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. In this essay, the shortcomings of the Articles of Confederation will be illustrated. The first weakness was that the government could not declare war without unanimous support of all states. This was not fair because some states of course are going to vote no to the war, even if it was the better choice. This would then prevent the war from happening, causing more problems down the road. There was also no solid