ipl-logo

Pros And Cons Of The Articles Of Confederation

1471 Words6 Pages

The Thirteen Colonies had now been free for a while and had grown into a nation with an abundance of land with a strong sense of responsibility. The United States of America was not like the other nations found throughout the world. It differed though its principals and morals, it radiated a sense of comfort and freedom that was hard to find anywhere else. However, it still lacked a strong government that could support such an important and developing nation. The Articles of Confederation had its achievements that supported it; however, it also had its great shortcomings that made the nation doubt its support to the large nation. Delegates then resorted in the creation of the Constitutional Convention that would draft a completely improved …show more content…

The government lacked a stable economy and this led to the anxiousness of the military members, filled with thoughts that they wouldn’t be getting paid. This resulted in the threat of a military coup d’etat led by Alexander Hamilton and George Washington; however, Washington opened his eyes soon enough to realize that a coup d’etat was “both dishonorable and dangerous”. Later on, tensions between merchants and European (mostly British) trade arose and this led states to impose special taxes on vessels and goods brought into the United States. The downside to this was that the state actions were not unified which caused a loophole in the taxation “creating the impression that states were involved in commercial war with each other. This was a clear indication that the national government had to step in a regulate the inter-state trading system, something they weren’t fit to do, “calling for a stronger central government in the interest of uniform trade regulations”. Then the issue of inflation and the necessity of paper currency was brought to light stirring up more problems for the government. In 1785, the debaters believed and saw paper money as a means of easy repayment and prevented the need of “hard money” (silver and gold coins”; however, the farmers believed that the re instalment …show more content…

There was a decisive split between the delegates to decide whether or not the trade of slave should still be allowed and instituted in this nation. Many of the delegates were slaveholders; however, there were also delegates that greatly opposed the idea. The defendants argued that the slaves were “vital to their states’ economies” because of the labor intensive cash crops their lands were in abundance of. On the other hand, the delegates that opposed slavery declared that the delivery of so much slaves into the nation “would bring forth the judgment of Heaven on the country” and that it was unrighteous. The Congress could not prohibit the trade but it ended up lifting the taxes on all imported Africans. Then the issue on if slaves should be considered population for taxation purposes but not for representation, meaning that their existence was only fought for when the nation benefited from it. They came to the conclusion that there should be a three-fifth ration for both taxation and representation when it came to the existence and acknowledgments of slaves as

Show More
Related
1111 Words | 5 Pages

Chapter 1: The Aristocracy of the Capital Political • Every state assigned people to maintain offices on the homefront in order to keep its’ internal government running effectively and efficiently • Alexander Hamilton realized that states had too much power and that the central government was lacking enough to keep the nation running smoothly Ideological • Merchants want and need a stronger and stabilized currency. Prices decrease, debts increase • Separation between loose and strict constructionists Economic • British don’t want to issue paper money to avoid possibilities of inflation occurring • Colonials however wanted it and therefore trade fell apart due to the dispute • National bank created in order to solve currency issue (one bank with the same form of currency) • Gold and silver replaced paper currency when needed to • Coins were no longer effective,

Read More
841 Words | 4 Pages

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).

Read More
1171 Words | 5 Pages

Changing the Articles of Confederation would likewise require a consistent choice, which would be greatly troublesome. The Constitutional Convention of 1787 was called to overhaul the debilitated Articles of Confederation. In any case, the Convention expelled the Articles, drafting another Constitution with a significantly more grounded national government. Nine states needed to endorse the Constitution before it could go live.

Read More
939 Words | 4 Pages

they shared the same amount of power hence being federalists. They were terrified of being like the monarchy they so despised, like the king of Britain. They didn't have a proper economy to support them in pay back the debts they owed due to the wars and alliances they had. So, they decided to tax their people, but it ended up backfire due to Shays rebellion. Eleven years of this monstrosity

Read More
860 Words | 4 Pages

The Articles of Confederation that was adopted in 1781 provided information about the numerous injustices and events that had led the American colonists to create the document as well as their desire to become independent from Britain. The contract had declared their new self-ruling and centralized government form, however, problems began to arise soon after its initiation. Under the Articles, each state only had one vote in regardless of their size, the government lacked a national army for protection nor could the national government enforce laws and there was no chief executive in charge of the country at the time due to the fear of monarchy. The Articles also resulted in no power to control interstate trade, which allowed states to put

Read More
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.

