How Did The Article Of Confederation Have A Strong Central Government

After the outbreak of the Revolutionary War, thirteen American colonies desired a government to displace and overturn the rule of British. So, they attempted to establish a governance of the Article of Confederation. As the first written constitution of the United States, the Articles of Confederation was not faultless. The Articles formed a weak central government and a loose confederation of sovereign states, leaving most of the power and independence with the state governments. Although the document gave Congress authority to make treaties, coin money and maintain army force, the central government still lacked of ability to implement these rules (Foner, 1991). Moreover, the central government had to depend on financial contribution from

However, they did not form this kind of government because they were fear of a government with so much authority, which same as British system. This cause guided the Article of Confederation had an inherent weakness which set sovereign power in the hands of each state. In Article II, which explicitly stated, “Each state retains its sovereignty, freedom, and independence, and every power, jurisdiction, and right (Brackemyre, 2015).” They didn’t make a strong national government, but constructed an American government rely on dominant state governments. Thus, due to the reason of absence of strong, powerful government that generated a series of limitations and issues to make it lost efficacy. According to the Article of Confederation, there were strength and weakness. The first strength was that the government signed a treaty with France to become alliance. Then, the government started a war for independence. Next, the government negotiated to finish the American Revolution by the Treaty of Paris n 1783. The government also passed the Northwest Ordinance that consent to let Northwest Territories to build their own government, meanwhile it banned slavery as

Under the Article of Confederation, congress had no power to coin money, which meant each state had ability to develop its own currency. This obstructed the business between state and state apparently, as low liquidity of currency. Afterwards, Congress was unable to regulate interstate and foreign commerce, which caused American economic lost in chaos. Each state had its import and export polices. As well as they had their own economic coordination among states. Plus, some states declined to hand out taxes, so Congress did not have ways to get source of finance. The only thing they could do was to borrow money on credit. More, because Congress lacks of central leadership so that they could not keep a stable form. Each State government was given power to overturn national actions which was objectionable. Because Congress had no ability to enforce their laws, states could ignore national law without worrying punishments (The Articles of Confederation, 2015). Another problem was that there was no foreign affairs head so that America was at a diplomatic inferior position. The serious issue was Congress could not deal with internal and external intimidations. Then, the Article of Confederation gave Congress power to declare war and establish army, but they did not have authority to raise one. They need to depend on state militia, which limit capacity of Congress to dispose menaces. For example, Britain