Weak Articles of Confederation
When the United States won the revolutionary war, it became clear that they would need a new government. They met at the 2nd Continental Congress to create this government and called it the Articles of Confederation, which was ratified on March 1, 1781. There is a reason how the Articles were effective, why they failed, and why they were beneficial. The Articles of Confederation failed to solve many of the nations’ problems, but it did have many good ideas. For example, the Northwest Ordinance was added.
This introduced Habeas Corpus, trial by jury, and freedom of religion. Also new were the statehood requirements which were; minimum 60,000 people for a state, no slavery for new states, and all citizens are equal. Many of these good points were passed on to the constitution. The Articles also developed the departments of War, Treasury, Foreign Affairs, and Marine. However, little was done about the problems of taxes, debts, currency, or state relations. However, when they set out to write the Articles, they did not want too much power concentrated on one group of people.
The Articles of Confederation were not useful overall. Congress couldn’t; regulate trade, draft troops, or levy taxes on people. They had a weak central government, and this is actually what they wanted. They didn’t want a strong central government, because that is what England had. This caused taxes to be ignored, loyalists’ land to be permanently confiscated, and money to become worthless because they printed too much, and there wasn’t an official currency between the states.
Additionally, there was really no “ruler” in charge of the colonies. The chairman of congress did little more than speak at conventions. Furthermore, all 13 states had to agree to make an amendment to the Articles. This proved to be impossible. Finally, the number of states needed to print money or make amendments did not account for additional future states. Without mistakes, there cannot be triumphs. The Articles of Confederation were undeniably flawed.
However, the people of the United States learned from these problems. They realized that they needed a strong central government, instead of a weak government. Not everything was bad about the Articles, however. The legislative power that they held was as follows; ability to appropriate, borrow, issue money, conduct wars (with 9/13 states allowing theses actions), foreign relations, postal service, appoint military officers, and control Indian affairs. These laws were an attempt to keep he government in check. However, they often failed. To sum up, the Articles of Confederation were a failure overall. The evidence of this is the way the Articles were written, their shortcomings, and their success. However, it paved the way for the Constitution, which is one of the longest lasting governments to date. The colonists were able to learn from their mistakes, which is important for a country. The Articles of Confederation might have been an effective idea, but not an effective government.
If you call something a government, it implies that it has the ability to function in governing adequately. The Articles of Confederation failed at effectively governing the United States. The United States had just broken away from a strong central government and was very much afraid of a powerful tyrannical ruler. This lead to the creation of an extremely weak central government with strong state governments (this is a confederacy); it was one of the most limited governments in world history.
It had no president, no judicial branch, and its congress was made up of one representative from each state. The congress’ sole power was to determine peace and war. Congress did not have the ability to raise money Yet, despite these positive deeds there were many setbacks. One primary setback was the feeble government designed to prevent any future abuse of power. However, with all things considered the Constitution that now shapes modern America would have never been formed without first evolving from the flawed Articles of Confederation.
Between the years of 1781 and 1789 the Articles of Confederation failed to provide the United States with an effective government. The country was no in a stable state, economically, politically, or defensively. Under The Articles of Confederation the government could not levy taxes which added to a huge economic problem. The Articles also tried to limit the power of the central government and instead gave it to the states which turned out to be a completely unrealistic approach to creating a stable nation.
However possibly the biggest weakness under The Articles of Confederation was the lack of defense. The American economy decreased significantly when the Articles of Confederation were ratified in 1781. (Doc B) This was because the Articles of Confederation did not grant the central government the power to regulate trade or tax. Instead taxation was left to the individual states. The states, having been granted power under The Articles of Confederation decided they would not pay. The citizens of the few states that did institute a tax to he
