Pros And Cons Of The Articles Of Confederation

The new America that was settled by the English who fled British tyranny and offered hope and freedom to the settlers sounded amazing. The reality was, however, that the Founding Fathers were not the beacon of a new Democratic Reform. They tried to sell the idea of a government run by the people and this wonderful democracy, but their main agenda was pushing their own ideals and keeping power in the wealthy. Modern day America still reflects this, although major improvements have happened since the late 1700s. Even though they were not as literal in the tyranny as England with monarchs and true classes, they still were a watered-down version of what they wished to escape. This was shown by them owning slaves, pushing government that favored

A major flaw in the design of the Confederation was the lack of a central government. There are still substantial arguments about state vs federal government and how large each should be in controlling its people. However, having an extremely weak federal government was proven to be a considerable failure during this time. There was no checks and balance system, so no branches of government. The Confederation lacked an executive and judicial branch, which basically left the states to act independently with no real federal government. The states being able to act so independently led to another major flaw of the document, which was that the states had to agree unanimously to an amendment. Each state acting independently mimicked a country full of its own countries. “Then it would be more difficult for a majority ‘to discover their own strength and to act in unison with each other’” as explained by James Madison, a Founding Father. So, to get a proper modification of the Confederation 13 states had to agree and this did not happen. States had their own currencies, taxes, and way of conducting government. This great divide among states led to a very divided nation. All of these fundamental issues led to the development of the Constitution and are why the Confederation lasted less than a decade. It was a helpful document to establish some kind of rules of

Textbooks can gloss over issues and give a more generalized view on something that takes time to develop. Additionally, reading different articles allows one to gather multiple sides and perspectives and use that to shape their own views. This allows for a more educated, thought out and complete understanding of the subject. Shorto’s article, “How Christian Were the Founders?” was a catalyst in me seeing how people wanting to pursue their own agendas in the interest of preserving their power has been happening since the establishment of