How Did The Articles Of Confederation Dbq

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.

The Founding fathers did not want to create a government with too much power so they created the Articles of Confederation. This government turned out to be a failure. In 1787, the founding fathers met again to create a new framework of government. Most people feared creating a government that was too strong. To create a new government there had to be many compromises, the U.S. Constitution is the result of these compromises reached in Philadelphia in 1787. The Articles of Confederation were too weak and created many problems which led to a stronger National government. Two weaknesses of the Articles of confederation were that Congress did not have the power to tax. Another problem was that the states had most of the power and the National Government had little power. Two decisions made by the

From 1781 to 1789, the newly created United States of America put its trust in the Articles of Confederation to adequately govern itself in times of war and distress. The Articles of Confederation was the United States’ first attempt at a guideline for creating an effective federal government. It was efficient in holding the new country together during the Revolutionary War and managed to help the country attend to pressing foreign and economic problems right after the war. Although the Articles helped bring about momentous and significant change in one decade, it was not the suitable framework for the federal government to effectively govern the new country over a long period of time.

Another disadvantage of the Articles of Confederation was that it created a flawed financial system. The Congress could not pass taxes; it had to request funding from the states. “The taxes for paying that proportion [government funding and debt],” read the Articles of Confederation, “shall be laid and levied by the authority and direction of the legislatures of the several States…” (Article VIII) The states could

Speaking against the ratification of the Constitution, Patrick Henry says, "If a wrong step be now made, the republics may be lost forever. If this new government will not come up to the expectation of the people...their liberty will be lost and tyranny must and will rise..." The leaders of the country created the U.S. Constitution due to an immense dissatisfaction with the system of government stated in the Articles of Confederation. The Articles of Confederation support a government in which there is only one branch, but it's power would be limited in order to protect the people's liberty and rights. Although the Articles of Confederation establish a better system of government than when the states were under British rule, some weaknesses were found and amended in a new document called the United States

There were many problems and weaknesses contained in the Articles of Confederation. This was a problem for the country because the government could not have enough control over it. One of these problems was that the Congress did not have the power to coin its own money (Kelly). This meant that each individual state could create its own currency that could not be used country-wide. Congress was also unable to tax (Kelly). They could only borrow money from other countries or from its own citizens. Since the United States was in

The Articles of Confederation served as the written document that established the functions of the national government of the United States after it declared independence from Great Britain. Although, it established a weak central government, it contributed to U.S principles because The Articles of Confederation were the basis of the first government of the United States of America. The Articles were essentially the “training wheels” of the government; it was a learning point to create something much greater which became the Constitution. The problems that this weak document created, combined with the Confederation government’s ineffectual response to Shays’ Rebellion, convinced national leaders that a more powerful central government was necessary.

The most blatant and detrimental of the Articles’ flaws was that they did not grant the Congress the ability to levy taxes. The only way for Congress to raise money was to ask the individual states for donations, and this left Congress extremely low on funds. During the years of the Revolutionary War the United States Congress incurred a very large war debt. The Congress owed $12 million to foreign countries, $27 million to the American people plus $12.5 million in interest. The individual states owed $21 million. The Congress was over $50 million in debt. Without the ability to levy taxes, the Congress was left with virtually no possible way of repaying their huge war debts. The American people began to get angry and uneasy with the unpaid debts.

After the American colonies won their freedom from Great Britain needed to create a new government. The Articles of Confederation were developed, bestowing America with its first official government. The Articles were composed of many restrictions creating an inadequate body of government. One of the main reasons the articles didn't work was from the lack of a strong central government the states received too much liberty and freedom, and on the other hand congress was weak and restricted. The government did not have enough power to govern all the states efficiently under the articles of confederation, it couldn't tax or regulate trade . From the time period when the Articles were constructed in 1781, to when they were discarded in 1789, the

For example, the Articles could not prevent the practice of state tariffs because the government was not allowed to interfere in interstate commerce; this discouraged trade between states and made it so there was no advantage to buying domestic rather than foreign product which weakened the American economy. Americans had also been cut off from trade with the British sugar colonies and American exports to Britain were restricted. These were two major sources of income for colonial America that were now gone, and with the limited federal government could do little to help. There was also a problem with inflation, because while the federal government did have the power to coin and print money, the states could each issue their own individual money as well. There was no way for the federal government to stop the states from doing this, and so the continental dollar continued to inflate and depreciate.

What motivated the Congress to pass the Articles of Confederation? What were the successes of the Articles and what were the problems?

government had no way to enforce taxes for funding, so they relied on asking citizens for money but many did not contribute to the Confederation's needs; some people provided their own wages to pay off the dept of the government. The government was in a substantial debt from The Revolutionary War (nationalhumanitiescenter.org). With no way to gain the funds, the government just fell further into debt. In order for congress to continually function, Robert Morris, a wealthy merchant, funded Congress for their everyday necessities (Burack). Congress lacked the ability to tax which furthered their debt, but Robert Morris donated large sums of money in order to keep them afloat Because of the conditions of the government and the paying out of pocket, Morris had sought for a new government to take place (Burack). Morris was not the only one to see the limitations of the government. He and many others, even Thomas Jefferson in France, had wished to repeal The Articles of

The Constitution succeeded where the Articles of Confederation for one major reason was that it had created a government that was acceptable to those with the real power in early America. The Articles failed because they were not able to create a government under which there could be a "good business climate." The lack of a national government and the excess of democracy in the states meant that people who owned businesses could not feel secure and could not trade well with other states. This meant they could not make much money. It also meant that the economy of the nation suffered.

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.

An important problem with the Articles of Confederation were with money. The United States owed millions of dollars in result of borrowing money during the Revolution, and had no way to pay off their debts. Although Congress could ask states for money, they could not force them to contribute. Even though the states had made paper money, each state had a different kind of money. For example, Rhode Island used dollars,