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Essay On How Did The American Colonies Need To Form A National Government

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The American colonies needed to form a national government to represent them and to bring all the colonies together to stand up against British Parliament. They did this by assembling the First Continental Congress with representatives from each colony. These representatives became the decision makers for all the people. Those decisions led to the battles of Concord and Lexington, which started the American Revolution in 1775. After these battles occurred, a feeling of a major showdown was brewing between the colonies and Britain. The whole idea of going to war with the super power of these times was just inconceivable for many Americans. Many of them had different opinions of the war or they didn’t know which way to lean. Of course, they were also faced with uncertainty going against their …show more content…

Under the Articles of Confederation, the government endured successes and failures while trying to figure out the process of managing what it inherited. From the get go it lacked adequate powers to deal with interstate issues or to enforce its will on the states, and it had little stature in the eyes of the world (p. 153). Little stature because of the unpersuasiveness in keeping Great Britain to fulfilling its terms of the peace treaty and the inability to repay their debt at home and to foreign nations. The nation also faced a postwar depression, state-to-state taxation, and rioting of farmers because of increased taxes which led to Shay’s Rebellion. One the successful note was the inclusion and division of new land claims. The Confederation’s most important accomplishment was its resolution of controversies over the western lands and the passage of the Northwest Ordinance in 1787, which prohibited slavery throughout the territory (pp. 154-155). For the most part, it did keep the states in tact for the most important years of its

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832 Words | 4 Pages

The colonies also called for a continental congress, in the first meeting they made decisions basically defending themselves from anything Britain could possibly throw at them: military preparations in case the British in Boston chose to attack, boycotting in hopes of abolishing trade with Great Britain, rejecting a colonial union under British control, the basically wanted nothing to do with Great Britain because Britain abused their power over the colonists to begin with. The Battle of Lexington and Concord was the official turning point for the colonists, they had colonists prepared with guns, minutemen, that were ready to fight at a seconds notice and they kept close eyes on Boston just in case the British chose to attack. William Dawes and Paul Revere were keeping watch for any British movement. When the British came the colonists were ready and by the end of the battle the British had lost many of their troops in this revolutionary war. This war was definitely the beginning of the fight for independence for the colonists, thy showed the British that they could stand up for themselves and that they deserved better treatment.

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798 Words | 4 Pages

During the Revolutionary war, the leaders of the American colonists thought it necessary to devise a government that would replace the previous British ruling. Their goal was to establish a strong form of government that would give power to the people, representing the same concept that they were fighting for. This would ultimately lead to the creation of the Articles of Confederation. Yet, despite the Founding Fathers' attempt to create a successful national government, The Articles of Confederation were considered a failure, not only because it neglected to give Congress the power to tax, but also for not establishing a strong central government, as well as creating a problem when dealing with foreign affairs.

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The democracy that they desired contradicted the monarchial rule of Britain caused shared tensions to rise among all the colonies. Eventually, the tensions collaborated into one big revolt against the British Empire which resulted in the American Revolution. The shared aspect of a desire for citizen rule was able to overcome the power that their mother country enforced on them. By winning the American Revolution, the colonists were able to achieve the democracy that they desired, a democracy that still runs the American government today. Even though all thirteen colonies were not always similar in belief, they were able to find a common interest that they would then use to secede from the British Empire and develop the society that modern Americans have

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The Articles of Confederation didn’t do too good, which led to some issues. For example, the United States was in a debt, there were many economic problems such as currency with no value, and that British goods were being brought into the United States at a fast rate. After the Articles of Confederation failed the U.S.

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634 Words | 3 Pages

With this article the government resulted in failure against Shay’s Rebellion since they didn’t have all the power needed. Relationships with the foreign country gave the government the thought of it needing to be stronger and better. America had a treaty with Britain which was the Treaty of Paris. The United States started to fail in keeping up with the treaty. Then, later Britain’s and America’s connection started to fall apart since the central government was without enough power to tax.

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After their triumph in the American Revolution, colonists came together as one to forge the United States of America and to reorganize the colonies after the war. The Articles of the Confederation were America’s first form of self-government. During the time period in which they were in use, there effectiveness were tested through events dealing with foreign relations, economic conditions and the settlement of western lands. Although the Articles experienced some success in dealing with western land, the general effectiveness of the Articles was poor and created potential problems for the young nation. Under the Articles of Confederation its powers included conducting foreign relations, settling disputes between states, controlling maritime

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Following the Revolutionary War, America had just gained independance from Great Britain and needed to form a new government. The Articles of Confederation were established as an attempt to create a government that was unlike Britain’s. Unfortunately, the Articles of Confederation had several weaknesses. When in the process of repairing those weaknesses, the Federalists and the Anti-federalists formed. The Articles of Confederation were very weak as well as useless to America and because of this, the Federalists and the Anti-Federalists could not agree on a new type of government.

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The American Revolutionary War was brought on because the disagreements and misunderstandings over representation and the British Coercive Act lead to the Colonies declaring independence. The disagreements and misunderstandings over representations of colonies led to the colonists wanting to be represented by their own colonies. The Colonies are fighting parliament and don't want parliament to represent them. They feel that why should someone miles away decide what's going on and how

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The Articles of Confederation that governed the new nation after the revolution were notable for their unifying ability and land ordinances; however, they ultimately created more problems through inadequate taxation, their inability to pass laws, and an incapacitated central government.

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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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Strengthening the American Government During the early years of America, the nation was under the power of the Articles of Confederation. This weak way of leading the nation was unable to control uprisings like Shay’s Rebellion. The government was too weak to take control and tame the rebellion, thus it was decided that the Articles needed to be revised to give the national government more power. At the time the Anti-Federalists feared that the Constitution, which would give more power to the central government, would destroy america, as well as take away rights from the common man.

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Starting the 1700s , self-government in colonial America prior to 1776 was affected by both democracy and freedom of the press. To have self government means to have the government of a country be runned by it ’s people. The idea of self government has revolutionized since 1776 into what it has become today. The Mayflower Compact in Plymouth and The Trial of John Peter Zenger in New York are both major events that have sparked the beginning of self government in the colonies.

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1211 Words | 5 Pages

“ Given their fears of strong governmental and hostility to taxation ,the Articles of confederation, also known as the weak constitution that was created by Confederation Congress, did not empower the new central government to tax Americans.” ( Keene, Cornell & 0’Connor, 2013) Due to this, the government of the United States was faced with financial problems, created by shortages of funds. In addition to funding issues, there were many other problems that plagued the Confederation. One being that it lacked a federal court system. The Articles of Confederation had no provision to regulate interstate trade and no executives with power.

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The Causes of the American Revolution On April 19, 1775, the battles of Lexington and Concord were fought. These were both the first battles of the American Revolution, a battle fought by America against England for independence. The English had been bad managers of the American colonies, and this was the turning point that gained America freedom in 1776. However, the reasons for this rebellion were surprising. America broke off from England because of the carelessness, taxation, and cruelty of the English government.

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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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