The year of 1776 was a time of revolution, independence, and patriotism. American colonists had severed their umbilical cord to the Mother Country and declared themselves “Free and Independent States”.1 The chains of monarchy had been thrown off and a new government was formed. Shying away from a totalitarian government, the Second Continental Congress drafted a document called the Articles of Confederation which established a loose union of the states. It was an attempt at self-government that ended in failure. The Articles of Confederation had many defects which included a weak central government that lacked the power to tax, regulate trade, required equal representation and a unanimous vote to amend the Articles, and had only a legislative branch. As a result the United States lacked respect from foreign countries. These flaws were so severe that a new government had to be drafted and as a result the Constitution was born. This document remedied the weak points of the federal government and created one that was strong and fair, yet still governed by the people. The power to tax is key to a successful government. If a government is to act it needs the means to do so. The Articles withheld the power of taxation from Congress and gave it to the local governments. Congress could only appeal to the states for money. Unsurprisingly, the states did not respond with any of the requested money. This was a serious problem because the U.S. was in an incredible amount of debt as a result of the Revolutionary War. If money cannot be collected, how are debts to be paid? Some in Congress believed the problem could be solved by printing more money. However, this strategy only led to inflation, which weakened the economy furthe... ... middle of paper ... ...e ages. Works Cited http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constitutional_Convention_%28United_States%29Http://www2.mvusd.k12.ca.ushttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taxing_and_Spending_Clause#Constitutional_text http://constitutionality.us/NoLimits.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commerce_Clausehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constitutional_Convention_%28United_States%29 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Article_Five_of_the_United_States_Constitutionhttp://shsgov1.tripod.com/conrephr/sld008.htmhttp://law.jrank.org/pages/4462/Articles-Confederation.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Article_Five_of_the_United_States_Constitutionhttp://www.studyguidezone.com/mcat_verbalreasoning.htm http://www.enotes.com/government-checks-balances/constitutional-role-judicial-branch http://www.doe.virginia.gov/instruction/esl/standards_resources/video/lang-socialstudies_branches_gov.pdf
The Continental Congress, renamed the Confederation Congress after the Articles of Confederation were ratified, was not an ineffectual body. It led the United States through a war against Great Britain, gained independence, negotiated the Treaty of Paris, and set up an unprecedented system of government. Ultimately, however, this government did not solve many of the new nation’s problems. The ruling document of this Congress, the Articles of Confederation, created a government without the power necessary to perform the tasks it was charged with and claimed the states were sovereign nations while depriving them of essential powers.
Before the Constitution was drafted, the United States’ budding government, now independent from Great Britain, acted under a dysfunctional constitution called the Articles of Confederation. Although this constitution kept the new nation running, there were still flaws that needed to be fixed. The Articles of Confederation lacked a developed executive or judicial branch and a method for the main government to collect taxes from state governments, according to the background essay of the DBQ Packet. An assembly of fifty-five men eventually gathered for a Constitutional Convention in order to write a new constitution that would better satisfy the people’s needs. The trouble of creating another constitution lied behind creating a document
The Articles of Confederation, the perfect republican government, was not a perfect government. It was faulty and ineffective in providing a central government with tax revenue to pay off debts, which caused the discontent of mobs that the central government would fail to control. The Articles created a weak government that would be easily pushed around by its people and by foreign countries. The reliance on civic virtue was successful in organized land policies that spread republicanism ideals; however, it failed to aid the Congress of the Confederation in tax revenue and controlling mobocracy. The Articles of Confederation was ineffective and faulty with is roots planted solely in republicanism.
The Articles of Confederation were approved by Congress on November 15, 1777 and ratified by the states on March 1, 1781. It was a modest attempt by a new country to unite itself and form a national government. The Articles set up a Confederation that gave most of the power to the states. Many problems arose and so a new Constitution was written in 1787 in Independence Hall. The new Constitution called for a much more unified government with a lot more power. Let us now examine the changes that were undertaken.
The Articles of Confederation was the United States first attempt at creating a democratic government. Instead of giving power to the central government they divided it up among the states (Kelly). This fact left the Articles with many weaknesses that ultimately led it to fail. The lack of a strong central government led to economic disorganization, no central leadership and an ineffective legislative, all which led to its downfall (Brackemyre). Leaving power to the states left the nation in a state of economic disorganization. Without the national government having the power to levy taxes, it was left with the states (Murphy). The legislature only had the right to request taxes, and it was left up to the states how they wanted to raise them, but they oftentimes weren't (Brackemyre). There was also no uniform system of currency which made trade between states difficult. The fact that states instead of Congress regulated trade led to a lack...
A constitution is the system of fundamental principles according to which a nation is governed. Our founding fathers created the US Constitution to set specific standards for our country. We must ask ourselves why our founding fathers created the Constitution in the first place. America revolted against the British due to their monarchy form of government. After the American Revolution, each of the original 13 colonies operated under its own rules of government. Most states were against any form of centralized rule from the government. They feared that what happened in England would happen again. They decided to write the Articles of Confederation, which was ratified in 1781. It was not effective and it led to many problems. The central government could not regulate commerce between states, deal with foreign governments or settle disputes. The country was falling apart at its seams. The central government could not provide assistance to the state because there wasn’t a central army. When they realized that the Articles of Confederation was not up to par, they held a convention, known as the Constitutional Convention of 1787. As a result of t...
In conclusion, the Articles of Confederation were a valiant effort at sufficient government, but failed because of their inability to solve peacetime economics, their lack of regulated dominion over citizens that encouraged rebellion, as well as weak system of foreign affairs. The Articles did serve as a segue to the United States Constitution, but there was a reason that the Founding Fathers completely scrapped the Articles to form the government that is familiar today. After finally overcoming the fear of a monarchy, Americans soon agreed that some type of executive government was necessary to unify the states, as long as it had some limitations and “checks and balances.” The Articles of Confederation featured commendable points, but they were unsuccessful in regards to overall efficiency and encouraging unity.