Read More
946 Words | 4 Pages

Never directly mentioned in the Constitution, and commonly refereed to as “others”, African Americans were often denied existence in the Constitutional Conventions. James Madison embodied the complacency of the average white American man. Ellis describes his thinking as “a kind of mysterious region where ideas entered going in one direction but then emerged headed the opposite way.” (114). The Southern founding fathers, Madison included, acknowledged the moral evils of the slave trade but many of them slave owners themselves, did not desire an end to it, admittedly for their own profit.

Read More
579 Words | 3 Pages

With the revolution won, the colonist’s drafted the first known constitution as the Articles of Confederation. Favoring power to the separate states instead of a national government, the influence of King George III permanently ridded the conscience of the colonists from one body, or group, having excessive power over the nation. In all, the power came from the People. Regardless of the colonist’s success, however, led to more dire situations in their growth.

Read More
471 Words | 2 Pages

This went against the right, “Everyone has the right to own property alone as well as in association with others. Slaves had nothing else to rely on other than to keep on working. Another way slaves were denied basic human

Read More
760 Words | 4 Pages

The federal government couldn’t even collect taxes, so they were unable to gather any money to repay their debts from the Revolutionary War. The states’ power allowed them to tax, and they ended up seeming as though they were independent countries. This is foreshadows the results what the French and Indian War caused for Britain. The French and Indian War, also commonly known as the Seven Years’ War, set Britain in debt. In order for Britain to pay off their this debt, Parliament passed many acts which taxed the thirteen colonies as much as ten times the amount of what they taxed the actual citizens of Britain; although each colony had a different amount.

Read More
753 Words | 4 Pages

I am going to write about how the Articles of confederation was revised, American democracy was made. I am also going to talk about the founding fathers who made it possible. There were two ideas that influenced the constitution. The first idea was weakened by Articles and confederation. The congress couldn’t collect any taxes, they couldn’t amend the rules, there were 13 Independent nations, there wasn’t any Judicial system, no executives, and there was only one house of the legislative.

Read More
1100 Words | 5 Pages

After the Revolutionary War, the 13 colonies found themselves in a bind. With a weak national government and no way to impose taxes under the Articles of Confederation, the burden of war debt seemed insurmountable. For the four years between the end of the war and the ratification of the Constitution in 1788, debate raged on between the Anti-Federalists, who supported the Articles of Confederation, and the Federalists, who desired to create a stronger federal government under the Constitution. Many subjects were hotly debated between the two groups, but two of the most important issues debated were the rights of the national and state governments and the Bill of Rights. While compromise on these issues eventually led to the ratification of

Read More
400 Words | 2 Pages

Therefore, freeing the slaves was not important. All men aren’t created equally as shown in these times. The belief that slavery was wrong, was not strong enough for the the Constitution to overcome. Mr. Freehling said, “The only way Africans could be free was if they were sent back to Africa”.

Read More
1593 Words | 7 Pages

One of the compromises made in the Constitutional Convention is the three-fifths compromise. In this compromise, the southerners wanted to add slaves to the population of the state they lived in. If slaves were included in their state’s population, that state would be able to add more representatives in the House of Representatives. Northerners did not agree with that statement because slaves did not have the right to vote. After the delegates compromised, they agreed that only three-fifths of the slave’s population would be counted into the state’s population.

Read More
658 Words | 3 Pages

During the Constitutional Convention, delegates were considering how to distribute representation for each state, consequently, the question regarding whether slaves should be counted towards the population arose. Southern states feared that not counting slaves as a part of their populations would give them less representatives in Congress, thus allowing larger Northern states, like Massachusetts, Virginia, and Pennsylvania to overwhelm, and out vote the South in issues regarding slave trade. Likewise, the North did not want to surrender their population advantage in Congress either. The compromise they reached was set forth in Article 1, Section 2 of the United States constitution. The compromise they reached arbitrarily counted every five slaves as three individuals.

Read More

More about Pros And Cons Of The Articles Of Confederation

Related Topics

Open Document