, Congress faced significant revenue deficit; Congress had limited ways to govern the nation such as, enforcing laws, raising revenue and regulating the