The Articles Of Confederation And An Effective Government

1067 Words3 Pages

To say that the Articles of Confederation provided the United States of America with an effective government would be quite an over exaggeration. For most people in modern day, an effective government would be one that can govern mass numbers of people and still be politically correct in overruling decisions on matters while keeping the law in mind, yet keeping the benefit of common good front and center. But, the Articles of Confederation were not written in the present day, so these ideals of a competent government were not quite applicable. For most people, an effective government was one that could govern mass numbers of people, still giving the states and the people many rights, while still being able to keep all under control. This would have eliminated any possibility that a federal government could become too strong or resemble a monarchy. However, the Articles of Confederation did few of these things. The Articles of Confederation were ineffective because they provided a weak central government, did not give the authority to settle boundary disputes, and eventually led to civil unrest which included incidences such as Shays’ Rebellion. Other countries did not give the United States of America respect because they had not established a strong central government. Under the Articles of Confederation, the government was restricted in what it could actually do. The Articles of Confederation set up a government that consisted of a one house body of delegates, with each state having a single vote, acting collectively, could make decisions on certain issues that affected all states. There was no president or judiciary so any decision required nine of the thirteen states’ votes. At this point in time the United States of America ... ... middle of paper ... ...o consider the charms of liberty as imaginary and delusive.” John Jay in this document expresses his fear of the good hearted workers will lose confidence in prominent social figures thus causing civil unrest. He shows his concern on the fact that before they had a purpose or cause, ie independence, and not they are just going with the flow. Daniel Shays was an American soldier, revolutionary, and farmer, famous for being a leader of Shays ' Rebellion, an uprising against oppressive debt collection and tax policies in Massachusetts in 1786 and 1787. Instead of addressing the matter formally and politely they went straight to the source: the courts. Shays’ Rebellion shut down courts, stopped proceeding and stopped courts from collecting bankruptcies. This proved to the working class something needed to be done about the government or there would be constant revolts.

Show More
Related

  • Unraveling the Failure of the Articles of Confederation

    653 Words  | 2 Pages

    The unpredictable failure of the Articles of Confederation to the continental congress was a huge problem. The Articles of Confederation were made so the states would have more power, And limit the powers of the national government. Main contributors for this action was the fear that the national government will gain too much power and overstep its authority. This would have a negative effect on the nation, because tensions will start to rise for the ineffectiveness of this new system of government. A Rebellion, best known as the Shays rebellion, took place shortly after the adoption of the Articles of Confederation.

    Read More

  • Second Continental Congress Dbq

    551 Words  | 2 Pages

    During the American Revolution the not yet established United States, held two Continental Congresses that eventually help defeat Britain. The First Continental Congress informed the local militias to prepare for war. The Second Continental Congress helped end the war and issue the Declaration of Independence. The Second Continental congress sought out to create a national government for our new country named the Articles of Confederation. However, The Articles of Confederation had many problems, for example, Congress and the states shared the right to regulate currency and issue money. This led to an excess of currency, which pushed down the value of currency and created inflationary pressure on the Continental dollar. The downfall of the Articles of Confederation ultimately sparked a political conflict between

    Read More

  • Faulty Republicanism of the Articles of Confederation

    1330 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Articles of Confederation vs. Constitution

    1404 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Articles of Confederation was the nation’s first Constitution. The articles created a loose Confederation of independent states that gave limited powers to the central government. Each state would have one vote in the House of Congress, no matter the size of the population. Members of the one-house Congress, such as Pennsylvania, agreed that the new government should be a unicameral legislature, without an executive branch or a separate judiciary. Under the article, there wasn’t a strong independent executive.

    Read More

  • Effectiveness Of The Articles of Confederation

    398 Words  | 1 Pages

    The Articles of Confederation were incapable of providing the United States with an effective form of government. The Articles of Confederation presided weakly over the government as it allowed little or no power to tax, control trade, and branches of government were missing. In addition to this, the thirteen states acted as separate nations and the national government had little control over them.

    Read More

  • Founding Principles: Early American Quest for Freedom

    924 Words  | 2 Pages

    It contain terms agreed upon by all thirteen states and created a centralize form of government. The Articles were ratified and placed into operation on March 1, 1781. The Articles of Confederation remained in effect and was the basis of the governing body of the United States during the American Revolution. There were many defects and weaknesses that made revision of the Articles of Confederation necessary. The National Government could not form a strong Congress, because it lacked strong leadership. It did not have the power to tax states for privately own land and could not force states to obey established laws or taxation notices. Other problems the National Government faced were no military or national court system. Additionally, each state issued its own currency, and they had no money to protect it borders from Spain and Great Britain. In order for Congress to make any changes to the Articles all of the states had to be in totally agreement. The founding fathers soon discovered, conflicting views of the common good was held by reasonable

    Read More

  • Articles Of Confederation Argumentative Essay

    802 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Articles of Confederation were not the best laws Congress passed, nor were they the worst. The Articles, which was supposed to be the constitution of the United States, brought along terrible changes and numerous problems. In the Rhode Island Assembly’s letter to Congress, it stated that the Articles created a weak and unhelpful government, one that could not levy taxes, lacked the power to regulate interstate and foreign trading, could not enforce national policies; the list goes on and on (A). Because Congress could not control taxing, this eventually led to a poor army that lacked a leader to start an effective

