Why The Articles Of Confederation Failed

The anti federalist in the other hand wanted more rights for the states they believed in a strong state and a very minimalist federal government, they focused on the bill of rights whereas the federalist focused on the

The first overseeing report of the United States was the Articles of Confederation, embraced by the Continental Congress in 1777 amid the Revolutionary War, before the United States was formerly a nation. This structure laid out a powerless national government and solid state governments. The national government couldn't charge, couldn't uphold laws it passed, and couldn't direct business. These and different shortcomings, alongside an expansion in national feeling, prompted the Constitutional Convention, which met from May to September 1787.

It starts with the failure of the Articles of Confederation (adopted in 1781) to provide the necessary framework of a national government that could protect its rights as an equal among others. To be more specific there are three issues facing America in 1786. 1) In Foreign Affairs; the failure to prevent the both the closure of the Mississippi River by Spain at New Orleans and the failure in gaining control of a series of forts along the Great Lakes that under the Treaty of Paris (1783) were suppose to be turned over to the United States after the Revolutionary War ended by England. 2) Within America there was a growing issue of both currency control and out of control inflation. With NO centralized government to control both the growth of currency from the states and inflation throughout the nation.

In 1777, the Continental Congress completed the first written American constitution, the Articles of Confederation. The Articles of Confederation was created to form an alliance between the 13 colonies. It was working out well in the beginning until serious problems started to appear. Those were money problems and most importantly, a weak government. One issue the Articles of Confederation had, was the major money issues inflicted upon the union which harmed the coherency of our country.

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.

Multiple issues faced the members of the Constitutional Congress as they attempted to write a new constitution for the United States. Representation for the colonies in Congress was a major issue at the time, and was resolved by the Great Compromise. Also, the writing of the new constitution formed two different groups of people, the Federalists and the Anti-Federalists. Their beliefs conflicted with each other, One group believing in a strong federal government and the other believing in strong local governments. A compromise was reached, the compromise known as the Bill of Rights.

The constitution was able to address the problems with the Articles of Confederation. The Constitution created a Federalist government with a strong central government at the national level and weaker governments at state and local levels. It gave the national government the power to tax, draft troops, control interstate commerce, etc. Also because of the failure of the Articles of Confederation the Bill of Rights was established. With the Bill of rights in place and all the news laws into order the constitution was able to repair the failure that the Articles of Confederation

After the failure of the Articles of Confederation, numerous delegates met for a convention, now known as the Constitutional Convention in 1787. At first, the convention’s purpose was to fix the Articles of Confederation. But, the delegates ended up making a new document called the Constitution. This document set the base of the United States’ government, as it established various laws and basic needs for the government.

One of the greatest conflicts between federalists and anti-federalists is the lack of Bill of Rights in order to hold limitation of power to the government. The Federalists were led by Alexander Hamilton. The federalists were the first political party of the United States government. Federalists agree with the Constitution, and worked to convince the States to ratify it. The group of essays, known as the Federalist Papers were created in aid to gain encouragement of ratification by Alexander Hamilton as well as James Madison.

The events of the American Revolution affirmed the colonists’ anxieties over an inordinately centralized government that infringed on their natural rights and autonomy. Such rights were inalienable since they belonged to each individual on account of the laws of nature, and could not be taken away without consent. After the Revolution, the colonists adopted the Articles of Confederation to grant the states considerable sovereignty. Unfortunately, the Articles precipitated a new set of problems in creating a weak federal government with a limited role in enforcing the law and maintaining unity between the states. The Constitutional Convention of 1787 addressed these and other issues by establishing a new government that asserted the Constitution

For many people, we don’t really talk about this topic often, or at all depending on the person, so none of us really know the difference(s) between the two. Federalists believe that all power is controlled by the national government. They prefer that a single person lead the executive branch and they believed that the Constitution didn’t need the Bill of Rights. However, they are in the wrong. In my opinion, the anti-federalists aren’t as strong-minded as the federalists would be in the government, they would have better control in the direction they wanted their government to go: either have a tyrant rule and control the entire United States, or let the people have a say in what they want in a government and have the government actually take

The Federalist main argument was stated based off the opinion that the government would never have complete power over the citizens, but the citizens would also have a little more power and a say in the things that involve them. On the other hand, the Anti-Federalists believed in limited powers specifically stated, they wanted strong state governments, and wanted a Bill of Rights added to the Constitution to protect the people from the government (Document 4). This was their point of view due to the fact that they believed that the individual states know and can act more based on their people that on federal government can. They focused their argument on the rights of the citizens. For the Federalists and Anti-Federalists to agree on a new government, they created a compromise that combined each of their ideas.

They felt the Constitution would create a system of federalism, a system in which the national government holds significant power, but the smaller political subdivisions also hold significant power. They felt the country needed a strong central government so that it didn’t fall apart. The Ant-Federalists were on the opposing side, they felt the Constitution granted the government too much power. They also felt there wasn’t enough protection of their right with an absent Bill of Rights. Another concern of the Anti-Federalists mainly came from the lower classes, from their standpoint they thought the wealthy class would be in main control and gain the most benefits from the ratification of this document.

Another component was that of the rights of the states, and the citizens. The anti-federalist opposed this on the grounds that their rights will be quashed by the strong central governments. Which is the reasoning behind the reason for needing the Bill of Rights. The Federalist responded with the system of checks and balances. This would help to form a framework from amassing too much power centered onto one single branch of government.

Contrary to popular belief, the United States has two constitutions: the Articles of Confederation and the present day constitution. So, what happened to the Articles of Confederation? The Articles of Confederation failed for many reasons: the reluctancy of the individual states to surrender their powers to a national government, the impotence of Congress to tax the colonies in order to pay off war debts or pay veterans of the American Revolution, the inability to back up the currency coined by Congress, the institution of multiple currency as states began to coin their own money, and the lack of power to regulate trade and commerce among the states or foreign nations. In addition, the Articles of Confederation limited the executive and judicial