ipl-logo

What Are The Strengths And Weaknesses Of The Federalist Paper

1969 Words8 Pages

The Federalist Papers were written to calm the different fears that many Americans at the time felt about having a strong national government. Much of the fear was instituted into the minds of Americans from the harsh abuse of power from the British Empire during the time period of 1763 – 1775. These Federalist Papers not only alleviate the fear of Americans but also as an effective system of government to deals with many of the issues under the current Articles of Confederation. Some of these issues including the treatment of the US from other foreign nations, the struggles of dealing with a failing economy, the lack of power for the government to raise a militia, and as well as problems with democracy. American citizens were in …show more content…

Foreign nations did not taking the US seriously in any manner. Even after gaining independence, the US was not seen as the powerful nation it was. Foreign nations took advantage of this weakness. Britain tried to exploit the rift of settlers in Vermont by offering them aid and to join the British colony of Canada. Also, Spain didn’t give trading rights to people southwest of the Mississippi for a long time. This weakness of a nation hurt in its trading opportunities. Lack of trading with foreign nations was a big hit to the economy. With a powerful national government mentioned in the Federalist Papers, the national government would have the power to raise a militia at any time. This federal power would be crucial in achieve in respect from foreign nations especially in methods of trading. In Article 11, Madison states, “In the prosecution of military operations in the West Indies, it will readily be perceived that a situation so favorable would enable us to bargain with great advantage for commercial privileges.” The US was much divided between the North and South in between different methods of labor. While the North was more industrial and the South was very preoccupied with economic gains from slavery. This division of methods of labor would only inspire different foreign nations to trade with different parts of the US. This …show more content…

One of the biggest problems of government is making decisions that favor the majority of the society especially the working class. Without a strong national government usually one side is favored while the other is not accounted for. There needs to be a huge part of government that will make decisions benefiting both sides of the majority of the working class both land owners and non-land owning citizens. In Article 10 Madison states, “But the most common and durable source of factions has been the various and unequal distribution of property. Those who hold and those who are without property have ever formed distinct interests in society.” Government with stronger state governments tend to give a bias to a particular class than the other. This lack of full representation of all types of working citizens is left unrepresented without a strong national government. Another important factor pointed out on the economic failure the Federalist Papers point out is the lack of money to pay for the amount of debt the US was in at the time. Without the power of the national government the debt from the revolutionary war. The debt could be slowly paid off from proper taxation of all the states in a unified effort. In Article 30, Madison states, “From the scantiness of the resources of the country, the necessity of diverting the established funds in the case supposed

Show More
Related
1152 Words | 5 Pages

In the early years, after winning independence from Great Britain, the American colonies set up their government in accordance with their first constitution, the Articles of Confederation. This means that the majority of the power laid in the hands of the states and Congress, “the only institution of national authority” (Brinkley 151) at that time, had very little power. This distribution of authority was the manifestation of the American’s fear of a strong, central government. However, as time passed, more and more people came to agree that the national government was too weak and needed to be strengthened.

Read More
206 Words | 1 Pages

Shays Rebellion served as the final nail in the coffin for the Articles of Confederation. Although the Articles of Confederation was America's first national document, it came with many weaknesses. One of the major weaknesses was that the federal government was too weak and therefore could not enforce laws. The Continental Congress borrowed money to fight in both the Revolutionary War and the French and Indian War therefore were in debt.

Read More
1159 Words | 5 Pages

DBQ Essay The United States Constitution is a document that or founding fathers made in order to replace the failing Articles of Confederation (A of C). Under the Constitution, the current government and states don’t have the problems they faced when the A of C was in action. The Constitution was created in 1788, and held an idea that the whole nation was nervous about. This idea was a strong national government, and the Federalist assured the people that this new government would work. The framers of the Constitution decided to give more power to the Federal government rather than the state governments because the A of C had many problems, there was a need for the layout of new government, rights, and laws, and there was a need for the Federal

Read More
152 Words | 1 Pages

The Federalist Papers The Federalist papers consists of 85 essays written in the late 1780s by James Madison, Alexander Hamilton and John Jay. The three authors published it in New York newspapers under the name “Publius” to persuade its citizens to ratify the new U.S constitution. These essays argued in support for the ratification of the new U.S constitution by __________________________________. There are 3 well known federalist papers which are no. 10, no. 45 and no. 51.

