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Essay On Articles Of Confederation Dbq

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From 1781 to 1789 the Articles of Confederation did not provide the United States with an effective government. This is due to the following three reasons: The United States’ lack of an army, nonexistent judicial branch, and surplus of power to the states. After the American Revolution concluded, thousands of soldiers returned home to find little or nothing left. Financial support the government had promised the soldiers with after the war was no longer available due to the inability of the central government to collect taxes as stated in the Articles (Doc. C). This later resulted in Shays’ Rebellion, a march led by Daniel Shays in western Massachusetts during January of 1787. They occupied the courts in Springfield so they were unable to foreclose their farms. This eventually led to the scrapping of the articles. Before the rebellion America had no army to kick the British out with. They remained at their posts by the Ohio River Valley (Doc. D). With no militia forcing them out, the British continued to monopolize the fur trade in America even after the Treaty of Paris of 1783. Spain also remained stationed in America after the war. They managed to keep control of the Mississippi, and with no army forcing them out the held …show more content…

A judicial branch of government, which is necessary for the success of a country, was also nonexistent with the Articles. In 1781-1802, the western lands ceded by the states from the Mississippi to the Ohio River Valley were filled with overlapping land claims (Doc, E). Because of Congress’ inability to hold court cases debating issues like these, the conflicting claims caused tension between the states. There was no way to determine which state held claim to which land, and because congress was unable to resolve these issues, conflict grew. A judicial branch was necessary but not present under the Articles to settle immense issues such as the overlapping western

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