    Read More

  • Articles Of Confederation

    730 Words  | 2 Pages

    Soon after the Revolutionary War in America, a new government was started when the Articles of Confederation were adopted by the Continental Congress. The Articles set up a democratic government that gave the States the power to make their own laws and to enforce them. However, the Articles were ineffective and failed to provide a strong government. During this critical period in the history of the United States, pandemonium and anarchy were growing due to: controlled public, nothing in the Articles that gave Congress the power to enforce laws, no solid monetary system, and also the country lacked unity and strength

    Read More

  • The United States Constitution: The Development Of The US Constitution

    850 Words  | 2 Pages

    For a law to be passed the majority vote had to be nine of the states, so not many new laws could be passed. There were also many limits on what the government could do. They could only declare war, but couldn’t force men to join the military.The make treaties, but not enforce its rules. They could hardly enforce any of their own laws. The Articles stated that the government could not declare taxes. Because of this the United States was very in debt after the war. The United States had to rely on tariffs, but only the individual states could collect them. This made it very hard states to trade with countries such as England who refused.Because they were in so much debt the Confederation Congress decided to print money called Continentals. As they started to print more money, it started to lose value. Probably the only good thing that came out of the Articles of Confederation was the help with the land policies. The Articles of Confederation helped create the Land Ordinance of 1785 and the Northwest Ordinance of 1787. These Ordinances

    Read More

  • The Articles of Confederation

    825 Words  | 2 Pages

    budget and to guarantee interest payments on the war debt. In (Doc. A) a letter

    Read More

  • Birth of A Nation

    905 Words  | 2 Pages

    When declaring independence, the bulk of the people thought that would be “…to burn the last bridge, to become traders in the eyes of the mother country.” (Garraty 110). John Dickinson had stated, “ ‘Torn from the body to which we are united by religion, liberty, laws, affections, relation, language and commerce, we must bleed at every vein.’ “ (Garraty 110). The people were afraid to break away, they pondered “ ‘Where shall we find another Britain.’ “ (Garraty 110). Eventually independence was inevitable. There was a great mistrust towards both Parliament and George III when the colonists heard that the British were sending hired Hessian soldiers to fight against them in the revolution. The pamphlet written by Thomas Paine entitled Common Sense called boldly for complete independence. This reflected his opinions on George III, calling him a brute, and also attacking the idea of monarchy itself. “Virtually everyone in the colonies must have read Common Sense or heard it explained and discussed.” (Garraty 110). John Adams dismissed it as something he had said time and time again. “The tone of the debate changed sharply as Paine’s slashing attack took effect.” (Garraty 110). A committee was appointed by Congress, consisting of Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, and many more. “The committee had asked Jefferson to prepare a draft” that would soon become known as the Declaration of Independence. (Garraty 112). It consisted of two parts: an introduction which justified the abstract right of any people to revolt and described the theory on which the Americans based their creation of a new, republican government, and a second part that made George III, rather than Parliament, look like the ‘bad guy’. “…The king was the personification of the nation against which the nation was rebelling.” (Garraty 112). “The Declaration was intended to influence foreign opinion, but it had little immediate effect outside Great Britain, and there it only made people angry and determined to subdue the rebels.

    Read More

  • Articles of Confederation

    1227 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Articles of confederation provided an effective form of government for western lands, on the contrary, foreign relations were not were not as well benefited from it. The Confederation's major contributions were Ordinance of 1785 and the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 to the American life. The Ordinance of 1785 established the law for the lands north of the Ohio River. The Northwest Ordinance of 1787 provided three stages for the creation and admittance of new states, as well as served as a pre

    Read More

  • The Articles of Confederation

    935 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Articles of Confederation did not supply America with a sufficient enough government. The government created under the Articles of Confederation did both positive and negative things for the nation. While the Articles of Confederation provided a fairly effective form of government with respect to the western lands it was not so successful with foreign relations. Under the Articles of Confederation the central government was too weak, the “firm league of friendship” caused America to be the laughing stock of all nations.

    Read More

  • The Articles of Confederation

    544 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the period directly following Cornwallis’s surrender, the fresh nation discovered a new task, governing their now-sovereign territories. A meeting of the minds, of the upper echelon of society, was convened to draft a document that would lay out the blueprints for the inaugural government. The resulting document was the Articles of Confederation. The Articles turned out to be a horrible system in practice. In theory they prevented central abuse of power by not allocating relevant power to the government and disallowing a head of state, a president. States squabbled with one another and resembled something of an early day United Nations. The Federal government could do nothing to settle inter-state disputes, nor could they levy taxes, hold a military, or enforce laws. Needless to say the government projected a national and international front that was poor, weak, and inefficient. The very founders who sought a limited government new that vast change was needed, and scrapping the Articles altogether was not out of the question.

    Read More

  • John Stuart Mill's Harm Principle

    974 Words  | 2 Pages

    John Stuart Mill discusses the concept of liberty in many ways. I’d like to focus on his ideas of the harm principle and touch a little on his thoughts about the freedom of action. The harm principle and freedom of action are just two subtopics of Mill’s extensive thoughts on the concept of liberty. Not only do I plan to discuss and explain each of these parts of the conception of liberty, but I also plan to discuss my thoughts and feelings. I have a few disagreements with Mill on the harm principle; they will be stated and explained.

    Read More

More about The Articles Of Confederation And An Effective Government

Open Document