Causes Of The Articles Of Confederation

During the era or time in which the Articles of Confederation were in place, the document had a lot of weakness; maybe too many weaknesses. These weaknesses included: It had created a struggling economy, had no Judiciary, only had a legislature (Congress), no executive (President), and gave too much power to the states or the people. A weakness that the Articles had been that the people thought that the government would help with the economy. This caused a struggling economy, and that had a lot of consequences like Continental Army marching against the government for

The Constitutional Convention of 1787 and the subsequent ratification of the constitution proved to be a more significant event in American political history than the Declaration of Independence. Many of the american leaders believed we needed to a new, stronger government. They had to persuade the states that stronger government was the right direction to ensure the country’s success.They did that with the constitutional convention but, To sway the states in the right direction documents such as the Federalist papers led the states to ratify the new U.S. Constitution. Which then led to the U.S. Constitution that we still live by to the day.

Two significant problems that made the Articles of Confederation a poor form of government were, the colonies couldn’t tax and there was no chief executive overseeing the colonies. After the war the colonies were in debt. One of the only ways they could pay off their debt was to tax the people in the colonies. However, the colonies had just fought in many battles against taxation so it would be unfair to be taxed after all of that. As the political cartoon shows the ship that is representing the Articles of confederation is being sunk because the colonies had no money. WIthout money the colonies couldn’t raise an army, have power over the currency, stop rebellions, or stand up to European powers. Another reason why the Articles of confederation

In 1776, the Declaration of Independence, drafted by Thomas Jefferson, was formally adopted. The American Revolution had already been going on with the battles of Lexington and Concord over a year prior, but the first government of the United States is the Articles of Confederation, a constitution based on Republican ideas and democracy. The Continental Congress approved the Articles of Confederation in 1777. It was adopted, written by John Dickinson, but there was a delay in ratifying it by the states. States like Virginia and Massachusetts had claimed a bunch of land stretching from the East Coast all the way to the Pacific Ocean as part of their colonial charters. States like Maryland and Pennsylvania, who did not have these land claims, did not want to ratify this new national government until the land is relinquished. It was not until in 1781 when the states officially ratified the Articles of Confederation. From 1781 to 1789, the Articles of Confederation failed and had created problems in political, economic, and foreign policies, making this new national government an ineffective government.

The most significant issues that the United States had under the Articles of Confederation were: “managing the western expansion, foreign relations, and debt.” The first significant issue was with the western expansion as Americans relocated to the Nashville, western Pennsylvania, and Kentucky areas in mass numbers in the 1780s. The result of this meant that the areas were enhanced greatly that had western charters. At the time, the northern and southern areas (in the Appalachian Mountains and Mississippi River) had specific boundaries based on the original colonized charters which meant that the western area was the Pacific Ocean. The states that did not have part of the western area resented the condition and as a result, Maryland protested by not approving the Articles of Confederation unless the state of Virginia yielded its western land to the federal government which they did in 1784. However, their yielding was not without strings attached as they demanded that they be allowed to keep a small portion of the land reserve for their own use as a part of the deal which Congress had no choice but to accept. Eighteen years later in 1802, every state had yielded their western land to the federal government.

The Bill of Rights became a very important document in the United States Constitution in order to ensure United States citizens equal protection of their rights and liberties. The main objective of the Bill of rights was to place limits on the national government creating an understanding and dividing the powers between the states and the national government. Not all the powers were granted to the national government however not all the powers were prohibited to the states. As stated by Ginsberg, Lowi, Weir & Tolbert (2015) the bill of rights consists of 10 amendments incorporated in the U.S constitution. It is important to note that each amendment contains a legal court case in which the supreme court as well as the government have ruled and have ignored or have protected the rights of the individuals involved.

