Confederation Independence

While the Articles of Confederation unified the American colonies for the first time, the individual states had a hard time allowing a central government to solely control their territory. Due to fear of an all powerful monarchy like the one they had experienced in England the colonies were wary of allowing a central government certain powers. These certain powers included control of commerce, ability to tax, and even the ability to act directly upon individual citizens of a state. While the Articles provided a loose confederation to unify the new country, they were only a temporary solution due to their obvious weaknesses in several areas. The Articles of Confederation were essentially

The Articles of Confederation established the first national government of the United States after it declared independence from England. The American Revolution heavily influenced this document, as the American people refused to have another tyrant rule their country. From 1781 to 1789 the Articles of Confederation provided the United States with an ineffective government because of its lack of power to tax, raise an army, or regulate trade; however, it redeemed itself with the creation of the land ordinances of 1785 and 1787, and keeping the states united after the American Revolution.

When the Framers of the Constitution met in Philadelphia, they came together with one common purpose in mind. They needed to form a fair and solid system of government that would stand the test of time; one that was both fair for the people and would not involve a monarchy. Each of these men had their own ideas on what would constitute this system, however, so many compromises had to be made. Together, the men gathered in Philadelphia created a federal system of government and drafted a constitution outlining this government. They took care in developing three branches of federal government with a system of checks and balances so that no one branch would gain too much power, thus avoiding any

Following the United States’ independence from Great Britain, delegates from each collective state set out to establish a body to govern the newly formed nation. From this came the Articles of Confederation, which was officially ratified in 1781. The Articles of Confederation proved to be a landmark in government for those days because it was a model of what a loose confederation could be. However, this soon failed because the official

The American Revolution ended in 1783, and with it, the fight for independence. Independence was sorely gained, as there were now internal problems to deal within the new nation. Setting up a legitimate government was one of the most pressing issues even during the revolution, and so the Articles of Confederation was adopted in 1777. The Articles did not last, and rather than amend them, an entirely new governing document was written. It enhanced the powers of Congress and set up other federal branches of government.

After fighting for our country against Great Britain in the American Revolution, the United States gained independence. We had to figure out how to govern ourselves since we would no longer be under the power of the monarch. The Articles of Confederation was the answer to our problems; even though it established a very weak central government and had many problems, it was our first constitution and our first step towards a solid government. Some of the problems with the Articles included that the Congress had no power to tax, no power to regulate commerce, no power to regulate domestic affairs, no power to enforce laws, and many more. The problems lead to troubles with the States which convinced the Continental Congress to create a convention of delegated people to revise them; this convention was called the Constitutional Convention. The Convention fixed these problems by throwing the Articles out altogether and creating a new Constitution.

     In the hot, humid summer of 1787 state delegates met for the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia and drafted a new frame of government for the United States: the United States Constitution. A new federal system of government was set forth which distributed powers between the state and federal government and created three branches of government as checks and balances for each other. The new Constitution also gave the new government the power to both tax and regulate commerce.

The thirteen American colonies unified by forming a national government that began as a singular body of government under the Articles of Confederation and evolved into a government with multiple branches under the Constitution. The Articles of Confederation acted as a plan of government to help America get back on its feet during and after the Revolutionary War. However, Congress could not enforce the laws of The Articles of Confederation or ensure that their taxes would be collected. After the war America owed a lot of money to other countries and could not pay it unless they started to tax more. They faced serious economic problems and had to rely on the states for money. Therefore, people did not agree with the Articles because it taxed

Finally, in November of 1777, Congress accepted a very different version of the Articles of Confederation than Dickinson had originally intended upon. The Articles that were finally agreed upon overly protected the independence of states and did not supply Congress with the necessary power to run a unified country. In its existence under the Articles of Confederation, the United States were anything but “united.” Each state basically acted as an independent country with it’s own government and own set of rules. The Articles were faulty and unclearly thought out in many ways, which left the United States unorganized and on the verge of chaos for several years to come.

When the United States declared itself a sovereign nation, the Articles of Confederation were drafted to serve as the nations first Constitution.Under these Articles, the states held most of the power; but due to an almost absent centralized government, colonists were ill-equipped to deal with such practices as regulating trade both between states and internationally, levying taxes, solving inter-state disputes, negotiating with foreign nations, and most importantly enforcing laws under the current notion of "Congress". Realizing that there were several deficiencies in the current system of self-government, the states appointed delegates to ratify the situation and come up with a way to attain the aforementioned practices they needed to

When America claimed their independence from Great Britain in 1776 they viewed and regarded themselves as sovereign, or independent, states[Hooker]. The demands of the revolutionary war forced the states to recognize a need for a central government. That is when the Continental Congress established an agreement that created a weak central called the Articles of Confederation. The Article of Confederation allowed states to make up their own laws. Europe saw the United States as weak.

The Articles of Confederation was the United State’s first constitution, it was written in an effort to unite the states after the American Revolution and served as a blueprint for the modern constitution. In order for the Articles to become official, they had to be approved by all thirteen colonies. Although Congress sent the Articles of Confederation to the states around the end of 1777 to become ratified, they were not officially adopted until March 1, 1781. Under these Articles, the states remained sovereign and independent, with Congress serving as the last resort on appeal of disputes. The American people feared a strong national government and as a result of this, the Articles of Confederation were specifically designed to be weak in the sense that each state maintains its own sovereignty and all rights to govern themselves, with the except of the rights exclusively granted to Congress. Since the Articles lacked many necessary components to keep a nation properly structured, they were eventually revised into the constitution we recognize today. Although, the Articles of Confederation seemed as though it only contained weaknesses, within the document, many strengths and accomplishments were made. Overall, the Articles of Confederation were proven to be both efficient and non-efficient during the time period they were in effect.

George Washington called for a convention in late May 1787; in order speak about the nation 's political and economical problems and revise the Articles. Delegates from eleven out of the thirteen states attended this convention. They decided on a government consisting of three branches: legislative (Congress), executive (the President), and judicial (Supreme Court). These branches were under the checks-and-balances in order to maintain balance in powers and to prevent tyranny in the country. The Great Compromise solved the issue that arose between the delegates that believed the separation of powers into three different branches would ensure that the United States would not become another monarchy.

With the Article of Confederation, the 13 states were loose confederates having their own currency, army and government structures. Therefore, there was no central government because the founders wanted to avoid making a government similar to the British empire. Document 4 shows the population of all the states in 1790. One group of founders proposed to base the seats in the House on population and another group of founders wanted the seats in the House to be equal for all of the states. Eventually, the Great Compromise, mentioned in Document 6, created a congress of two branches. The Senate had equal representation with two senators for every state while the House had representation based on the population of the

After the Revolution, the States adopted their own constitutions, many of which contained a Bill of Rights. The Americans still faced the challenge of creating a central government for their new nation. In 1777 the Continental Congress adopted the Articles of Confederation, which were ratified in 1781. Under the Articles, the states retained their “sovereignty, freedom and independence,” while the national government was kept weak and inferior. Over the next few years it became evident that the system of government that had been chosen was not strong enough to completely settle and defend the frontier, regulating trade, currency and commerce, and organizing thirteen states into one union.