Struggles of Emerging America

While the Articles of Confederation unified the American colonies for the first time, the individual states had a hard time allowing a central government to solely control their territory. Due to fear of an all powerful monarchy like the one they had experienced in England the colonies were wary of allowing a central government certain powers. These certain powers included control of commerce, ability to tax, and even the ability to act directly upon individual citizens of a state. While the Articles provided a loose confederation to unify the new country, they were only a temporary solution due to their obvious weaknesses in several areas. The Articles of Confederation were essentially

Why is government necessary? In the words of Alexander Hamilton, “Why has government been instituted at all? Because the passions of men will not conform to the dictates of reason and justice, without constraint” (Federalist No. 15 137). Men have a sin nature and must have an authority set in place to keep them from falling into anarchy. America has federal and state governments with a system of checks and balances for exactly this reason, but one sector of the government has overstepped the bounds that were set for it in this country’s infancy. In order to answer the question of whether more power should be put into the hands of the federal or state government, three things must be considered: the history of state’s rights in America, the differing types of government, and the constitution itself.

However, the most important power was that Congress had the right to obtain territory and control development of the western territories, which was previously controlled by their mother country, Great Britain. (Doc D) With the Articles of Confederation, the United States was able to break away from their mother country and become a free nation, setting up their own government. Although the articles set the United States free, it was unable to provide them with a solid government. Leaders like John Jay and James Madison criticized the Articles of Confederation because of the weak government. (Doc G) There were several problems between the states and the central government. For instance, sometimes the states refused to give the government the money it needed, and they engaged in tariff wars with one another, bringing interstate trading to a halt. The government could not pay off the debts it had incurred during the revolution, including paying soldiers who had fought in the war and citizens who had provided supplies to the cause. (Doc C) In addition, the new nation was unable to defend its borders from British and Spanish encroachment because it could not pay for an army when the states would not contribute the necessary funds. Another serious problem was that Congress could not pass needed measures because they lacked nine-state majority required to become laws. The states

As territorial expansion continued, the inability of the Articles of Confederation to control even a small state like Rhode Island narrowed their chances to control the entire new nation. Rhode Island had the option “to reject the recommendation of Congress” (Doc A), seemingly giving all states the right to ignore Congress’ commands. The other way around, when discussing the American army, the Congress had “the inability… to pay their demands” (Doc C). Without the ability to fulfil a citizen’s requests, the states were left to control themselves independently. Additionally, the weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation meant “that the better kind of people… will be led by the insecurity of property, the loss of confidence in their rulers, and the want of public faith and rectitude” (Doc G). The Articles of Confederation couldn’t hold any power in the states, couldn’t fulfil states’ requests, and people would lose confidence in the government’s ability to maintain the society. This absence of government connection to both the states and the people forced the farming class towards what was known as Shays’ Rebellion. Due to a lack of central government, each state could tax the crop exchange between states, as well as issue their own currency. Farmers of western Massachusetts were tired of the state lacking these important aspects, and rebelled despite the rebellion’s imminent downfall. Although seemingly unsuccessful, the rebellion proved the faults in the Articles of Confederation. Civic virtue, which was supposed to drive the new nation, was insufficient. Finally, the split between the Articles of Confederation and the states directly influenced the split in political parties. While the Federalists believed the strong central government would help secure

The second issue in this paper is about rebellions throughout American history. There were several rebellions, but Shays’ Rebellion, the Whiskey Rebellion, and Fries’s Rebellion were an important part of the militia debate. “Shays’s Rebellion was the largest violent uprising in the new nation’s history, would become the first test of the radical potential of the militia and the right to bear arms in post-Revolutionary America”(Cornell, 31). Shays’s Rebellion revealed a tension in American constitutional theory if the militia was an agent of government authority or a popular system serving as a check on government. The notion that the militia refused to enforce an unjust law or took up arms against the government became the most important

In 1776, when the United States declared independence from Britain, the new country needed a set of laws to apply to all of the states to replace the earlier British rule. The colonists, however, were concerned that if the United States put too much power in the central government the states rights would vanish. Therefore, the first form of government, the Articles of Confederation, gave too much power to the states and insufficient power to the central government. States could create their own money and refuse federal taxes, which caused many tribulations and almost destroyed the new country. In 1787, delegates from twelve states came together to revise the Articles

