Essay On Articles Of Confederation Dbq

From 1781 to 1789 the Articles of Confederation provided the United States with an effective government.

However, an uprising led by Revolutionary War captain Daniel Shays that took place in western Massachusetts in 1786 was the event that got the attention of the founding fathers. The Shay’s Rebellion demonstrated to the founding fathers that the Articles of Confederation brought commercial problems, threaten civil order, and conflicts between states. Likewise, at the constitutional convention the founding fathers crafted and ratified the U.S constitution to address the problem the Articles of Confederation could not tackle. Unlike the Articles of Confederation, the divided the powers of the national government into three branches: executive, legislative, and judicial. Furthermore, the constitution established a one true currency system and presented the job duties and requirements the three branches and individual states. Unlike the Articles of Confederation, the constitution presented the rights of its people (Bill of Rights) and a system of check of balance and separation of powers that the United States as democratic country. The Articles of Confederation was a popular democracy with its chaotic results and the constitution was a responsible democracy with its civilized outcomes.

In conclusion, the Articles of Confederation provided the United States with an ineffective government in the 1780’s because of the lack of power to tax, raise an army, or regulate trade; however, it redeemed itself with the creation of the land ordinances of 1785 and 1787, and keeping the states together after the American Revolution. This government held the states together after the war, but it would not have for much longer if the constitutional convention did not draft a new document with which to govern the country that would fix the arising issues that came with the Articles of

Shays Rebellion Illustrates the weaknesses of the Articles of confederation under which we now live. The Articles of Confederation can not regulate trade, levy taxes, or unify these 13 colonies. These problems cause

The greatest effects of the American Revolution lie in the political changes of American society between 1775 and 1800. The changes brought about during these times laid the foundation for the strong government of today. Although their first attempt at a Constitution did not succeed, the Articles of Confederation was a very important document in American history. It was ratified in 1781 and lasted until 1789. It had a weak central government and faced problems such as Shay's Rebellion, the Newburgh Conspiracy, a large amount of debt, and other problems with farmers, merchants, artisans, and manufacturers. There were four main reasons the central government faced these problems:

The Articles of Confederation was a loose “league of friendship” between the thirteen colonies that would create a confederation in contrast to Great Britain 's unitary system. While the Articles of Confederation helped establish a systemic role in trying to unify many of the states under a weak central government, it later created many more problems than solutions. One of them being that Congress had no ability to propose taxes to deal with war debts and running the government. Another weakness was that Congress did not have the ability to regulate commerce among states and foreign nations which hurt Congress’s credibility. One of the most considerable weaknesses of Congress under the Articles of Confederation was its failure to provide for a strong central government. The Articles of Confederation was created to not compare with the totalitarian regime of the British and made sure of not creating a strong central government. The problem was that without a strong central government it eliminated all sovereignty that the central government had, giving increased sovereignty to states which lead to increased chaos. It is seen that Shays Rebellion was that nail in the coffin of The Articles. Lead by David Shay a group of farmers who had served in the Continental Army marched to Springfield, Massachusetts to stop the state court from foreclosing on the veterans farms. Congress’s failure in being able to formulate a militia and stop the disgruntled farmers was the end of The

The end of the Revolutionary War brought about new ideas, freedoms, and regulations in foreign policy between the United States and Great Britain. “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly” illustration could be used for the ideas portrayed in the articles. The Jay Treaty was an ordinance of twenty-eight articles created to dissuade any conflict between the U.S. and Great Britain. Washington’s Farwell Address conveyed his views and beliefs on foreign policy and informed the people that if they would remain loyal to their truths and values, the nation would surely prosper. The second, third, fourth, fifth, and eleventh Federalist Papers were documents that the Federalists wrote to promote the ratification of the Constitution to New York citizens. The Jay Treaty, Washington’s Farewell Address, and the Federalist Papers each had their respective degrees of Good, Bad, or Ugly.

