Articles Of Confederation Essay

Unit 3 Initial Writing Task In the aftermath of the successful American Revolution, the Founding Fathers were given the responsibility of creating a new national government for their newly independent nation, the United States of America. Fearing the oppressive capabilities of a strong government as a result of their struggles with Great Britain, the Founding Fathers initially decided to create a weaker central government called the Articles of Confederation. Before long, the Founding Fathers discerned that the Articles of Confederation were failing. An enduring issue which connects to this time period in United States history is the enduring issue of “conflict” because there was a plethora of conflicts created by the weakness of the Articles, as evidenced by documents 1 and 2.

The Articles of Confederation also known as the, Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union, was an earlier document between 1776-1777. That was approved over many months of debate and is known as the 1st constitution of the United States between the first thirteen colonies. It was then to be ratified by all the 13 states that took nearly a full 4 years to do so. The idea of this constitution was to give sovereignty of all 13 states while the federal government only received powers that the states recognized were given to the King and Parliament, similar almost to the British. The Articles were inarguably terrible and had very little positive outcomes, most consider it to reap no benefits whatsoever and caused many conflicts between the states.

In 1777, the Continental Congress drafted the first constitution, known as the Articles of Confederation. These articles formed a loose confederation of the thirteen states as opposed to a strong and unified country. Due to that, the government soon began facing numerous difficulties under the Articles of Confederation. Under the Articles, there was only an unicameral governing body without any separation of powers. Likewise, since the majority of the power resided in the states, the central government was quite feeble.

Once the American Revolution had ended, America required a new form of government to happen. November of 1777, the Continental Congress accepted the first American Constitution known as the Articles of Confederation. Shortly after the Articles were confirmed by the states in 1781, multiple problems started to arise that provided the United States with an ineffective government from 1781 all the way to 1789. They were not able to address any of the problems dealing with the American Nation due to the lacking features of the government under the Articles. Moreover, the Articles presented each state with too much power that lead to a loose confederation creating a limited power to the central government.

US History Name: Professor: Class: Date Introduction American’s first government was under the Articles of Confederation. The articles proved insufficient to form a stable government, as the central government was weak. Delegates in charge of the task of reforming the government met at the Philadelphia Convention in an attempt to resolve the same. They decided to enact an entirely new government by forming a constitution.

The Articles of Confederation, the first constitution of the United States, was adopted in 1777 and provided a framework for the government. However, the weaknesses became apparent soon after its adoption, as it was unable to address several significant problems. One of the main problems is that it was unable to address the lack of a strong central government. Under the articles, the national government had limited power and was unable to effectively regulate commerce, collect taxes, or maintain an army. This made it difficult for the national government to address issues such as the financial crisis and the threat of invasion from foreign powers.

The Constitution of 1879 established the United States national government and its underlying laws, which guaranteed its people their basic rights. Compared to our first governing document, the Articles of Confederation was weak and the national government allowed states to operate like independent countries which caused the division among the original colonies. When it was evident the Articles of Confederation was not necessarily the best option a new constitution was conceived. At the 1787 convention, delegates planed on creating a stronger federal government which would bring a solution for the country. This new constitution would contain three the branches; executive, legislative and judicial where the power would be divided equally.

“When the framers of the Constitution met in 1787, they set out to establish a political system that would protect liberty and place limits on government.” (Ginsberg, 28). In 1777, the Continental Congress acquired the first written constitution, the Articles of Confederation, for the United States, only to be replaced by the Constitution around ten years later, due to the weaknesses found in the Articles. Although the Articles were required in 1777, they were not ratified at that year, “it was not ratified by all the states until 1781.”(Ginsberg, 35). Under the Articles of Confederation, the states had more power than the central government.

Many people would say that the Articles of Confederation is a disaster. I agree that the Articles of Confederation is a failure and needs to be revised or replaced completely. These 13 colonies are more like 13 different countries. Every state has their own currency. The Government currently has very limited power over the states.

The Articles of Confederation were created for the basic rights of citizens. The Constitution was needed so it could establish fundamental laws. There were a lot of people that participated to create the U.S Constitution. During the Second Continental Congress in 1776, there was a draft by a committee headed by John Dickinson, a statesman. The revised draft, adopted by the Continental Congress on Nov. 15, 1777, called for a government that theoretically possessed many powers but was actually subordinate to the states.

The Articles of Confederation was the first Constitution for the states as a whole (each state had their own by this time), but it was written in a manner that assigned duties, but not so much as to give sweeping power and risk a totalitarian government. Under the Articles of Confederation, the colonies were a “League of Friendship” and not a truly functioning government (Journals of the Continental Congress, 1774-1789, p. 546). The sovereignty of the states and people were front and center, but this created an issue for the function and decision making ability of the Congress. As written by Alexander Hamilton to James Duane, 3 Sept. 1780, this makes “our union feeble and precarious.” The Articles limited the functionality of the Congress

In 1620 the Pilgrims made it to Plymouth Rock. They were the first official settlers to make it to America. When they got there, they were so accustomed to their way of doing things they found America a difficult place to live. Fortunately for them, the Native Americans had already been there for awhile and adapted to the living conditions. The first settlement in America was in Jamestown, Virginia.

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 were a document seen as the “first” constitution of the United States. This document granted the new national government power to control the military, declare war, and create treaties between the states. However, the Articles had holes in it considering the government did not have the power to tax, create laws without at least nine states’ approval, or change the Articles of Confederation without a unanimous vote. This means that the country soon fell into debt and petty arguments between state, the new government had no control. It was time for a change.

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.