What Are The Four Main Weaknesses In The Articles Of Confederation

The Articles of Confederation developed dominance in separate states. Every state was evenly represented, and was granted one vote. Out of those 13 states only 9 states had to come to a “unanimous agreement,” in order for new amendments to be imposed. Some of the strengths were, “the power to make war & peace, handle foreign relations, Indian affairs, and adjudicate disputes between the states” (Creating the U.S. ppt I). An additional strength was The Articles had the control to print and mint money. However, I do not believe this was for their best interest. “Continental Paper Currency,” was valueless in other states; therefore, each state had to use their own money.

The Articles of Confederation were like a loose contract between the states. There was deepening debt, no power of the government to levy taxes to pay for the cost of the war, some states had a navy while others did not. Shay’s Rebellion, in which the government raised the taxes against farmers to help pay off war debts, caused the farmers to rebel. Hamilton and Madison decided that something needed to be done and so they called together representatives from each state to draw up a new version of the Articles. Instead of another Articles of Confederation being drawn up the United States Constitution was written. The new Constitution had a “weak” central government with strong state powers. It also ensured each state that they would be equally represented in the national government. In one house the representatives were based on the state’s population and in the other house each state gets two representatives. New ideas to the Constitution included: an executive branch

Along with the Constitution we have the Articles of Confederation. Under these Articles congress was a single house where each state had 2 to 7 members but only one vote. They selected executive judges and military officers as well as having power to make war and peace and conduct foreign affairs. The ability to have money Congress could borrow and print money, but they could not collect taxes or enforce laws, precisely it had to rely on the states to provide and enforce. Articles of Confederation was written to be a “framework for the government of the United States, it established a firm league of friendship among the states rather than a government of the people.” (book)

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

During the Revolutionary War, colonists believed that they needed a sense of unified government, so this led to the creation of the Articles of Confederation, the first written constitution of the United States (history.com). Although the Articles of Confederation had its strengths, such as allowing the central government to create treaties and maintain military, it had many weaknesses, such as preventing the central government to levy taxes and regulate trade. It also could not be changed unless there was a unanimous decision and it lacked a stable currency. Since the creation of the Articles of Confederation had many issues and weaknesses, the Continental Congress rewrote the Articles into what is now known as the U.S Constitution. The Constitution established a national government, guaranteed basic rights for the colonists and revised almost everything that was wrong in the original Articles, such as the sovereignty that resided primarily in the states and the lack of power from the national government. The Constitution was later ratified by all 13 states in May 1790, with the support of the Federalist Party. [A] Federalists believed in the commitment to a strong national government and in the practice of a separation of powers. However, Anti-Federalists had the opposite view which was the opposition of a strong national government, the support for small landowners, and the representation of rights of the people. Anti-Federalists believed that a strong national government

The feebleness of Congress was a major weakness of the Articles of Confederation. When the Articles of Confederation were adopted in 1777, they created a “loose confederation” of states (Pageant, 181). This meant that each state was independent and sovereign, linked by Congress only to deal with common problems and foreign affairs. Congress was meant to be part of a united central power of the government, but due to the abuse suffered from the king, the states so limited the powers of the central government to the point of powerlessness.

Although the Articles had some strengths, it’s weaknesses outweighed them and are what essentially led to its downfall. The federal government had little power and was unable to enforce laws. The Continental Congress had borrowed money during the Revolutionary war and was unable to pay those debts. Another weakness of the Articles of Confederation was brought to light in 1786, by Shay’s Rebellion. The rebellion protested increasing debt and the economic chaos. Under the Articles, the national

The federal government, under the Articles, was too weak to enforce their power. The major weakness of the Articles were the following: each state only had one vote in Congress, regardless of size; congress did not have the power to tax; congress did not have power to regulate foreign and interstate commerce; there was no executive branch to enforce any acts passed by congress; thee was no national court system or judicial branch; amendments to the Articles required a unanimous vote; laws required 9/13 majority to pass in Congress; and states could levy tariffs on other states’ goods. This means that, under the Articles, each state viewed its own sovereignty and power as paramount to the national good, which led to conflicts between them. States didn’t support the national government financially, each state

A. The Northwest Ordinance resolve the problem of the western lands by building a new structure for the government of the Northwest

The Federalists wanted to ratify the constitutional while the Federalists did not. A big argument was whether to add the bill of rights. Many argued that the Constitution only stood to limit the government and the people, whereas the Anti-Federalists claimed that the constitution without the Bill of Rights would cause oppression. Delegates from both sides agreed that the Bill of Rights would implemented as the first 10 amendments of the Constitution. But that wasn't the end, more compromises had to be done. Many things arose during the drafting of the constitution such as the proposal of a bicameral legislation in which one would include representation by size and the other would reflect the important of state sovereignty. The Framers saw the errors and limitation of the Articles of Confederation and worked efficiently to compromise for the wellbeing of

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.

Revolution war, men were off to fight for the new nation. Many farmers loan money to keep

The national government created under the Articles of Confederation was very weak. in fact, it was more like a treaty or an organization similar to today's United Nations more than a country. The individual states kept their independence completely. It was as if they were all their own separate countries. They sent representatives to decide matters of national importance, but there were no elections. These representatives were chosen by the states, usually the legislatures. There was no judicial or executive branch. The only thing that the national government had the power to do was go to war and conduct foreign affairs, such as entering into treaties. The national government did not have the power to tax-- this was left up to the states,

The writers of the Articles wanted to prevent tyranny in the government system, so they gave most of the power that a central government would usually have to the state governments. The central government was not allowed to levy taxes, relying on the “generosity of the states” to provide them with income. The Confederation was also very inept in situations of foreign policy, as shown in their inability to rectify the situations of the Ohio Valley forts, the closing of the New Orleans port, and the Barbary Coast pirates. The United States lacked leverage and the monetary means to solve problems. Furthermore, the failures of the Articles led to low morale and low attendance within Congress

They did not trust strong governments, so the central government very little power (Murphy). There was no court system given to the national government so the states were in charge of it all, which meant complaints could not be filed against them (Brackemyre). One of the only powers the national government had was to declare war but they were not allowed to raise an army to fight it and it lacked a chief executive to conduct foreign affairs. The United States also had an ineffective legislative under the Articles of Confederation. Amendments that they wanted to be passed needed to be vote on unanimously and there had to be a nine out of thirteen vote to pass a law (Kelly). Each state also had only one despite their population. Under the Articles, the government did not have a stable economic system, lacked key central leadership and had an inefficient legislature.