The Articles of Confederation was needed to conduct foreign affairs, such as war. The Confederation wanted to tax states for their whole population, whites and blacks. The southern states did not approve of this because there were a larger number of slaves in the south. With the Articles of Confederation, there was only the legislature which existed. No president and no judicial branch. To amend the articles of all thirteen states, all would have to agree, therefore, this would bring a great deal of difficulties. (History.com, Articles of Confederation)

They had no right to tax, declare war, or even regulate trade. The articles of confederation drained the developing country. When the constitution had been written, the congress was able to get more power. And with this power, they were able to build a new country. Another flaw of the articles of confederation was that there was no ability to carry out any laws or carry out any sort of consistent unfamiliar policy. The articles of confederation had no executive branch. Also the articles of confederation had not provided any nation judicial branch. This was need to settle arguments that happened among the states. It also wasn’t able to control any legal questions that may have been relevant to the federal policy. A serious conflicted problem had taken place when the states maintained their power, but the states were still able to bounce to a "perpetual...league of friendship." The United States constitution was able to fix all of these problems. First, a nation executive branch was established. Second, a nation judiciary was established. And lastly the states power was limited. Some more flaws of the Articles of Confederation was that in congress, each state had one separate vote. It did not matter what size the state was either. Also, the power to tax was not present in the congress. Unanimous votes were also required for amendments to the Articles of

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 first issue was Congresses inability to raise or levy taxes. The states were the only ones responsible for tax control. This led to Congress having no money of their own, and relying on the aid of states for funds. This was such a problem, due to the remaining debt from the American Revolutionary War. A new country cannot survive without a strong national government,

While America was founded on protecting essential liberties of its citizens, from an economic standpoint Britain was not necessarily oppressive. They had the legal right to pass laws for the colonies. The problem that many of the colonists had been that Great Britain usually left the colonies alone to do their own thing so when they did interfere many colonists did not like that. One misconception is that high taxes played a factor in the Revolutionary war, but in actuality it was the fact they were being taxed without representation. Some of the taxes that were passed were the Stamp Act(1765) and the Townsend Acts(1767). Many colonists felt like they should not have to pay these taxes because they were passed by the English Parliament, and not by the colonial

The national government of the United States had many challenges under the Articles of Confederation. The Articles caused money problems and the most essential detail, a weak government. This also caused America conflicts among each of the 13 states. These problems greatly impacted the United States and it’s government as well.

      The Bill of Rights guarantee protections and freedom of United States citizens. For example the Second Amendment states that a well-regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed. The Fourth Amendment’s states that the rights of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers and effects against unreasonable searches and seizures  shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue but upon probable causes. The Fifth Amendments also states that  everyone has a right  to due process of law, freedom from self-incrimination and double jeopardy lastly the Tenth Amendment , the powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people. They have all opened themselves up to controversy and debate.

After the dust, of the Revolutionary War, had settled, it was clear to some of the Founding Fathers that the government was not being put in check by it’s states and on the road to becoming a copy of the British Monarchy. The Constitution created at the Constitutional Convention was in desperate need of renovations, but how the Federalists and Antifederalists would go about this was a new challenge and it would require massive compromises for both sides. The Antifederalists needed a way on paper to prevent the government from trampling over their basic rights and now that is better known as the Bill of Rights. The Bill of Rights contains a list of Amendments to the Constitution and the First Amendment. The First Amendment grants freedom in all areas which is the what separates America from any other country. However, it was not always free for all people. In the beginning of America, “We The People” only protected the white property owner. Once the First Amendment passed, it became the battle cry for the Abolitionists and Suffragettes to influence the government into widening their horizons of who “The People” really are, by changing it to all people, regardless of race, gender, or economic class, in the Constitution.

The urge and aspiration to protect the liberty of every citizens of the United States led to the American Revolution war. “The founders believed the British government had deprived them of their constitutional rights.” (Osterman). It is because of these reason that the founders drafted a bill of rights that will clearly highlight the rights and liberty of the citizens. The founders further believed that “individual liberty was inherent in the human condition. Liberty is not derived from governments or even from constitutions. On the contrary, governments and constitutions exist to protect liberty.” (Osterman). The bill of right is sets the foundation of the rights we enjoy today.