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Pros And Cons Of Confederation

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Although the battles at Lexington and Concord signified the start of the revolutionary war, the colonies declaration for independence wasn’t signed until 1776. From that time, each colony began to act as its own separate republic. The colonial assemblies continued to meet and several states even wrote their own constitutions. Although there was forward progress at the state level, the forming of a national government was slow and relatively unsuccessful. The Continental Congress was the only representation of a national entity and was more of a coordinating body rather then a government. All the real power was held at the state level. Also Americans in general were unsure if they even wanted a national government. However, once the …show more content…

It was a weak form of a national government and its powers of the individual states was very limited. It was, however, met with some success in the resolution of the western territories but also numerous economic and diplomatic failures. (American History, p133) The biggest accomplishment of the Confederation was resolving the controversy over the Indian occupied western land. By 1790, the lands west of the Appalachian Mountains had a population of 120,000. This was a dramatic increase from the time of the Revolutionary War. The challenge became including these new settlements into the newly form nation. A solution came in the form of two ordinances that were passed in 1784 and again in 1785. The Ordinance of 1784 divided the territory into districts and dictated when a district could apply for statehood. Each potential stated was required to have a population of the smallest already existing state. A system of surveying and selling these lands was established with the Ordinance of 1875. Land was meticulously divided into evenly sized squares or rectangles. This method became known as the grid and is the most common form of measuring land for ownership. (American History, …show more content…

Throughout its existence, it had little recognition throughout the world. The weak system of government made it unclear whether or not the Articles of Confederation was its own entity or merely a collection of several small republics. When it came time to persuade Great Britain to honor the terms of the peace treaty, the Confederation was met with little success. Britain had made several concessions including; the removal of forces from frontier posts along the Great Lakes, making restitutions to slaveowners, and allowing full access to British markets. After Great Britain refused to send a diplomatic minister to America, one was sent to Britain however no progress was ever made. (American History,

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It was the heat of the Revolutionary war and The Thirteen Colonies were preparing to declare their independence from Britain, yet before they do so, they needed to establish a form of self-government. Through the Articles of Confederation in 1776, the colonies had established their first independent government, although with it followed many problems. These problems, although numerous, did not come without some, yet very little, success and perhaps one of the best outcomes of the Articles of Confederation is how they paved the way for the much sturdier Constitution. The Articles of Confederation had been created in a rush and by were no means a permanent form of government for the colonies.

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Land Ordinance of 1785 sold land that used to belong to the Indians, but was now the states. They divided the land into thirty-six sections and sold the 640 acres of land, one acre was no less than one dollar. This ordinance put money back into the hands of the congress, but some money went to schools in the new townships that were

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The first government in the U.S. was called the Articles of Confederation. It was the first set of laws after the states became independent. The laws in the Confederation were very weak, and they all contracted each other. It also had a weak central/national government because the states didn’t want to give it too much power like the monarchy with the British. Some weaknesses in the first government were that each state no matter how big or small had only one vote, each state could coin its own money, making it hard to move, and lastly, they could not have a military so it would be hard to fight armed rebellions or militias.

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With alot going on during the creation of the Articles of Confederation, Due to the on going effects and changes of the American Revolution. The colonies had been in search to create a more centralized government. Since most colonies had taken more care of their own individual interests, it had been much easier to agree upon and form state institutions. Rather than focusing on the importance of the growth of a strong united but yet equally independent structure for their own national gorvernment.

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Without the state's' cooperation, the government could take no action to deal with these problems, Members of congress knew, however, that western land remained a problem. To regulate the distribution of the land, Congress passed the Land Ordinance of 1785. This ordinance marked off the land into townships and divided each township into 640-acre tracts. The ordinance permitted the cash sale of these tracts for not less than one dollar per acre and reserved one section of each township for the establishment of a school. Two years later, Congress passed the Land Ordinance of 1787.

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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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To the population, war is when you are told what to fight for, and a revolution is when you decide for yourself. On April 19, 1775 was the day that America had decided for itself that we needed to be independent, the start of the American Revolution. The American revolution was over in about eight years. After the war Americans had decided to turn its focus inward and decide on what government they wanted and what America as a country would become. That is how the articles of confederation came to be on March 1, 1781 and of course like everything it had it’s pros, cons and results.

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We all know that George Washington was the first president of the United States. He got elected president in 1789 by 69 members of Congress. As the former leader of the Continental Army and a chairman of the Continental Congress George Washington had the right credentials to be president. His presidency ended in 1797 and he died in 1799. The truth is George Washington was not the first president.

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The colonies, under Great Britain, have been living under their rule in North America for one hundred and fifty years. Throughout those years, the colonists have been developing a new way to run the government. These colonists decided the first constitution would be the Articles of Confederation. Congress helped them adopt the Articles in 1777, but in the founders eye’s the articles were not working as well as they thought. What were some achievements of the Congress under the Articles of Confederation?

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Once the American Revolution War was over the Continental Congress would draft the Articles of the Confederation. Since there was the absence of any form of federal government in the New World, Congress had to assume some rights to manage and govern the colonies. With this a central government was created and granted limited powers by the Continental Congress, however, this would also create a weak federal government that was unable to govern the colonies efficiently (Shultz, 2013). Although, Continental Congress had powers to ensure peace or the need to declarer a war, could regulate international treaties, manage the Indian affairs, have control of making currency, and starting and managing the postal services.

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How will it work? Is the population a concrete number? How will the governments be organized?). 1 year later, the Land Ordinance of 1785 was passed. This clarified how land would be settled and sold.

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