For many reasons, the Articles of Confederation were failing. First was the fact that Congress did not have the power to tax. Without income from taxes, there was no way for the government to pay their bills or support a national military to protect the new nation (Article 1). In fact, many states had their own military and printed their own money. In addition, the Articles of Confederate did not support a national court system or and Executive Branch to enforce any laws passed by Congress. Federalists such as John Jay felt that without a strong central government the United States would never be taken seriously by foreign countries, and eventually would become even more divided when the various states would side with different foreign countries depending on their needs (Artifact 2). Definitely, the country’s new independence was created a need for a new form of

After a personnel investigation secretary of war Henry Knox, a proponent of a strong federal government, reported to congress the activities of the “regulators” was a full scale rebellion and to some degree misrepresented(possibly unintentionally) their cause in a more negative light, portraying them as anarchists(Philips). Knox identified the national arsenal at Springfield as vulnerable and after raising a privately funded militia army(because no national army existed) and intercepting a note revealing the plans of the rebels to seize Springfield he defeated them and the rebellion fizzled out with sporadic violence against wealthy landowners(Philips). Though ultimately unsuccessful, Shay’s rebellion which occurred 1786 -1787 still played an important role in the history of the U.S by underscoring the weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation, which were also outlined around the same time by the Annapolis convention 1786. The events of the rebellion were surely present in the minds of the delegates at the Philadelphia convention a year later, where in complete secret, the Articles of Confederation were done away with rather than improved and replaced by the much stronger United States Constitution.

Daniel Shays Rebellion took place during the time of America's post war depression that from 1784-1787. The rebellion fits into the theme of ‘culture and society’. The confederation had an enormous debt that had built up during the Revolutionary War. Congress showed its weakness that weighed heavily on debtors and having no power to tax. The confederation could only make requisition on the states but even then could only receive one-sixth of the money. Robert Morris and his Philadelphia allies had an idea for a centralized government after the flaws found in the Articles of Confederation.

During the time of Articles of Confederation the United States government was having economic, diplomatic, and military problems, such as lack of money to cover for a strong military force, not a powerful diplomatic government to solve state affairs, and economic depression. After, the Shay’s rebellion, it was found necessary by a group of politicians which were all wealth men, to review the Articles of Confederation, and this led to gathering of 55 delegates from 12 states to revise the Articles of Confederation in Philadelphia in 1787. The state of Rode Island boycotted and did not sent any representatives. Instead of revising the Articles the delegates changed the whole constitution and the convention adapted the “Great Compromise”. The

The founding fathers want to replace the Articles of Confederation by establishing a stronger central government to regulate under the same jurisdiction to control commerce and policies among the United States. One of the issues that occurred was the lack of protection during the Shays Rebellion in 1786. A group of poor farmers led by Daniel Shays riot against the state government’s debt and tax policies in Massachusetts. They seek a national government that limits state government authority to tax the farmers and establish a fair practice of debt collections by the elites. Moreover, the lack of consistency between states made it difficult to create fair trades among other states and another issue that arises is the value of currency.

The Articles of Confederation, ratified in 1781 proved to be a disaster from the start. As war erupted throughout the colonies the Continental Congress looked to create a permanent and productive central government. The first Continental Congress met for seven weeks to protest English policies. The second Continental Congress met later in May 1775 to exercise their role as the central government. The Articles were formed a year later and an inescapable disaster loomed over. The Articles did not solve America’s need for a national government, failed in regards to foreign relations, and failed in economic stability.

This eventually brought a sense of rebellion to Jay and he said in a letter to Washington “Our affairs seem to lead so some crisis, some revolution -- something that I cannot foresee or conjecture.” (Doc. G). It is like he sensed the weakness in the Articles and a rebellion coming. That is just what happened when a disgruntled farmer named Daniel Shay lead some debtors and poor farmers into Massachusetts in rebellion. He wanted to end imprisonment for debt, halt foreclosures, and demand the state to issue cheap money. Then, when Massachusetts called for help no one answered. This lead to the realization of the need for a stronger central government and correct the weaknesses of the Articles. Although people had different points of view on the matter of adopting the new constitution. Some people saw the Articles of Confederation the perfect kind of government, sure they needed repairs but they didn’t need to be replaced. In Doc. H a Report of Lowndes’ speech to the S. Carolina House debating the Constitution it states: A man possessing a magnificent building, upon discovering a flaw, instead of repairing the injury, should pull it

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.