Although the confederation gained some substantial powers, the crucial powers to tax and regulate commerce remained with the individual states. Each state passed their own currency, and therefore created inflation and made “Continentals” in circulation worthless. Compounded with restrictions on trade to Great Britain and down the Mississippi River, the states became mired in a heavy depression. John Fiske, of the conservative view, realized the precarious situation when he stated “the Nation was under the verge of collapse and near-anarchy and that the five year period after 1783 was the most critical time in American History.” Robert Morris, secretary of finance, resorted to desperate measures with the Newburgh conspiracy in an attempt to raise funds for a depleted military; but it took an impassioned plea from General Washington himself to put down the rebellion. Furthermore, the Articles allowed for personal rights abuses such as unsubstantiated foreclosures...
The Articles of Confederation was the first government of the United States. The Articles had created a very weak national government. At the time the Articles were approved, they had served the will of the people. Americans had just fought a war to get freedom from a great national authority--King George III (Patterson 34). But after this government was put to use, it was evident that it was not going to keep peace between the states. The conflicts got so frequent and malicious that George Washington wondered if the “United” States should be called a Union (Patterson 35). Shays’ Rebellion finally made it evident to the public that the government needed a change.
The United States is a strong and powerful nation that is respected by most other countries, but it was not always this way. In the United States’ early history, the Articles of Confederation established the purposes of the national government after it declared independence from Great Britain. The Articles were basically a “league of friendship” between the thirteen states, and it led to an extremely weak government. After Shay’s Rebellion, it opened the eyes of many Americans, and the people realized that changes needed to be made if The United States of America was going to survive as a nation. In May 1787, fifty-five delegates met in Philadelphia and the Constitutional Convention began. Initially, delegates met to amend the Articles of Confederation,
The Colonies were excited about having won their independence in 1783 with the signing of the Treaty of Paris, but they still had to be able to create their own system of government which they thought would create a strong government which would not have an overpowering central government as they thought Great Britain had had. With this was the creation of the Articles of Confederation. These articles were meant to create strong local and state governments while not granting any power to the central government with the idea that it could not have any power over the states. The states were allowed to conduct their own diplomacy, or war, from nation to nation or even from state to state. States were allowed to create their own currency and put heavy import taxes on goods from other states. The federal government had no independent executive, nor could it levy taxes on any part of the states. It could not create or maintain a militia; this duty was left to the states. All decisions had to be ratified by all thirteen colonies. In thought, this was a great idea because only the most popular decisions would be ratified and stronger states could not hurt the smaller states through majority rule. In practice it did not work very well because it could be thwarted by a single stubborn state.
During the construction of the new Constitution, many of the most prominent and experienced political members of America’s society provided a framework on the future of the new country; they had in mind, because of the failures of the Articles of Confederation, a new kind of government where the national or Federal government would be the sovereign power, not the states. Because of the increased power of the national government over the individual states, many Americans feared it would hinder their ability to exercise their individual freedoms. Assuring the people, both Alexander Hamilton and James Madison insisted the new government under the constitution was “an expression of freedom, not its enemy,” declaring “the Constitution made political tyranny almost impossible.” (Foner, pg. 227) The checks and balances introduced under the new and more powerful national government would not allow the tyranny caused by a king under the Parliament system in Britain. They insisted that in order achieve a greater amount of freedom, a national government was needed to avoid the civil unrest during the system under the Articles of Confederation. Claiming that the new national government would be a “perfect balance between liberty and power,” it would avoid the disruption that liberty [civil unrest] and power [king’s abuse of power in England] caused. The “lackluster leadership” of the critics of the new constitution claimed that a large land area such as America could not work for such a diverse nation.
took place from March 1, 1781 to June 21, 1788. At the time of the American Revolution, the
Government". This statement is invalid on the premise that "an unregulated global economy dominated by corporations that recognize money as their only value is inherently unstable, egregiously unequal, destructive of markets, democracy, and life, and is impoverishing humanity in real terms even as it enriches a few in financial terms." 1 John Dickenson’s original drafted model of the Articles of Confederation for the young United States as a nation was modified by Congress to protect individual powers of the states. It is important to note that the question specifies from the time of the articles ratification to the point where the first session of Congress took place under the Constitution. The Articles made a central government consisting of a unicameral legislature where each state was given a vote, with nine votes out of thirteen necessary to pass laws that were considered important; whereas a Committee of States, with one representative from each state could make minor decisions when the full Congress was not in session. An amendment of the articles required a unanimous vote. The most important powers of the government under the articles included the power to wage war, make treaties, send diplomatic representatives, and borrow money. The government lacked the power to regulate commerce, or to collect taxes, and this forced the congress to rely on the taxes which were voted by each state. The congress also did not have the power to enforce its laws. The lack of these fundamental powers rendered the government ineffective. The people involved in the crafting of the Articles as weak did so. The government put forth,...
... purposes of the Federal Union that we shall soon molder into dust…” wrote George Washington in 1783 (Humphrey 2003, 110). It was apparent to the country’s leaders that the Articles of Confederation had failed. The central government was far too weak and did not have enough power over the states to control even minor things. Without a source of revenue, a system of trade, or any kind of organization of the states, the country was failing. The Articles of Confederation lasted just over eight years, finally being replaced on March 4, 1789 (Henretta et al. 2010). Delegates had to come to a compromise between a weak and disorganized central government, and a strong one with limited but essential power. This led to the creation of the United States Constitution, which unlike the Articles of Confederation, has stood the test of time due to its strong central government.