Articles Of Confederation Research Paper

The Articles of Confederation was first written in 1777. It was passed by the Confederation of Congress. Congress decided that they needed a firm government to organize the states as a whole. At least that was their primary goal. Since each state had separates rules. The Articles of Confederation was later ratified by each state in 1781. It was “America’s first federal constitution” (Keene 138). The confederation had a few strengths but many weaknesses. The nation faced many economic and political issues that lead people to controversy.

For over two-hundred years the United States has thrived under the Constitution. It has been the backbone of this country while growing from an infant into an adult. Although, the Constitution was instrumental in the maturation of America it was not the first form of government in this country. Ten years before the Constitutional Convention, Washington’s presidency, or the three branches of government; the Articles of Confederation were created. This fledgling government, proposed in 1777, was doomed to never take flight, being replaced in 1789, when the Constitution was effected under Washington. This raises the question: Why did the United States discard The Articles of Confederation for the Constitution? Ultimately, the Articles

The topic of this paper is the Constitution. The paper will cover the weaknesses in the Articles of Confederation, which was addressed in the Constitution. The paper will cover the how the Constitution addressed the complaints in the Declaration of Independence. Another topic of the paper will be the Great Compromise and how the representation of states in Congress was determined. Finally, the paper will view the treatment of slaves for the purpose of representation and the effects thereof.

After Shay’s Rebellion and the nation on the brink of bankruptcy it was clear that the Articles of Confederation would not be adequate to preserve the nation. So began the great battle for the balance between order and freedom. The main point of dispute between the Federalists and the Anti-Federalists in the battle over the ratification of the Constitution surrounded the question of what powers and rights were required in order to insure the security and liberty of the nation. The Federalists advocated that a strong central government was needed, which was supported by the failure of the Articles of Confederation. However the Anti-Federalists were determined on keeping the sovereignty of the states and by doing so also retaining their secured political freedom.

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 Articles of Confederation is the first "constitution" for the United States. In lesson, it goes into more detail about how 13 thirteen single colonies became one to make decisions. The United States was the first nation in the history of the world to be created by colonial people fighting against their mother country for freedom. The United States government at the time was similar to England's. The people whom lived in America wanted a democratic republic, just without all the kings and queens. This type of government has never been seen before, thus America will be creating its own version and testing it out. The Articles that they had previously created had some issues. One issue is who owned the land in the west? Better yet, how were

Drafted in 1777 and later ratified in 1781, The Articles of Confederation created a very weak central government and just about left the 13 colonies to govern and rule themselves. It was extremely weak for a number of reasons,*1 One major reason being that the government did not have the power to tax the states and another reason was the fact that laws required a 9/13 vote to pass in congress. The Articles of Confederation made it so power was distributed between each individual colony, who then had powerful state governments. While these were just a fraction of the things that caused the Articles of Confederation to be inadequate, surprisingly this is in fact what the states wanted, a national government with less power. *2 “The fights

During the years of 1781 to 1789, the United States was run under the Articles of Confederation which was good for some reasons such as the states having freedom and independence to make important decisions. However, after several years of being run under the Articles of Confederation, the Founding Fathers realized that this was a deficient and ineffective way to run the government especially since there was no Executive and Judicial Branch of government, the government was very ineffective in regard to foreign affairs, and the government could not collect taxes which caused major debt.

The Articles of Confederation was a document signed amongst the thirteen original colonies that established the United States of America as a union of sovereign states and served as its first constitution. The Articles of Confederation did little to promote colonial unity, therefore independence was granted to 13 new nations, all of which became weak from lack of central government. In the Great Debate the Federalists and the Anti-Federalists debated the inclusion of the Bill of Rights to the Constitution as this allowed to make a compromise to govern our country. The Constitution that is now shaping modern America would have never been formed without first evolving from the flawed Articles of Confederation.

The Articles of Confederation established the first government that unified the thirteen states that fought in the American Revolution. This documented created the structure for the confederation of the 13 states and went into effect on March 1, 1781 and lasted only eight years. The purpose of the document was to create a confederation of where each state kept its own sovereignty. Every state had its own independence as much as possible while the central government of the U.S. was only responsible for the common defense, the security of liberties, and the general welfare of the states. The purpose of the document was to keep the national government as weak as possible. However, this led to several issues to become apparent once the Articles was put into effect.

After the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation were drafted on November 15, 1777 to have a government set up for when the colonies won the war or successively seceded from Britain. This form of government is called a confederation meaning it derives most of its’ power from the states. Confederations are considered weak governments because there is no central power to tax and keep order between the states. This is why many historians today are shocked by how weak a government the founders created, considering they were intelligent enough to know the Articles were not going to work. The Articles of Confederation were important to the fledgling United States by keeping the 13 states united; however, glaring flaws in the Articles

The Preamble of the Constitution of the United States of America classifies an effective government as one that "establish[s] justice, insure[s] domestic tranquility, provide[s] for the common defense, promote[s] the general welfare, and secure[s] the blessings of liberty." Based on these standards, the Articles of Confederation were effective to a certain degree at the time, but in the end, were too liberal to be effective. Because its main purpose was to ensure the blessings of liberty, the Articles of Confederation had to sacrifice stability and security, which ultimately led to its downfall.

The Articles of Confederation already gave power to the Congress. The power was not being forced upon the people of Colonial America. I would want for the government to have the power to protect our rights and freedom. The people have the right idea by having the government ran by them, the people. Even though you still need government officials to be operating the government to give people a better life. A better life with free health care, and equal pay for labor. To do this you would need to spend money. The people did not want to pay the government for they believed, the way Britain did, about John Locke’s Social Contract theory. "...to secure these rights [Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of happiness], Governments are instituted among men,

The very first original constitution of the United States was the Articles of Confederation. The Articles of Confederation had weaknesses and so the states decided to meet in secret and come up with a new constitution, the U.S Constitution. The Constitution of the United States has seven basic principles: federalism, checks & balances, republicanism, separation of powers, popular sovereignty, limited government, and individual rights. Each and very principle has its own importance and process, but checks and balances will be more thoroughly discussed.

Due to the Revolutionary War, the new United States needed a functioning government. This new government was called the Articles of Confederation and came to be due to the Continental Congress. The Articles of Confederation were a confederation, or loose alliance, of states. It was modeled off of previous colonial governments, and in it states would retain sovereignty. Sovereignty is governmental power, and with this form of government the states would have it. Even though the United States needed a government, it was risky. The founders of the Articles of Confederation were apprehensive about the concentrated power found in this form of government. They were perturbed about this due to past relations with the British. The Articles