Strengths And Weaknesses Of The Articles Of Confederation

Following the independence from Great Britain, the United States government decided create a written document that would function as the “guidelines” for America’s government. This first written form of the government was called the Articles of Confederation. However, the Articles of Confederation, had many weaknesses within it. First of all, the most serious problem, was that there was no national unity. The states primarily wanted to function independently, pursuing their own goals and interests, rather than the nation as a whole. Secondly, the next weakness of the Articles of Confederation, was that they borrowed loads of money to fight in the Revolutionary War. This meant that they were largely in debt. They borrowed money from foreign countries, and then later had

When Continental Congress adopted the Articles of Confederation on November 15, 1777, it contained a preamble and 13 articles. It was agreed upon that this document would be used to represent the 13 states that were established at that time. There were many flaws that existed within the Articles of Confederation. The articles denied Congress the power to collect taxes, regulate interstate commerce and enforce laws, which are currently used in present day to fund and govern our ever expanding and growing country.

These documents did not fail because of the rebellion but exposed just how weak the national government was but also just how weak the newly established nation was in reality. Two states requested all a meeting of all the states to amend the Articles of Confederation but only five of the thirteen states showed up for the meeting. Since the initial meeting was ignored by a majority of the state’s the Congress was convinced that a convention was needed to revise the Articles of Confederation. As a precaution Congress placed restrictions on delegates of this convention by clearly stating its only purpose was to establish revisions for the Articles of the

The greatest weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation were the states were more powerful than the national government and any amendments (changes) to the Articles of Confederation must be approved by all 13 states. Because the AOC was not as powerful as the states, they were not able to tax the states/people. This was not helping the problem of debt. The other weakness was a problem because if you needed 13 votes, then not very many votes would come through. This became a bigger problem when the states people started saying no to just about everything other than their own plan.

The Articles of Confederation were proposed in 1777, to a country suffering from attempts to gain costly freedom. The Revolutionary War was in full swing, and many colonists were inclined to be suspicious of powerful, centralized governments, such as the one they were attempting to free themselves from. With this in mind, the Articles of Confederation were written and proposed, giving each of the thirteen individual state governments much more power than they gave the central government. This unequal distribution of power was the main weakness of the Articles, and was the fatal flaw that created many of the conflicts that would come about in the following years. For instance, many large states were angry because they felt their populations

The Constitution of the United States of America was framed in part by The Articles of

After the thirteen colonies officially gained their independence from Great Britain in 1783, they had looked forward confidently to reaping the benefits of independence, but were to discover that creating a nation was, if anything, a more arduous task than winning a revolution. Their existing constitution, the Articles of Confederation, adopted in 1781 by the Second Continental Congress, proved to be ineffective as the newly built nation was starting to crumble under its government. The weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation necessitated the ratification of a stronger and more effective constitution: the U.S. Constitution. An effective Constitution consists of a strong limited government with a separation of powers among the branches

Before the Constitutional Convention was called, the United States was facing a myriad of difficult situations that truly challenged the new nation. John Adams had won the fishermen of New England the right to fish off the coast of Newfoundland. However, as a result of the new country’s poor relations with Great Britain, these fishermen had lost their market in the West Indies. Furthermore, the British refused to leave their Ohio Valley forts, despite being in violation of the Paris peace treaty. The British in these forts provided Ohio Valley Indians with weapons so that they could resist American settlement. Relations between the Americans and Native Americans were quite poor, with both the Spanish and British aiding tribes in resistance and Americans settling on the Native Americans’ land. In addition to their actions regarding the Native Americans, Spain had closed the port of New Orleans to prevent American settlers from settling in or around Louisiana, which prevented supplies from reaching settlers in Kentucky and Tennessee. The individual states remained separate entities, each with their own currency and mercantile system. The states fought each

In the year 1787, the Constitutional Convention – which George Washington was the leader of – met to discuss the issues relating to the Articles of Confederation. From the months of May to September, delegates attended the convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania with a result of choosing to ratify the United States Constitution. On June 21st, 1788, the states of Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Georgia, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maryland, South Carolina, and New Hampshire voted to remove the Articles of Confederation and in exchange, implement the U.S. Constitution. The first constitution, known as the Articles of Confederation, was replaced by the United States Constitution in 1788. There were major weaknesses within the Articles of

In 1777, the first U.S. government was created during the Revolutionary War. Americans thought that the government had several weaknesses, and they needed to make a fast solution to make a better nation. Several ratifications took place to make official laws. Delegates saw how the Americans felt, so they all gathered from all thirteen states in Philadelphia. They all gathered at a town meeting, and they discussed on what should be created to solve several conflicts. The new Constitutions was created so slavery, taxation, and representation in Congress would have rules. The laws helped citizens to set them limitations so there would be no conflicts. Several meetings and agreements took place to create the Articles of Confederation, the Three- Fifths Compromise, and ratifying the Constitution to form a government.

Although, the aftermath of America Revolution resulted in a lacked economic stability due to high inflation, colonists were determined to institute a strong political foundation that would ensure political, social, and economic success in the United States. In 1777 The Articles of Confederation was a shift towards democracy, liberty, and equality. However, The Articles of Confederation contained weaknesses that left the United States vulnerable attack, economic disorder, and judicial issues. Recognizing the weaknesses in The Articles of Confederation five states representative met in secret at Mount Vernon to begin the framing to the United States Constitution. The framing of the United States Constitution was the result of the conditions of the

The Confederation Government came up with what is known as today, The Articles of Confederation, to establish the functions of a national government after it declared independence from Great Britain. Benjamin Franklin first came up with the idea of the Articles of Confederation, and Jefferson along his side, also agreed that having a national government would help the states come together. Many disagreements began to occur and the Articles of Confederation discussion was delayed until 1777. The British started to invade Philadelphia and this became a huge concern the to the People. It wasn’t too long after, the 13 states started to ratify the Articles of Confederation and was soon on board with the Congress. The Articles of Confederation

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.

As the United States continued to develop as a new nation, it also began to change policies and ideas that were holding the country back from maturing. Many problems arose during the 18th century, and so, the Articles of Confederation were made to make a stronger government. Over time it was made clear that the Articles of Confederation were lacking something that the country needed. Although the Articles of Confederation were set up to unify the country, it caused troubles like rebellion against the government, the lack of power in Congress, and inflation because of a weak central government. Congress had to make a choice whether they would keep the Articles of Confederation or replace them with completely new articles.

The Articles of Confederation established the first government that unified the thirteen states that fought in the American Revolution. This documented created the structure for the confederation of the 13 states and went into effect on March 1, 1781 and lasted only eight years. The purpose of the document was to create a confederation of where each state kept its own sovereignty. Every state had its own independence as much as possible while the central government of the U.S. was only responsible for the common defense, the security of liberties, and the general welfare of the states. The purpose of the document was to keep the national government as weak as possible. However, this led to several issues to become apparent once the Articles was put into effect.