Establishing the Function of the Government in the Articles of Condederation

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The Articles of Confederation created to be used as a written document that established the functions of the national government of the United States after it had declared independence from the Great Britain. Aside from that, it also established a weak central government that was mostly, but did not entirely prevent the individual states from conducting their own foreign diplomacy. Under the Confederation, the Continental Congress had successfully waged war, made alliances, secured loans, negotiated peace with Great Britain, and passed the Northwest Ordinance. Yet in the wake of the Revolution, the new United States faced many serious problems. Since Congress could only request funds from the States, and not levy taxes, it was unable to pay war-related debts. Without the power to regulate trade, it could not negotiate commercial treaties. Britain refused to remove its troops from forts in the Northwest Territories, and Spain denied Americans access to the port of New Orleans. There was little that the diplomatically and militarily weak Confederation was able to do. In Massachusetts, indebted farmers had risen in revolt against the state's taxation policies – a rebellion that some feared would be imitated elsewhere. Both within and without the Congress, calls were made for increasing its authority. In February 1787, Congress supported a resolution for revising the Articles of Confederation; in May, representatives from twelve states convened in Philadelphia. Rhode Island took no part in the process. The fifty-five delegates who met in the Old State House (Independence Hall) in Philadelphia did more than revise the Articles: they drafted a new document as a replacement. From May 14th through September 17th, they considered plans an... ... middle of paper ... ...between the states. This lead to The Constitutional Convention which was created to a government with enough power to act on a national level, but without so much power that any fundamental rights would be at risk. One way that this was accomplished was to separate the power of government into three branches, which included checks and balances on those powers to assure that no branch of government, gained supremacy. Now some strength the Constitution has are setting our basic human rights (amendments), fairness and equality to all, separation of powers, separation of church and state, the limitation to power in terms of office, separate voting times. Some weaknesses are that each state has the right to produce currency; the main government is responsible to maintain the law and order in the country, and states having the right to make decisions about the severity.

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