Successes And Failures Of The Articles Of Confederation

The Articles of Confederation was the first Constitution in the newly independent USA, founded by the continental congress, with purposes of uniting the colonies after the revolutionary war. Founded by the continental congress, the government power under the articles was limited due to fear of monarchy (like Britain) ,which left an abundance of power into the state's governments control. The articles of confederation proved to be weak and unable of supporting an effective government in terms of many things. The Articles created problems for the new nation economically speaking. However, the articles weren’t completely a failure, and found success in dealing with western lands.

The US government made successful attempts in

The powers of the government were limited to the negotiation of treaties, the declaration of war, and peace making. This left abilities to raise revenue and right to enforce a uniform commercial policy up to the state. The government being denied the ability to control commerce and foreign trade led to the American market being flooded by imports, threatening American goods because products were cheaper abroad rather than expensive goods made at home. After the Revolutionary war, congress began to make paper money in order to be able to afford the expenses of the war. This paper currency made by the government fell and became no longer worth anything when hard times hit the American economy. Congress requested that the states increase their taxes to help finance the USA, yet the states refused simply because they did not want to tax their people, and instead printed their own money, which ultimately failed too. The failure of state and government currency led to an economic depression and took a toll on American people when they couldn’t pay off their dues with worthless money distributed from their state and their government. The power of the states under the articles proved to be too