Articles Of Confederation Dbq Essay

After series of taxation without representation placed upon the American colonies by the Great Britain, the colonies finally declared independence in 1776. To become a stabilized country, the colonies established the Article of Confederation the following year. Americans were upset that under the Article of Confederation their voice was not being heard in the government and their businesses were failing economically. As a result, Daniel Shays led four thousand rebels against the government because of the economic and civil rights injustices. Then the Founding Fathers gathered at the Philadelphia in 1787 to modify the Article of Confederation.

After the outbreak of the Revolutionary War, thirteen American colonies desired a government to displace and overturn the rule of British. So, they attempted to establish a governance of the Article of Confederation. As the first written constitution of the United States, the Articles of Confederation was not faultless. The Articles formed a weak central government and a loose confederation of sovereign states, leaving most of the power and independence with the state governments. Although the document gave Congress authority to make treaties, coin money and maintain army force, the central government still lacked of ability to implement these rules (Foner, 1991).

The first constitution of the United States was called the Articles of Confederation, ratified on March 1, 1781. These articles gave supreme power to the states, followed by a weak central government. The central government was unicameral, meaning there was no executive or judicial branch and all federal power came from Congress. Congress was made up of two to seven members per state and each state contributed one vote each. members Congress were appointed by state legislatures and held a term of one year.

The debate over the Constitution created much tension throughout the new country. From problems with the Articles of Confederation, western expansion, Shay’s rebellion, problem’s at the Constitutional Convention, slave trade, and the start of the War of 1812 all created tensions over the Constitution but nothing that the greats minds of the time couldn’t handle. Initially, the Articles of Confederation were the first written constitution of the United States, drafted in 1777 and ratified four years later by Congress (Lecture). The Articles of Confederation provided for a government by a national legislature but left the crucial power of monies, as well as all final power to make and execute laws, entirely to the states (US: A Narrative History,

The British sought to squash this rebellion, and quickly reestablish control over the colonies. Finally cementing its status over the colonists would ensure that such a revolution would never happen again. The British army was well-trained and well-equipped compared the ragtag group of farmers and volunteers of which the colonist army was

In fact, all the colonists had to provide full housing and feeding for the invasive troops. These governing actions failed to provide and protect the right of privacy, something they clearly didn’t receive. (Document B) Lastly, to help clarify their justification and valid reasons, you can refer to the social contract, which provides correct ways of government and laws. It states that bad leaders ,or government in this case, can be overthrown by its citizens, if the leaders fail to secure basic rights which they all deserve. As discussed above, England undoubtedly failed at their duties, therefore this adds on to the fact that the colonists were justified in declaring independence.

The Continental congress realized that after Lexington and Concord that options of resolve could not occur, though war for the fight of representation became the only foreseeable route towards success. Revolt represents the root word of revolution, which influences in some cases rioting or fighting in which fighting began at Lexington and Concord. The fight for colonists rights became declared as Congress stated “In our own native land, in defense of the freedom that is our birthright, and which we ever enjoyed till the late violation of it for the protection of our property, acquired solely by the honest industry of our fore-fathers and ourselves, against violence actually offered, we have taken up arms” (Continental Congress doc.

Trade imbalance soared in the 1780s. Collapse of credit bubble in 1784 led to depression. Shays’ Rebellion was an armed uprising in western Massachusetts in 1786-1787 by debt-ridden farmers. The Land Ordinance of 1785 was a response to bringing public land to private land. The Ordinance created a grid system the made land available for sale.

The Articles of Confederation was the first successful effort of organizing the colonies of the United States. Prior to its establishment, all American activities that were rebellious to England were viewed in the same way that terrorism is viewed today. These rebel activities acted independently of a sovereign authority. As a result, the revolutionary forces in the United States couldn’t leverage or seek the assistance of other foreign governments. , leaving them tactically and diplomatically weak against its British foe The Articles of Confederation established a singular legislature, as opposed to the eventual bicameral ( having 2 chambers) system created by the Constitution.

Article of Confederation was created on March 1, 1781 by Antifederalists. The government of United States was weak after the Articles of Confederation. Anti Federalists created the Articles of Confederation because they believed that the government would become to strong and wouldn’t care about people having equal rights and this gave states their power of making their own rules toward equality and taxes. This made the government a nationally weak system with bits of power in hand. After the Article of Confederation the states had much more power and ability to make their own policies.

The Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union were created to hold the United States of America together during times of war. In the Articles, the founding fathers granted most governmental powers to the states, leaving only those necessary for the war effort – primarily the declaration of war, the creation of peace treaties, and the conduction of foreign relations – to the federal government. In this system, individual states were given precedence over the entire nation – an aspect that led to its downfall after the Revolutionary War. The Articles of Confederation denied the federal government the ability to issue taxes and tariffs – a power so necessary to the new country’s success, and yet so feared by its forefathers. They supported

Following British General Charles Cornwallis’ surrender at the Battle of Yorktown in the Revolutionary War, the United States, now no longer under British rule, was in dire need of a new government. Consequently, the Articles of Confederation government was formed in November of 1777, and was finally ratified by the states in 1781. The Articles of Confederation created a loose alignment of sovereign states, where the central government was incredibly weak, with almost no powers. After Shay’s rebellion, in which a group of farmers revolted against the over taxation and underrepresentation of those on the American frontier, and the subsequent failure of the government to do anything, a new, stronger government was created in the form of the United States Constitution. The United States Constitution is a radical departure from the Articles of Confederation because of it centralized the

They protested because they were against tax collections and judgement for debts. They attacked and 4 rebels died and another 20 were wounded. A lot of them got put in prison, 2 of them were executed, and 16 were sentenced to hang. After this protest the Americans feared “ an excess of powers in the ruler's ” Since the Shay’s Rebellion happened it first caused the leaders of the country to worry about the confederation and their ability to handle civil disorder. Second it had provoked many people of the fear that with the Articles of Confederation it was allowing the government to lose power.

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 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.