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Shays Rebellion served as the final nail in the coffin for the Articles of Confederation. Although the Articles of Confederation was America's first national document, it came with many weaknesses. One of the major weaknesses was that the federal government was too weak and therefore could not enforce laws. The Continental Congress borrowed money to fight in both the Revolutionary War and the French and Indian War therefore were in debt.
Liberty Sumners 712 The Articles of Confederation were a great change to our Government. With time spent using this system, we realized the weaknesses associated with it. This lead to the Constitutional Convention being convened on 1787 in Philadelphia. We needed to find out what was weakening our Government.
The Articles of Confederation were the first document created after the American Revolution. The Articles of Confederation were problematic for the nation because they gave to much power to the states. For instance, the articles did not include a central banking system, no executive, legislative, nor judicial branch of federal government. Therefore, the power of the country resided in the states, and this lead to an ambiguous nation with no stability. For example, some states were creating their own money and negotiated deals with other countries that did not include all the other states.
1) The first problem with the Articles of Confederation was that Congress could not raise taxes and had no money of its own because the States collected taxes and were reluctant to fork over any money to the Congress. Article one section eight of the constitution tells Congress they have the power to collect taxes which fixed the problem of no body giving money to the Congress Article one section eight also solves another one of the main problems of the Articles of Confederation which was that a weak central government had a hard time standing up to foreign enemies. In the same section that solved our problem of money for the central government it also authorized Congress to raise an army. The third problem was the Articles of Confederation
The Articles of Confederation was the first constitution of the United States. The Articles were ratified in 1781. The Articles were a loose union under authority of congress. They had three purposes; to declare war, raise an army, and so sign treaties. There were many strengths as well as many weaknesses that came out of the Articles.
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.
Following the war, the states had no structure and made several attempts at forming a functional and working government before they ultimately decided on the constitution of 1787. The states distrust of a centralized government was revealed in the details of the Articles of confederation and the distaste in a strong centralized government in the Anti-Federalists. The Articles of Confederation was the first government plan that came about after the war. The Articles only worked for a short period of time as when they wrote the Articles they gave most of the power to the states instead of having a strong central government in fear of it being to powerful and a repeat of the British reoccurring. The decision to completely neglect the need of
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.
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.
The Articles of Confederation were passed following the American Revolution in order to establish law and order to the new country. Compared to today’s refined government, these laws came with many weaknesses such as differences in currency, unequal representation, and no enforcement of the laws. The articles stated that each state could have their own currency, meaning if two people in different states wanted to trade, or if someone was traveling to another state, they would have to exchange their currency. This would turn out to be troublesome due to the extra effort being made in currency exchange. It was like if traveling to or trading with another state was like traveling to or trading with another country in the modern day.
Some of the powers that the national government was allowed under the Articles of Confederation was the creation of coins, and the establishment of a military. The new Congress was not allowed to formally tax the states, but rather accept the money offered by the states at their jurisdiction. This new system of government and the Articles of Confederation acting as the constitution lead to many problems and was not a practical in its way of governance. The Founding Fathers “looked upon their political institutions and tradition with a critical eye, acknowledging the failures and weaknesses of state constitutions” (Carey 30). They realized that there needs to be a government established with more power given to the national government, while the states had less power (Carey
In 1781,the articles of confederation were ratified. This was the first form of central government in America. America just got out of a tyranny, so they tried their best to limit the government's power. This resulted in a very weak Central Government. What two main weaknesses of the articles of confederation caused the articles to be a bad form of government.
The Articles of Confederation was the first Constitution for the states as a whole (each state had their own by this time), but it was written in a manner that assigned duties, but not so much as to give sweeping power and risk a totalitarian government. Under the Articles of Confederation, the colonies were a “League of Friendship” and not a truly functioning government (Journals of the Continental Congress, 1774-1789, p. 546). The sovereignty of the states and people were front and center, but this created an issue for the function and decision making ability of the Congress. As written by Alexander Hamilton to James Duane, 3 Sept. 1780, this makes “our union feeble and precarious.” The Articles limited the functionality of the Congress
The Articles of Confederation were put into effect to form some semblance of a central government, to keep peace between the states and to keep individual states from conducting foreign diplomacy on their own. Unfortunately the articles were flawed and gave the existing government little to no power. Federalism was the number one weakness of the Articles of Confederation. Without a separation of powers this type of government was bound to fail. Levying taxes was a much needed change to the Articles of Confederation.
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.