The protestors called themselves “Regulators” and they took action without acceptance of the courts or the legislature because the government wanted to raise money to pay for the war debt by raising tax and foreclosing the people (Cornell, 31). The embattled farmer in western Massachusetts stood up and they took arms to protect their liberty against the tyranny because the government failed to respond to their needs during the liberty riot in 1768. Therefore, Shays’s Rebellion was the biggest violent protest in the new nation’s history of the states and it “would become the first test of the radical potential of militia and the right to bear arms in post-Revolutionary America” (Cornell 31). Moreover, the rebellion was so huge and Governor Bowdoin ordered the militia to march against the Regulators but the militia refused to do so and they joined the Shays’s rebellion instead, they protest to keep the courts closed in order to prevent further foreclosures and tax raising. (Cornell, 34). Thus, this was a huge success for Shays’s rebellion and it proofed that the strength of citizen’s militia is more superior than a standing army (Cornell, 33). However, the debate included that Friends of Order, which group supported the government, said that the western militia refused to march against the rebellion as an anarchy was a weakness (Cornell, 33). Therefore, Shays’s rebellion raised a controversy debate in American constitutional theory was that the militia was an agent of government authority or the militia was a popular institution checking on the government (Cornell, 33). However, Shay’s and his follower were work collectively, they did not work alone as an individuals and their hearts was for the locality and the same can be told by the militia, the militia represented the

The Articles of Confederation experienced problems from the very beginning. The main problem was the articles of confederation didn't establish that all 13 states be a sovereign nation, it allowed all 13 states to be their own sovereign nations, in truth all the states were a confederation. Which allowed them to do whatever they wanted outside of the states with foreign affairs, which the federal government now handles. The solution to the sovereignty of the states was creating a national government to help the laws not being enforced be enforced in different states. This itself was another underlying issue. The solution to the states not following each others laws was fixed by The Full Faith and Credit Clause. The Full Faith and Credit Clause

Governing arrangements provided by the Articles of Confederation included a unicameral legislature, where there was no executive branch in fear it would lead to tyranny and where every state had a single vote. The Confederation was said to grant too much power to states, primarily small states like Rhode Island, where less than two percent of the population vetoed a tax reform, as mentioned in the Central Ideas of American Government textbook. A main weakness of the document is that it led to a weak central government, which had a loose established power over the states. As the professor mentions in one of the module videos, since payments are made by state legislatures and many decisions required approval of a great majority of states, the

Even though some of the states lacked some of the qualities that made up a nation, over time they made up for what they were missing such as leadership, i.e. president, an army, and etc. If it weren’t for Virginia, who ratified the constitution on December 16, 1777, none of the other states would have ratified it. But in 1778 the other states decided to follow Virginia’s vote and went ahead to become the United States of America. Due to agreeing on the Articles of Confederation, the positive outlook is that over time the states finally got organized and became reunited. The Articles of Confederation was never a constitution that was doomed to fail, although the states had their disagreements and differences it all came together and established a great

Throughout American history, many Americans assume that too much power is given to one party or the other. The Article of confederation was important in the United States because it affected the way over government functions today. Specifically, under the Article of confederation, the United States was intended to be formed on a basis of Federalism. Within this structure of Federalism, states have their own rights and majority of power with its people. The federal government on the other hand, was design to play a small role in the nation. In comparison to individual states, federal government had less power and responsibility under the ideas of the Article of confederation. In sum, then, the issue is whether the Article of confederation had proven to be unstable and inefficient. The limitations of the federal government has sparked the question of why did the framers want to scrap the Article of confederation.

Under The Articles of Confederation, the American government was decentralized which proved to be a problem for the country as a whole. The Articles of Confederation stated that each state “retains its sovereignty, freedom, and independence.” This document established the states as separate, and only united in a “friendship.”

The articles of Confederation had many faults and weaknesses. Firstly, it had a unicameral legislature to one vote per state. A 2/3 majority needed to pass legislation and vote to amend Articles. The unicameral legislature left the states with one legislative or parliamentary chamber. This left the 13 states and the central government with no separation of powers. The central government had no national executive or court system. Along with those problems the central government had no power to collect taxes, raise an army, or even regulate trade. With one vote per state to change or amend the Articles a unanimous agreement. This left the 13 states and the central government with no separation of powers. This intern left the central government weak since the states maintained a majority

The United States began as a conglomeration of states resisting what they viewed as a tyrannical, central authority. When the new republic was evolving, many of the colonial leaders wanted to do all they could to make sure that power was not concentrated in the hands of a king or 'tyrant,' as they regarded their former King George. The result was the Articles of Confederation, a loose confederation of the original thirteen colonies with a very weak central authority. "Congress had no power to enforce its requests to the states for money or troops, and by late 1786 the government had ceased to be effective" (Articles of Confederation, 2012, Britannica Concise Encyclopedia).

Even after the Constitution, there were questions of dominant branch, division of authority between federal and states, and the rights of individuals.