Pros And Cons Of The Articles Of Confederation

On July 3rd, 1776, the Second Continental Congress unanimously declared the independence of the thirteen United States of America from Great Britain. Determined to unify the thirteen colonies, the Continental Congress adopted the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union, the first constitution of the United States, on November 15, 1777. However, ratification of the Articles of Confederation by all thirteen states did not occur until March 1, 1781. Although the articles did not prevent the United States from winning independence, the innate flaws of the articles became apparent in the years following the revolution. The problems of the weak, purely legislative national government became too prevalent for agents of the revolution, such as James Madison and George Washington. Madison and Washington were strong supporters of a federal, or national, constitution, and on June 21, 1788, congress ratified the Constitution of the United States. And in doing so, violated the “Revolutionary Ideology” and the will of the American people.

The United States would lose its name and stand divided if the Constitution did not bring the thirteen colonies into one body. Within this governing body, fears arise from the difficulty of controlling power in a central government, while still trying to keep unity between the states. Understanding that the United States was formed based on the people’s irritation with the corruption of the control of power in England, the Constitution reassured the people that their freedoms were going to be kept, but it required their trust. The founders of the United States Constitution established a just government through encompassing equal representation, with the people as the foundation, and protecting the injustices that could arise with the misuse of power.

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

After winning the Revolutionary War, the states faced the strenuous task of creating a national government that balanced federal powers with individual and state rights. The first endeavor resulted in the Articles of Confederation. The Articles of Confederation gave too much power to the states and not enough power to the federal government. The imbalance of power resulted in a weak national government. The Constitution replaced the feeble Articles with a powerful federal government that incorporated republican ideals. Under this new system of government George Washington and Thomas Jefferson established new procedures, laws, and policies that set the standards and structured the new government. The laws, policies, and actions of both George

When America’s founding fathers broke away from England, they weren’t the first colonial Englishmen on the American continent, there were plenty of French, Spanish, Dutch and even Russian colonial outposts established before them. What makes the English colonies along the Eastern seaboard story so important, was the fact that 13 colonies joined together to form what is now known as the United States. Furthermore, this 13 colonies New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia risk their lives, fortunes, and sacred honors to start a new nation free from Great Britain’s rule. In the mist of declaring independence from the most powerful nation on earth, America’s founding fathers created a governmental system that was unfamiliar during their era. America’s founding fathers created a government designed to protect civil liberties and encourage independence, a complex yet young and evolving system.

After the defeat of Great Britain in the Revolutionary War, America was faced with many challenges. Some of these challenges brought upon the Americans grew from the weakness of new national government. This government was founded upon the Articles of Confederation, America’s first constitution. The Articles of Confederation resulted in a weak national government and strong state governments, making it seem as though each individual state were its own country. With the Articles of Confederation failing to serve America properly, the debate arose about whether or not to make a new constitution for America. The Federalists and Anti-Federalists were the two groups that debated the ratification of

By the late eighteenth century, America found itself independent from England; which was a welcomed change, but also brought with it, its own set of challenges. The newly formed National Government was acting under the Articles of Confederation, which established a “firm league of friendship” between the states, but did not give adequate power to run the country. To ensure the young nation could continue independently, Congress called for a Federal Convention to convene in Philadelphia to address the deficiencies in the Articles of Confederation. While the Congress only authorized the convention to revise and amend the Articles the delegates quickly set out to develop a whole new Constitution for the country. Unlike the Articles of

The Articles of Confederation provided the framework for an alliance of states to fight the Revolutionary War and to govern after the war. What were the strengths and weaknesses

After the signing of the Declaration of Independence and the battle with the British during the Revolution, Americans were faced with both the design and implementations of both the state and national governments. Creating stronger and more effective state governments was a much easier task than it was on a national level. The Continental Congress was still the only national governing body and had restricted powers over the individual states. The Articles of the Confederation was adopted in 1777 to expand the powers of Congress giving it the power to issue currency, conduct wars, and handle foreign relations. Most Americans were reluctant to give power to government at the national level and instead, preferred that power lay with the individual

