Structural Problems With The Articles Of Confederation

The Articles of Confederation was the first system of government that the united states ever put into force, and is the only one they ever wrote besides the constitution. The articles was created due to a need for the United States to unite during the american revolution, and was basically a loosely bound union of states, so it was obvious that this was essentially just to semi-unite the states in order to fight the british, and they would form a more stable form of government after the fact, which they did when they wrote the constitution. I will now list the provisions of the Articles of Confederation.

Last year, our new government was formed. We agreed to what the Articles had said. It seems that now we are having issues with what we had once agreed with. In this newsletter, I will only address four of the most problematic things in the Articles of Confederation. However there are many more that will not be brought to light today.

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 Articles of Confederation, Adopted by Congress on November 15, 1777, for all practical purposes was the United States’ first Constitution. Created to establish a bond between the newly formed states, “...the Articles purposely established a "constitution" that vested the largest share of power to the individual states” (Early America). This ensured that the government did not have the majority of power. “...the Articles denied Congress the power to collect taxes, regulate interstate commerce and enforce laws...allowing the states retained their "sovereignty, freedom and independence” (Early

The Articles of Confederation were developed after the Revolutionary War, and were a good idea to help set standards for America. However, they had some major problems that needed to be solved in order for America to become a strong nation. After these problems were addressed the Constitution was developed.

The Articles of Confederation was the first constitution of the United States. They were written during the revolutionary war to create a more unified government, and to establish what the national government could and could not do. The Articles let each state keep “sovereignty, freedom, and independence,” and created a very weak central government. For example, Congress could not regulate commerce or impose taxes. The impact that the Articles of Confederation had on federalism for the next few years was: the federal government had very few powers, and most of the authority remained in control of each individual state.

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 Article of Confederation was a written document that was put in place in 1777 after the 13 colonies had gained independence from the British. During the time in which the Articles of Confederation were still in place; there were problems arising like: the Continental Army not being paid for their services, the struggling economy, and the people wanting to overthrow the government. But events that had taken place had brought the elite for a Constitutional Convention. In the Convention; the elite had discussed the problem that the Articles had caused for them and for the people. The elites during the convention had scrapped the Articles and wrote a new document; which was the Constitution. The Articles of Confederation had a lot of weakness, and this pushed the leaders to hold the Constitutional Convention, also the leaders had to make sure that the people didn't as much power over the government as they did.

The Articles of Confederation were placed as a form of temporary government. However, the Articles did not address the many problems the United States was having and going to have at the time. Therefore The Articles of Confederation were one of the weakest forms of functioning governments.

“In November 1777 the Continental Congress adopted the Articles of Confederation, the United States first written constitution.”(Ginsberg, et. al. 2014: 35). The Articles of Confederation played a big role in the drafting of the United States’ new constitution. The articles were our United States’ first written governing document. The Articles of Confederation solved some problems by creating at least a minimal amount of government at the time, but it also created some problem for our country because we did not have enough government. As time went on, the Founding Fathers found the issues with the Articles of Confederation, sought ways to solve those issues, and created the Constitution as a lasting governing document.

The Articles of Confederation caused many problems for our founding fathers. There were many important factors that were abandoned in order to run a functional nation. Some of the problems were: no federal army, no national currency, the federal government could not tax, there were no centralized courts for interstate crimes, and it was extremely difficult to pass a law and almost impossible to pass an amendment. Lucky for us our founding fathers met in Philadelphia and discussed how they can approve on the Confederation. Eventually they came up with the Constitution of Independence and the Bill of Rights. Before the Constitution was created there was a lot of arguing and compromising done. Without compromise it would be impossible to

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 Articles of Confederation were what originally ran the United States national government. It was created, and approved by each of the 13 individual states, however, it was extremely flawed and weak. It had a one- house congress, and was designed with little authority to ensure it didn’t violate any individual state’s rights. It could not sign treaties or enforce enlistment into the military; leading it to be unable to accurately defend itself. Each state had one vote, allowing equal power among the states, regardless of state population. Trade and debt decisions were not under its authority. It essentially held no power to enact or enforce laws, but laid the groundwork for government.

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 Articles of Confederation were a written agreement, ratified by the thirteen original states of the United States of America, which laid the guidelines as to how the US government was supposed to