Articles Of Confederation Dbq

The Articles of Confederation was a document used to create a stable form of government for the United States during the American Revolution. However, this new form of national government had a mostly negative effect, with some exceptions, on the foreign relations and economic conditions of the country. Therefore, the Articles of Confederation was too weak and unstable to sustain the American country and made situations worse for the United States, rather than helping it improve and succeed on their way to independence. The American Revolution took place over the course of approximately eight years, from 1775 to 1783. It included a series of wars, conflicts and disputes between the original thirteen colonies, now known as states, and England.

“Under the document, the United States had a very difficult time implementing effective foreign policy,” since the individual states couldn’t create their own foreign diplomacies, or negotiations, with foreign lands and the only power granted to the government was the creation of treaties with foreign countries. One of the main issues of America’s affairs with other countries during the Revolutionary War was with the British forts left on United States territory. When the war was coming to an end, British soldiers began leaving the United States, but left many of their garrisons, or forts, there. The Americans were not content with the forts left on their land, so they told the British to take them down and retreat all their men back to England. The British refused to obey the orders, claiming that the United States gaining the Northwest Territory, which was land from the west of what is now Pennsylvania and northwest of the Ohio River, would lead to war with the Indians, and said that they had left their posts “as a token of good will…” for the Natives. The British also argued the continual of the forts on American land because the US had not yet paid their debts to Great Britain, saying that they wouldn’t be removed until all was paid off. This also goes back to the economic issues faced by the Articles of Confederation because they

Most of the power, under the Articles, was given to the states, so they all went in different directions, in terms of their individual governments. As for Congress, it was given little authority or support, which led to the failure of almost every diplomatic relationship. The issues with the document was that the American Congress had limited power and couldn’t create specific laws that dealt with issues with foreign countries and the economy of the states because, under the document, they were considered unconstitutional. George Washington, the general of the American army during the Revolutionary War, believed “it [was] necessary to revise and amend the articles of confederation, I entertain no doubt; but what may be the consequences of such an attempt is doubtful. Yet something must be done, or the fabrick must fall, for it certainly is tottering,” after the hardships with supplies, training, and lack of “advanced” artillery him and his men had experienced during the winter at Valley Forge from 177 to 1778. After the war and all the issues faced in the newly-independent American country, the states all agreed they needed a new document to help the establishment of a stable system of government, thus resulting in the replacement of the Articles of Confederation with a newly created document, called