Articles Of Confederation Dbq

The Articles of Confederation failed to provide a stable and effective government and economy from 1781 to 1789 due to a lack of a strong central government and interstate disagreements. The Articles of Confederation created a loose system of government led by the states, in which Congress could not levy taxes without the approval of every state or pass even a simple law without the approval of seven states. This was especially evident when the Congress attempted to establish a universal interstate tariff (as interstate commerce was largely unregulated), the Rhode Island assembly denied the resolution, citing the law “bearing hardest on the most commercial states,” the introduction of “officers unknown and unaccountable to them,” and the tax

The Land Ordinance of 1785 and the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 established means of settlement and eventual statehood in the “Old Northwest,” the area northwest of the Ohio River, east of the Mississippi River, and south of the Great Lakes. The states were expected to surrender their claims in these areas (the claims were largely controlled by Virginia, Georgia, Connecticut, New Hampshire, and North and South Carolina). This agreement helped to forge stronger bonds between the states, but Spain and Britain still controlled forts and territories inside the United States. Spain controlled New Orleans and the Mississippi River after the Treaty of Paris in 1783, while Britain continued to hold forts and other outposts in the States. In a 1785 letter by John Jay to the Minister to Great Britain, Jay implored the Minister to “in a respectful but firm manner insist that the United States be put, without further delay, into possession of all the posts and territories within their limits, which are now held by British garrisons” and loosen trade and debt repayment restrictions.This letter highlights the again-growing discontent of the states toward Britain. Spain also monopolized use of the Mississippi river, first banning then charging for its use by the United States. In John Jay’s speech to Congress on failed Spanish negotiations, he implored, “Circumstanced as we are, I think it would be expedient to agree that the treaty should be limited to twenty-five or thirty years, and that one of the articles should stipulate that the United States would forbear to use the navigation of that river below their territories to the ocean,” referencing the Treaty of Paris which gave Spain control of the