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Why Did The Articles Of Confederation Fail

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The Articles of Confederation was the first successful effort of organizing the colonies of the United States. Prior to its establishment, all American activities that were rebellious to England were viewed in the same way that terrorism is viewed today. These rebel activities acted independently of a sovereign authority. As a result, the revolutionary forces in the United States couldn’t leverage or seek the assistance of other foreign governments., leaving them tactically and diplomatically weak against its British foe The Articles of Confederation established a singular legislature, as opposed to the eventual bicameral ( having 2 chambers) system created by the Constitution. Voting power was delegated to states based on committees (consisting …show more content…

There were no provisions made for an executive branch to enforce the laws nor for a national court system to interpret them. A legislative Congress was the sole organ of the national government, but it had no power to force the states to do anything against their will . The states didn’t act immediately. It took until February 1779 for 12 states to approve the document. Maryland held out until March 1781, after it settled a land argument with Virginia. 2. The central government was designed to be very, very weak. The Articles established “the United States of America” as a perpetual union formed to defend the states as a group, but it provided few central powers beyond that. But it didn’t have an executive official or judicial …show more content…

The central government couldn’t collect taxes to fund its operations. The Confederation relied on the voluntary efforts of the states to send tax money to the central government. Lacking funds, the central government couldn’t maintain an effective military or back its own paper currency. 7. States were able to conduct their own foreign policies. Technically, that role fell to the central government, but the Confederation government didn’t have the physical ability to enforce that power, since it lacked domestic and international powers and standing. 8. States had their own money systems. There wasn’t a common currency in the Confederation era. The central government and the states each had separate money, which made trade between the states, and other countries, extremely difficult. 9. The Confederation government couldn’t help settle Revolutionary War-era debts. The central government and the states owed huge debts to European countries and investors. Without the power to tax, and with no power to make trade between the states and other countries viable, the United States was in an economic mess by

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During the Revolutionary War, the Articles of Confederation provided a necessary government that weakly bonded the thirteen states together. The Articles essentially made the states a confederacy without much order. Firstly, governments require a stream of revenue to function properly, and the weak tax authority of the Articles prevented America from paying debts. The Revolutionary War came with staggering costs that left the Continental Congress in debt.

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However, they did not form this kind of government because they were fear of a government with so much authority, which same as British system. This cause guided the Article of Confederation had an inherent weakness which set sovereign power in the hands of each state. In Article II, which explicitly stated, “Each state retains its sovereignty, freedom, and independence, and every power, jurisdiction, and right (Brackemyre, 2015).” They didn’t make a strong national government, but constructed an American government rely on dominant state governments. Thus, due to the reason of absence of strong, powerful government that generated a series of limitations and issues to make it lost efficacy.

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Paige Balestrieri January 1st, 2017 Honors US History I Period 1 Chapter 9 Alternative Assessment Answers The Articles Of Confederation had many weak components to it. With those weaknesses, the one that stood out was how all power rested within the states.

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1) The first problem with the Articles of Confederation was that Congress could not raise taxes and had no money of its own because the States collected taxes and were reluctant to fork over any money to the Congress. Article one section eight of the constitution tells Congress they have the power to collect taxes which fixed the problem of no body giving money to the Congress Article one section eight also solves another one of the main problems of the Articles of Confederation which was that a weak central government had a hard time standing up to foreign enemies. In the same section that solved our problem of money for the central government it also authorized Congress to raise an army. The third problem was the Articles of Confederation

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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.

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Federalism Compare state sovereignty under the Articles of Confederation and under the Constitution. States were sovereign under the Articles of the Confederation although they shared no power under the constitution. It is the states that were supreme under the Articles of Confederation that led to the creation of a government that had a weaker national government. The executive arm of the government was not independent, and there were no federal courts since the state courts enacted all the laws (Brest, p.58). Also, neither did the Congress have the taxing power nor did it have the power to control interstate or foreign commerce.

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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.

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This resulted in more legislative laws and amendments being passed to create a strong economy and government. Another main weakness in the article of confederation was the lack of a strong central government or authority. This was made possible by the lack of an executive branch to enforce laws and coordinate policies, as well as a lack of a judiciary branch to resolve conflicts and disputes between colonies; this led to constant conflicts between colonies and a lack of authority and correction throughout the government and the United States. This was later corrected when the constitution put three branches of government into play: legislation, judicial, and executive. The legislative branch was primarily Congress's main job was to make the laws that were to be enforced.

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Since the United States was relatively a new nation, it needed some form of organization to hold the states together and keep its government and society stable to build a stronger economy (Knoedl, 2003). The first and foremost inherited weakness of the Articles came from the fact that it replaced sovereign power in the hands of the states. This started after the American Revolution, when the American people feared that the colonists would form a new government that could function similarly to King George III’s monarchy after having dealt with the British Crown for years. Since then these states would start creating their own set of rules and laws and because of some states, creating their own constitutions and each state can rule itself, it gave more power to them than the actual Federal Government.

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By writing a new constitution, the farmers were able to address the problems which the nation faced under the Articles of Confederation. The most important issues were addressed by the establishment of a stronger national government that was selected by the citizens. Unlike the Articles of Confederation, were each state maintain its own sovereign rule, each state was represented equally in Congress through the representatives elected by its citizen. Therefore, power was no longer placed in a single institution such as the states or one overall governing body, but rather in the hands of the people. This government had the power to tax, regulate trade and commerce, and coin a national currency with a majority vote versus a unanimous vote.

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This means that without the central government being weak, the Articles of Confederation could have succeeded. First of all, the disputes over western lands only happened because the states could claim the land since they were more powerful than Congress. If Congress wasn’t weak, then it could force the states to give up their claims immediately. Secondly, the currency problems wouldn’t have happened if the central government wasn’t weak. If Congress was strong, then states were weak, which means they wouldn’t be sovereign, and wouldn’t print their own money.

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In 1781,the articles of confederation were ratified. This was the first form of central government in America. America just got out of a tyranny, so they tried their best to limit the government's power. This resulted in a very weak Central Government. What two main weaknesses of the articles of confederation caused the articles to be a bad form of government.

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The constitution was created as a strong central government. The articles created a weak central

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Considering the causes that led to the American Revolution the Articles of Confederation were a logical form of government for the revolutionaries to adopt because under the Articles of Confederation the states would be independent. With them being independent they could do anything they wanted, meaning they could make their own choices about what happens within their own state. Having Congress serve as the last resort on appeals means the states get to choose the outcome of disputes. Congress also had to maintain the treaties and alliances, army, and regulate money. The central government lacked the ability to control taxes, regulate the commerce and anything else that might have led to creation of new laws.

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“ Given their fears of strong governmental and hostility to taxation ,the Articles of confederation, also known as the weak constitution that was created by Confederation Congress, did not empower the new central government to tax Americans.” ( Keene, Cornell & 0’Connor, 2013) Due to this, the government of the United States was faced with financial problems, created by shortages of funds. In addition to funding issues, there were many other problems that plagued the Confederation. One being that it lacked a federal court system. The Articles of Confederation had no provision to regulate interstate trade and no executives with power.

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