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Articles Of Confederation Strengths And Weaknesses

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The Constitution
The Articles of Confederation was an archetype constitution that created a nation of independent states only loosely connected together by a single congress. The founding fathers deliberately designed a nation with a very feeble central government. There was no judicial branch, no executive branch, there was no coining money, and there was no president. These were all intrinsic weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation that were entrusted to the states, weaknesses that would soon cause another rebellion. It was a confederation rather than a strong union, so in a sense we were playing with the other states on the team but we were not really a unit. The colonists have just been through a very bad breakup with the British king, so they didn’t want another tyrant to rule …show more content…

But they couldn’t impose the taxes to pay for all of those things. Paying federal taxes was voluntary for the states at this time under the Articles of Confederation. In order to pay for the revolutionary war, the United States had borrowed money from European investors and nations. But with no power to tax, The United States couldn’t pay back any of those debts and this created a huge economic disaster by 1787. The central government couldn’t do much to protect peace at home without any funds and with very limited power. This became abundantly clear throughout Shay’s Rebellion in 1786, when farmers in Massachusetts viciously objected to the states’ high taxes under Daniel Shays’ leadership, who was a former captain in the Continental Army. This was the first major armed rebellion in the post Revolutionary United States. The farmers in western Massachusetts organized their resistance in ways similar to the American Revolutionary struggle, but disintegrated quickly. Despite this fact, the fundamental social forces that pushed and inspired such dramatic actions remained. The rebellion established high degree of internal conflict prowling underneath the surface of

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Shay’s Rebellion thought that the Articles of confederation was not strong enough and that there should be more power in the central government. The Articles of confederation was seen weak because, it revealed the economic issues and taxation, the lack of leadership, and not being efficient in making laws. In Shay’s rebellion raising the tax on farmers to pay off debt was a weakness. Farmers had taken out loans due to shortages of the revolution, and were being taxed by state.

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Although the Articles of Confederation served a great purpose and had numerous advantages and strengths, it also contained many weaknesses with some flaws. One of the weaknesses is that this agreement could not enforce laws or have the power to tax the people of the colony. Along with this, the government could also not allow each of he states to continue to follow those laws. There was also no national army or navy, no national courts, no solid leadership or power in a position to take charge, and there was only one vote for each state no matter what the size of the state is. The main reason Americans wanted to construct a weak national government was to prevent the them from gaining too much power and allowing the government to eventually

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One effect of the bad government was Shays rebellion. Daniel Shay was a farmer, and at that time, the farmers couldn’t

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Paige Balestrieri January 1st, 2017 Honors US History I Period 1 Chapter 9 Alternative Assessment Answers The Articles Of Confederation had many weak components to it. With those weaknesses, the one that stood out was how all power rested within the states.

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As it applies to the Articles of Confederation there were many weaknesses in the way it went about governing the United States. For one, the loose federation of the states was too weak to act as a foundation to be considered or act as a central government. In addition the state legislatures had too much power and in turn had the ability to influence economic issues of all kinds. This strong legislature is the same one that allowed for mob ruling and actions by debtors. The Articles of confederation were also weak because the required congress to have all 13 colonies in agreement when a new tax was to be passed.

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Shays Rebellion Shays’ Rebellion was the final nail in the coffin for the Articles of Confederation. It managed to serve as the catalyst for the Founding Fathers to recognize the necessity for change to a stronger and more centralized government. The rebellion highlighted several of the documents’ failings that ultimately were due to the weak and decentralized government that the Articles of Confederation established. Although the Articles of Confederation was America’s first federal constitution, its weak federal government did not work out well for the United States.

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778 Words | 4 Pages

The Articles of the Confederation was the first government constitution that the United States used, and, although there were strength like the Northwest Ordinance of 1787, there were major weaknesses of the Articles of the Confederation like the following: requiring 9 out of the 13 colonial votes from the representatives from different states to pass a law; having no executive and judicial branch; and the federal government being unable to impose tax revenue onto the states. Such flaws would eventually lead to the Constitution and the repeal of the articles, for the Constitution was a measure to fix the problems of the articles with a stronger government that allowed them to impose taxes and and implement new laws for a more effective government.

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The Articles of Confederation was the first successful effort of organizing the colonies of the United States. Prior to its establishment, all American activities that were rebellious to England were viewed in the same way that terrorism is viewed today. These rebel activities acted independently of a sovereign authority. As a result, the revolutionary forces in the United States couldn’t leverage or seek the assistance of other foreign governments. , leaving them tactically and diplomatically weak against its British foe The Articles of Confederation established a singular legislature, as opposed to the eventual bicameral ( having 2 chambers) system created by the Constitution.

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The Articles of Confederation was an agreement among the thirteen original states of the United States that served as the first constitution. The Articles had first been introduced by Richard Henry Lee in the Second Continental Congress. Although the Articles of Confederation has made its contributions throughout history, the Articles, however, did not last very long and had been proven inadequate from the very start. I agree with this statement based on the examples and analysis of the Constitution I will soon provide. The Articles of Confederation were written during a time when the American people feared a strong national government.

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Congress scared of creating a tyrannical government, especially after they had just fought so hard against one, created the Articles of Confederation. While not meant to be permanent more just to satisfy the citizens it still did not last as long as intended. The Articles of Confederation were a major stepping stone on the road to creating a country that will last for centuries. The Articles of Confederation were chosen as Congress felt Parliament had too much power and as a result they severely limited the powers of the national gov’t.

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To do this, Massachusetts put heavier taxes on the yeoman farmers, who all became indebted. When the farmers could not pay the government seized their farms, land, any animals, their houses, and even sometimes their wives. Despite the state government taking all of the farmer’s property and supplies, the farmer was still expected to pay the taxes. To stop the foreclosures, a group of yeoman farmers took up arms and closed the courts to ensure that no more farms could be foreclosed. This rebellion, Shay’s Rebellion, was led by Danielle Shay, who himself was an indebted farmer.

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This was originally not seen as a problem, as the newly-independent Americans had just seceded from what they believed to be a despotic, tyrannical regime of King George III. However, the weak central government's inability to tax soon led to problems, most famously Shays’ Rebellion. Without having a national tax imposed to pay for the Revolutionary War, many people went bankrupt and lost their homes, farms

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Taxes got out of hand and farmers couldn’t afford to pay them. To make matters worse Daniel Shays stirred up a rebellion in Massachusetts, calling for a change of price in

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In one hand, the Articles of Confederation had a weak central government, differing form the strong central government in the Constitution. The Constitution’s government had a structure of three different branches; the legislative, executive, and judicial branch; unlike the Articles of Confederation that had no structure whatsoever. The Articles of Confederation had many problems like, the poor international trade, poor foreign relations and a weak economy in contrast to the Constitution that only had one problem, the struggle over the ratification. the Articles of Confederation achieved the Northwest Ordinance and the Northwest Territory and according to a history website, the Constitution achieved that we had a system of checks and balances, that we had a bill of rights, and, eventually, the survival of a bloody civil war intact. Lastly, the Constitution had three compromises: the Great Compromise, the Three-Fifths Compromise and the Slave Trade compromise.

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494 Words | 2 Pages

The Articles of Confederation were a document seen as the “first” constitution of the United States. This document granted the new national government power to control the military, declare war, and create treaties between the states. However, the Articles had holes in it considering the government did not have the power to tax, create laws without at least nine states’ approval, or change the Articles of Confederation without a unanimous vote. This means that the country soon fell into debt and petty arguments between state, the new government had no control. It was time for a change.

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