Articles Of Confederation Research Paper

n the late 1770’s the Revolutionary War was in swing. As the Founding Father’s met at the Second Continental congress, ideas were thrown around about the issue of leadership in a developing nation. They needed to create something that 13 states could stand behind and unite to fight off the tyrannical rule of Great Britain. Thus, the Articles of Confederation were born. But, like any first edition, it came with flaws. First, the Articles had no economic organization. Under the Articles, the national government had limited power to regulate trade. When it did have power, it was about trade between Native Americans and even then, interstate commerce was monitored by the state it was happening in. The national government had no ability to trade

This was largely left up to individual states to do. Second, it lacked the establishment of a central leadership. Without strong leadership, there was a lack on the judicial side of things. There were no court systems yet which meant that laws could not be enforced. Judiciary acts were left up to states which would do what they saw fit. This meant that if states found national actions objective, they could overturn them. Also,here were no foreign affairs officials. Nobody was put into place to talk and communicate with foreign countries. With the lack of a strong leader there was also no way to manage internal and external affairs. Congress could declare war but had no way to create an army. With Britain encroaching upon American boundaries, Congress had a hard time trying to fight back and protect America’s sovereignty. Somehow, they got it done.Last, it created legislative inefficiencies. When the states met to govern, it was largely inefficient because large and small states had an equal, single vote. Virginia had ten times the people as Delaware, but still had the same voting weight. Also, there was difficulty passing