Essay on The Articles of Confederation

The Articles of Confederation Following the Revolutionary War, the new American Government was set up under the Articles of Confederation. The Articles of Confederation did not give the federal government enough authority to be effective. So in 1787 delegates from all the states attended a meeting known as the Constitutional Convention. Among those attending were James Madison, representing Virginia, William Paterson, representing New Jersey, and Roger Sherman, representing Connecticut.

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.

With the United States new found independence from Great Britain, its founding fathers realize from their historical experiences that a document of law needed to be crafted and established to preserve its new found independence, while maintaining order. However, the first document crafted by the founding fathers, the Articles of Confederation, did preserve the country new found independence but it did not maintain order. The Articles of Confederation described by many founding fathers to be a document that was crafted to satisfy needs of every state for its ratification, even when the document did not present a responsible democracy. The Articles of Confederation granted all national powers to the congress; however, it allowed each state

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.

Unfortunately for the National Government, Congress did not have any power to collect taxes from people in each individual state. The Congress could ask for money, but could not by any mean force states to pay them. The National Government greatly needed money to cover expenses and debts. Congress could not pay the Nation’s debt, which meant they could not provide much needed

It was all because the national government couldn’t enforce anything and just had to do what was requested of them with the little material they were given. To see the mess that the Articles of Confederation brought to the country, I 'll give an example. The state government would enforce the national government to print money during the revolutionary war to meet the demands of the war. But due to the debt that the United States were in during the Revolutionary War, the overprinting of money had no money value to back it up, which therefore made it worthless by the time the end of the war rolled around. While the national government asked for the state governments to raise their taxes to recover from the war and bring the currency up to be worth something, the national government wasn 't allowed to tax the states and were only able to request that each state pays their fair share. But by the national government not being able to enforce the taxes to be paid by the states is what led to horrible inflation. Because the states didn 't want to pay taxes and thought that they could do without a national currency, they each created their own currency which too added to the inflation. Inflation was something that occurred with the currency when the value of the money was decreased, which later on led to the increase of prices, which meant that you needed more money to be able to buy something. When each state started printing their own money they ran into issues and

This document was written in the 18th century specifically during the Federalist Era. It was written 18 years after America won independence from England on July 4, 1776. This lead to the creation of the “Articles of Confederation” which were made primarily for the people because they feared central government having all power. Then at The Annapolis Convention (1786) is where the groundworks of “The U.S. Constitution” were discussed to replace the “Articles of Confederation”.

The topic of this paper is the Constitution. The paper will cover the weaknesses in the Articles of Confederation, which was addressed in the Constitution. The paper will cover the how the Constitution addressed the complaints in the Declaration of Independence. Another topic of the paper will be the Great Compromise and how the representation of states in Congress was determined. Finally, the paper will view the treatment of slaves for the purpose of representation and the effects thereof.

The most significant issues that the United States had under the Articles of Confederation were: “managing the western expansion, foreign relations, and debt.” The first significant issue was with the western expansion as Americans relocated to the Nashville, western Pennsylvania, and Kentucky areas in mass numbers in the 1780s. The result of this meant that the areas were enhanced greatly that had western charters. At the time, the northern and southern areas (in the Appalachian Mountains and Mississippi River) had specific boundaries based on the original colonized charters which meant that the western area was the Pacific Ocean. The states that did not have part of the western area resented the condition and as a result, Maryland protested by not approving the Articles of Confederation unless the state of Virginia yielded its western land to the federal government which they did in 1784. However, their yielding was not without strings attached as they demanded that they be allowed to keep a small portion of the land reserve for their own use as a part of the deal which Congress had no choice but to accept. Eighteen years later in 1802, every state had yielded their western land to the federal government.

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

The Articles of Confederation was the first order of government established within the United States of America from March 1st, 1781 and lasted until March 4th, 1789. This written document established the functions of the national government of the United States after gaining independence from Great Britain. In order to not follow in the footsteps of Great Britain and become a tyranny, the Articles of Confederation declared that each state was independent and sovereign; each state had an absolute veto that essential provided undisputed power. Despite being the first government in the United States that unified the thirteen colonies, its inability to flourish was the result of the lack of power it was provided by the states. The Articles of Confederation paved the way for a well-balanced governmental structure through its few significant contributions that would eventually lead to the government in today’s America.

“The Constitution devotes the national domain to union, to justice, to defense, to welfare and to liberty” (Maier 154). This quote, stated by William Henry Seward, displays the strength and stability that the Constitution had over the nation, and the liberty and justice it supplied for all of its citizens. Although the Constitution and the Articles of Confederation have similarities, they have many differences, which proved that the Articles of Confederation were a weaker document in comparison. It can be said that the Articles were the “rough draft” to the final living document, which significantly influenced and “ruled” our government, as it still does today.

The Articles of Confederation were the earliest constitution of the United States. After the United States became fully independent from Great Britain, following the Revolutionary War, the document was created to outline the functions and management of new nation. However, the document established a very weak central government, instead giving the power to the states. To correct the mistake, a new version of such a document was created: the Constitution, which is still in effect today. (Articles of Confederation, 1777-1781.) The majority of the details in the Constitution are remastered versions of details established in the Articles of Confederation, including the issues of taxation, power balance, and delegates.

America’s first constitution was the Articles of Confederation, not the Constitution. Under the Articles of Confederation, there were strong state governments and a weak central government, which had many disadvantages, but also some advantages. After 1787, the constitutional convention tried to amend the Articles of Confederation, and the Constitution was enacted in America. This essay will talk about the process and reason for the Constitution instead of Articles of Confederation.

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