Pros And Cons Of The Articles Of Confederation Dbq

United States Constitution Ever since 1787, the U.S. constitution has remained one of the most influential and important documents in the history of the United States. It set the foundation for which this great nation could be built upon, and there have been more than one hundred countries that have used it to model their own constitutions upon (Constitutionfacts.com, n.a.). There were a lot of very critical elements and circumstances involved in its creation. The Revolutionary War (1775-1783) that we fought against Great Britain resulted in the Treaty of Paris being signed, which gave the U.S. the authority to govern itself in 1783.

1a. Under the Articles of Confederation, Congress didn’t have the power to tax the colonies so their only option was to request the states for money, which often ended in rejection. Because Congress had so little money to regulate the army/navy and resolve crises, they sold off western lands and printed worthless print money in desperate attempts to do without money. The constitution solves this dilemma by giving Congress the power to make revenue through taxing and borrowing and also the power to appropriate funds.

The Articles of Confederation, the first governing document in American history, only allowed for one branch of government, Congress, which could lead to one group of people having all of the power, possibly not allowing for representation of all of the social classes. This upper class tyranny was exactly the problem that the colonists had fled from in England, and they were afraid that these issues would continue to plague them in America. This fear led to a very weak central government, whose extremely limited power stunted the development of our young nation. Later, when writing the Northwest Ordinances, Jefferson proposed the idea of having three branches of government, and a system of checks and balances between the three to ensure

The question of representation kept the delegates entangled in debates for weeks to come. One argument was just to remain under the representational aspect of the Articles of Confederation which declared, “…the states were equally represented in a unicameral Congress by delegates appointed by the state legislatures.” The remaining delegates believed that the articles were flawed in every aspect, including representation and there should be a new way of proceeding with representation of the states in the Legislature.

The event that lasted up until the winter of 1787, Shays’s Rebellion, proved that the government could not be protected by the Articles of Confederation. If the national leaders wanted to amend the articles, then they would have to have all 13 states in agreement, which was nearly impossible. Another flaw of the Articles would lie in the competition that the states had. They would compete for foreign commerce and that created a special problem for the newly formed United States, because it demonstrated to foreign powers that they were able to make the states turn against each other and that America was feeble and susceptible to harm, “we should by our conduct verify the predictions of our transatlantic foe, and render ourselves ridiculous and contemptible in the eyes of all Europe.” (Ginsberg, 38) Most importantly, the government was weak, and that meant that they were unable to keep control over the matters that were occurring.

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.

The Articles of Confederation is defined as the first written constitution of the United States which was ratified on March 1, 1781. I will be discussing the strengths and weakness interwoven in the articles of confederation which is comprised of terms agreed by the thirteen new states (Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Georgia, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maryland, South Carolina, New Hampshire, Virginia, New York, North Carolina, Rhode Island) To engage in a centralized form of government whilst each state retained the liberty of self-rule which encompasses "sovereignty, freedom and independence." There are seven strengths and ten weaknesses within the article that I will be elaborating. The first strength of the articles of confederation

To the population, war is when you are told what to fight for, and a revolution is when you decide for yourself. On April 19, 1775 was the day that America had decided for itself that we needed to be independent, the start of the American Revolution. The American revolution was over in about eight years. After the war Americans had decided to turn its focus inward and decide on what government they wanted and what America as a country would become. That is how the articles of confederation came to be on March 1, 1781 and of course like everything it had it’s pros, cons and results.

At a time many thought that the effects of a revolution would cause another one. The Articles of Confederation was the center of attention for this problem. After the fight for Independence the new America had to have a type of government. The Congress of this newly established nation created the Articles of Confederation. Of course problems would arise due to the ability of them knowing what they didn’t want when they should’ve known what the should have.

This led to multiple conflicts between the federalist and anti-federalist social parties, as well as doubts if people could really rely on the constitution, and how our country would turn out if the citizens depended on it. The concerns addressed in the Articles of Confederation included where the government's strengths should be, how much power it should be give, and how authority should be represented and divided

Have you ever wondered why the Articles of Confederation failed there were a multiple reasons. First reason was there was no court system. Second, reason that it failed was nine of the thirteen states had to agree to pass a law. Third, all thirteen states have to agree to get rid of the Articles of Confederation. These are only a couple of the reasons the Articles failed.

Although the intention of the Articles of Confederation was to create a stable government for the 13 colonies, it was sadly designed poorly resulting in an overall ineffective government. The Articles may have been rewarded with some success with respect to western lands, but the overall effect was negative, especially the economic conditions. The economic conditions were primarily the most negative aspect of the Articles of Confederation. The inability to tax settlers caused the federal government to have a serious shortfall in revenue, and the restriction to regulate trade added to the chaos.

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.

The Articles of Confederation was an agreement among the thirteen original states of the United States that served as the first constitution. The Articles had first been introduced by Richard Henry Lee in the Second Continental Congress. Although the Articles of Confederation has made its contributions throughout history, the Articles, however, did not last very long and had been proven inadequate from the very start. I agree with this statement based on the examples and analysis of the Constitution I will soon provide. The Articles of Confederation were written during a time when the American people feared a strong national government.

The Articles of the Confederation was the first government constitution that the United States used, and, although there were strength like the Northwest Ordinance of 1787, there were major weaknesses of the Articles of the Confederation like the following: requiring 9 out of the 13 colonial votes from the representatives from different states to pass a law; having no executive and judicial branch; and the federal government being unable to impose tax revenue onto the states. Such flaws would eventually lead to the Constitution and the repeal of the articles, for the Constitution was a measure to fix the problems of the articles with a stronger government that allowed them to impose taxes and and implement new laws for a more effective government.