Hudgins After the United States won the Revolutionary War in 1783, the 13 states which were formerly the 13 colonies of Great Britain were now an independent nation. They faced a dilemma. The Articles of Confederation in many ways were not strong enough to support an organized national government. Within the newly independent nation, there were two schools of thought regarding centralized government. On one hand, the Federalists favored a Constitution which established a strong unified government at a federal level. On the other hand, the Anti-Federalists were in favor of maintaining power within the 13 state governments, and believed smaller more local governments were best (Artifact 4). They felt that passing a Constitution may lead …show more content…
For many reasons, the Articles of Confederation were failing. First was the fact that Congress did not have the power to tax. Without income from taxes, there was no way for the government to pay their bills or support a national military to protect the new nation (Article 1). In fact, many states had their own military and printed their own money. In addition, the Articles of Confederate did not support a national court system or and Executive Branch to enforce any laws passed by Congress. Federalists such as John Jay felt that without a strong central government the United States would never be taken seriously by foreign countries, and eventually would become even more divided when the various states would side with different foreign countries depending on their needs (Artifact 2). Definitely, the country’s new independence was created a need for a new form of …show more content…
Generally, those in the Anti- Federalist movement such as Melancton Smith, associated with the more common man such as the farmer and laborer, and believed that Constitution would not allow for the representation of the ordinary man (Artifact 5). The Federalist movement, on the other hand was more associated with the property owners and wealthy merchants, many from the Northern States (Artifact 7). The words of Alexander Hamilton demonstrate the Federalist closer association with the wealthy when he stated “But it would seem to me that the behavior of the wealthy is less wicked and sinful”. (Artifact
The Articles of Confederation Following the Revolutionary War, the new American Government was set up under the Articles of Confederation. The Articles of Confederation did not give the federal government enough authority to be effective. So in 1787 delegates from all the states attended a meeting known as the Constitutional Convention. Among those attending were James Madison, representing Virginia, William Paterson, representing New Jersey, and Roger Sherman, representing Connecticut.
I believe the Confederation Government was doomed to fail. For instance, their “weak Constitution,” had several money problems. One weakness was the Government did not have the power to tax. The Government lacked in funds. This left the Articles no choice but to rely on
The Articles of Confederation had many ups and downs throughout its script. While it may have been successful in enabling the various states in pursuing their own interests, it was unsuccessful in granting the national interests. One part I liked from the Articles of Confederation was that the document was able to restrict land movements. This was done to control the land extents of the larger states so the smaller states wouldn’t be overtaken. According to the textbook “Articles until all states turned over their western lands to the United States....Consequently, the landed states gave up their western claims, and with Maryland’s.approval, the Articles of Confederation went into effect in March 1781.” Due to the fact that the Articles of
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 was a weak substitution for government to hold the U.S. together until something better could be implemented. However, the Articles did protect the U.S. from its own enemies at the time: foreign countries and taxes. Therefore, the AoC was effective to some extent for what it was created to do. The Articles were created when they were as a means of holding the fragile mess of states together as a coherent nation for a time during and shortly after the Revolution.
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.
They fought for a stronger central government because it would bring the people together and it would help with the growth of the nation. Hamilton’s financial plan was primarily to set up a national bank, impose high tariffs, and to aid businesses in which was supported by federalist. Hamilton’s idea helped America financially. The essays within the Federal Papers were so influential and powerful that each state choice to ratify the new constitution. The federalist opposed the Bill of Rights because they felt that it limited the rights of the people, rather than protecting them.
The Articles of Confederation and the Constitution provided various powers for the government and state. The government had power to make war and diplomatic deals. The Northern ordinance was manifest of the power granted to the government. The government also had the power to impose taxes upon various agencies within its jurisdiction. Initially congress had no power to implement the provision of the articles. The state had no power of imposing taxes to businesses and other agencies. The articles also gave the national government the power to control commerce. This aimed to eliminate wars fought because of scramble for regulation of commerce within the nation.
The Articles of Confederation were developed after the Revolutionary War, and were a good idea to help set standards for America. However, they had some major problems that needed to be solved in order for America to become a strong nation. After these problems were addressed the Constitution was developed.
Identify at least 2 problems with the Articles of the Confederation. Discuss why these were issues and how were they resolved. If the Articles of the Confederation were drawn up today, what issues would be brought forth? Identify and discuss at least 1 of the issues. Respond to at least 1 student post.
“The Constitution devotes the national domain to union, to justice, to defense, to welfare and to liberty” (Maier 154). This quote, stated by William Henry Seward, displays the strength and stability that the Constitution had over the nation, and the liberty and justice it supplied for all of its citizens. Although the Constitution and the Articles of Confederation have similarities, they have many differences, which proved that the Articles of Confederation were a weaker document in comparison. It can be said that the Articles were the “rough draft” to the final living document, which significantly influenced and “ruled” our government, as it still does today.
After the Revolutionary War, the newly formed United States still had a major task ahead of them. They had to form a new government that would satisfy the demands of the people and ensure the success of their nation. The Articles of Confederation was the first system of government that was proposed and put into effect. This attempt at creating a system that protected the people form a strong central government ultimately failed but was an important step in the development of the current government system. The weaknesses presented by the Articles of Confederation helped lead to reforms that made the Constitution successful. Both the Articles and the Constitution demonstrate the struggles that the colonists went through with the British and
This document was written in the 18th century specifically during the Federalist Era. It was written 18 years after America won independence from England on July 4, 1776. This lead to the creation of the “Articles of Confederation” which were made primarily for the people because they feared central government having all power. Then at The Annapolis Convention (1786) is where the groundworks of “The U.S. Constitution” were discussed to replace the “Articles of Confederation”.
With the United States new found independence from Great Britain, its founding fathers realize from their historical experiences that a document of law needed to be crafted and established to preserve its new found independence, while maintaining order. However, the first document crafted by the founding fathers, the Articles of Confederation, did preserve the country new found independence but it did not maintain order. The Articles of Confederation described by many founding fathers to be a document that was crafted to satisfy needs of every state for its ratification, even when the document did not present a responsible democracy. The Articles of Confederation granted all national powers to the congress; however, it allowed each state
Last year, our new government was formed. We agreed to what the Articles had said. It seems that now we are having issues with what we had once agreed with. In this newsletter, I will only address four of the most problematic things in the Articles of Confederation. However there are many more that will not be brought to light today.