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Pros And Cons Of The Articles Of Confederation

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After the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation were drafted on November 15, 1777 to have a government set up for when the colonies won the war or successively seceded from Britain. This form of government is called a confederation meaning it derives most of its’ power from the states. Confederations are considered weak governments because there is no central power to tax and keep order between the states. This is why many historians today are shocked by how weak a government the founders created, considering they were intelligent enough to know the Articles were not going to work. The Articles of Confederation were important to the fledgling United States by keeping the 13 states united; however, glaring flaws in the Articles …show more content…

Many people especially those in smaller states were afraid, their thoughts or needs would not be heard in a government with a strong central power. This is mostly due to the Intolerable Acts, put into place by Britain in 1774. Britain in the Intolerable Acts took away most of the colonists’ freedoms as punishment for acting out against the crown. Another big fear was that by giving too much power to the central government a tyrant would arise and then the people would have to fight another Revolutionary War. The founding fathers believed this alternative, “was better than an absence of formal national government”, especially in a time of war (Office of the Historian, paragraph 4). I think the founding fathers did the best they could given the circumstances; of being in a war and knowing the people were afraid of a strong central government. However, after the war the Founding Fathers quickly realized they could not continue without a stronger central …show more content…

Many of the weaknesses they identified included, “a one-house legislature, a weak executive, no national power of taxation, a lack of national currency, and voting by state” (Library of Congress, Section 3). In order to solve these issues, the convention began by proposing to have a bicameral legislature to fairly represent the people. One house, called the House of Representatives, was to have a certain number of representatives based on state populations, and another house, called the Senate, was to have only two senators per state, thus preventing one state from having too much power in the government. Another proposal was to have an executive, called the President, to represent America in treaties or when talking to foreign nations. Allowing America to conduct foreign policies in an orderly fashion. Another big step was to enact a national currency and give Congress the power to tax. Allowing America to earn money to pay for the running of a country. Finally one of the other issues the Constitution solved was creating an electoral college to representatively vote for the people who should be president, since the Founding Fathers did not trust the votes of the common people. Also, to soothe fears of tyranny, the framers created a system of checks and balances, “to minimize the threat

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