After the Revolutionary War, the newly formed United States still had a major task ahead of them. They had to form a new government that would satisfy the demands of the people and ensure the success of their nation. The Articles of Confederation was the first system of government that was proposed and put into effect. This attempt at creating a system that protected the people form a strong central government ultimately failed but was an important step in the development of the current government system. The weaknesses presented by the Articles of Confederation helped lead to reforms that made the Constitution successful. Both the Articles and the Constitution demonstrate the struggles that the colonists went through with the British and

The Articles of Confederation, a written agreement that ensured each state’s sovereignty, freedom and independence, led America to victory over the British centralized government. During the late eighteenth century, the empowered government terrified the Americans, hence the thirteen colonies decided to spread governance powers equally to all functional states. The states had absolute dominance over the Congress due to the Articles of Confederation. While the localized power of states seemed to be promising, the system posed great threat to the major components of a democratic government, which are coercion, revenue, and legitimacy (Lecture 1 - The Roots of Government). The system of localized power did not ensure legitimacy, which referred to people’s recognition of national government. Congress’s lack of power to control each state’s actions caused great chaos. Eventually, national government’s lack of power and inability to unify the states exposed multiple flaws in the Articles of Confederation; consequently, a new supreme law, the Constitution was established by the founding fathers. The new supreme law successfully altered the imbalanced system into a novel democratic government.

Would you believe that the first form of government wasn’t the Constitution? In fact, the Constitution was written to address and fix the weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation- the first form of government in the United States. Although the Articles of Confederation was the first form of government, it wasn’t necessarily the most ideal- it had eventually caused chaos and destruction and had a weak government. It was soon apparent that a new form of government was needed and eventually led to the Constitutional Convention in 1787. One of the weaknesses that caused the Articles of Confederation to be a lesser form of government was the government’s inability to collect state debts which resembles a current U.S problem- Congress being

Furthermore, in his article he illustrates the ideas that the Anti-federalists tha,t in theory, surpass the ideology of the Federalists. While the Anti-Federalists, who were in favor of strong state rights lost the debate a the constitutional convention, their argumentation the federalists stood unprecedented and correct. Due to the Federalists skeptical and excessive interpretation of the constitution, many vague laws and clauses could be perceived enabling the

Federalist Paper no. 10 was one of the most important of the Federalist Papers. It was written by James Madison and contends that a large national government can successfully protect freedom better than smaller, more local governments. Madison wrote that small groups pursuing their own personal interests at the sacrifice of the national interests, otherwise called factions, always bring an end to popular government. Factions are created when individuals have varying opinions about religion, government, military, political leaders, and many other subjects. Madison’s argument was that these factions were more easily controlled by the national government, instead of local governments. The national government would be concerned about the whole nation, whereas, local governments were more involved in interests that prevailed in their local area. For instance, if farmers in a local area far outnumbered manufacturers, the local government would work toward the interests of agriculture versus the interests of manufacturing. In other words, as stated in our textbook “By the People: Debating American Government,” Madison introduced a modern, realistic view that stated one should “expect people to pursue their own self-interest.”

Firstly, on July 4th, 1776, Americans officially declare independence from the British by signing the Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia, PA. On July 12th, 1776, a committee made up of one representative from each colony. This committee drafted a new system of government, with the smallest amount of national government involvement with the average citizen possible, called the Articles of Confederation. It wasn’t until June of 1778, that the Articles went through the ratification system, where all thirteen colonies must approve the Articles. Finally, in March of 1781, the Articles of Confederation were in effect and the nation was under a new form of government. As stated in the original document, “Each state retains its sovereignty, freedom, and independence, and every power, jurisdiction, and right, which is not by this confederation, expressly delegated to the United States, in Congress assembled.” The main aspect of the Articles of Confederation is the idea of a small national government and leaving most of the power to the state government. The desire for such small central government stemmed from the newly gained independence from the British. Since they had been controlled and taken advantage for so long, they feared that would happen again if they gave the national government too much power. They feared tyranny. There is a reason why the Articles are known as a great failure, it had too many weaknesses, such as each state only gets one vote in Congress