Read More
343 Words | 2 Pages

James Madison’s Federalist 10 was written amid criticisms that a republican form of government had never been successful on a large scale. Madison’s argument was that a well-constructed union could control factions. He argued that in order to control factions from their causes, we would need to either give up liberty or free thought. Since we cannot infringe upon these two natural rights, we must move on to controlling the effects. A republic, Madison argues, would be able to do this because the people choose the representatives, and they choose representatives who they feel best represent their opinions.

Read More
263 Words | 2 Pages

As it applies to the Articles of Confederation there were many weaknesses in the way it went about governing the United States. For one, the loose federation of the states was too weak to act as a foundation to be considered or act as a central government. In addition the state legislatures had too much power and in turn had the ability to influence economic issues of all kinds. This strong legislature is the same one that allowed for mob ruling and actions by debtors. The Articles of confederation were also weak because the required congress to have all 13 colonies in agreement when a new tax was to be passed.

Read More
838 Words | 4 Pages

When the United States first gained their independence from Britain they needed to create a strong government for their colonies. The United States created their first government called the Articles of Confederation. The Articles came with many problems like no power to tax, no power to enforce the law, or regulate commerce. 10 years after having a weak government, they believed that a new type of government need to be created in order to become a strong government. They came up with the Constitution.

Read More
585 Words | 3 Pages

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.

Read More
1560 Words | 7 Pages

The Articles of Confederation was a document used to create a stable form of government for the United States during the American Revolution. However, this new form of national government had a mostly negative effect, with some exceptions, on the foreign relations and economic conditions of the country. Therefore, the Articles of Confederation was too weak and unstable to sustain the American country and made situations worse for the United States, rather than helping it improve and succeed on their way to independence. The American Revolution took place over the course of approximately eight years, from 1775 to 1783.

Read More
784 Words | 4 Pages

The United States confronted many problems once they gained their independence from Great Britain. One of the biggest problems was their form of government at that time, which was stated in the Articles of Confederation. This presented many problem to the states, as stated in a document about the Articles of Confederation and the Constitution, some of the problems of the Articles of Confederation were the poor international trade, poor foreign relations, weak economy, and Shay’s Rebellion. The people, specifically the Federalists, wanted a new government because of the weakness of the government at that moment. According to many history books, the government also faced financial problems and tried to resolve them by taxing the states, because

Read More
543 Words | 3 Pages

The Federalist Papers were, and still are, very important to American History. These series of essays, mostly written by James Madison, Alexander Hamilton and John Jay, were published to persuade Americans to ratify the new constitution. The new constitution would replace the Articles of Confederation, what the American’s had been living under at the time. The constitution highlighted an issue that the articles did not; empowering the central government like never before. Allowing the central government to act in the interest of the United States.

Read More
323 Words | 2 Pages

The Articles of Confederation did not adequately control and decrease the negative impacts of groups on the country, and in this manner another government was essential. The administration laid out in the Constitution was perfect since it was a republic, an agent government that would keep self-intrigued interests from holding an excessive amount of influence over the legislature. It was equally substantial, containing agents from each state and various vested parties, making it troublesome for one faction to overwhelm and stifle the others. Delegates would be chosen by a large group of individuals, assuring that just the most commendable would hold office. At last, laws were gone by the entire country, making it troublesome for issues in one state to invade and influence others.

Read More
686 Words | 3 Pages

The Federalist Papers came at a time of uncertainty in America. Having just broken away from the overbearing British, Americans were reluctant to give much power at all to their newly independent government. Under the Articles of Confederation, the first written constitution of the young nation, the federal government lacked the power to intervene in trouble within the states. One issue that soon arose after the inception of the Confederation was that of taxation. With debt rising and the need for resources increasing with it, the federal government was simply not getting enough money to continue functioning.

Read More
203 Words | 1 Pages

The Federalist papers were made for two specifics reason of events that happened before the revolution that the leaders wanted to prevent in the future by coming up with the idea of editing the Articles of Confederation. this two reason were: American federal organization were practicing of the old British empire as it existed before 1764, and the arguments of the generation from the French and Indian war to the adoption of the federal Constitution, and, more particularly, the discussions in the ten or twelve years before independence, made the way they want to organize the country difficult because the population was used to it they were afraid of a change meant. “The center of this problem was the difficulty of recognizing federalism; and,

Read More
247 Words | 1 Pages

We gained two important pieces of American history from the discourse between the Federalist and the Anti-Federalists. First we gained a more balanced Constitution with the addition of the Bill of Rights. Second being the Federalist Papers. The federalist papers are a collection of 85 articles and essays written. These papers explained the Constitution and its meaning to many who were not informed.

Read More

More about What Are The Strengths And Weaknesses Of The Federalist Paper

Related Topics

Open Document