The Articles of Confederation was America’s first constitution. The Articles of Confederation were adopted by Congress in 1777 and provided for a “firm league of friendship” between the thirteen independent states. The Articles were in force from March 1, 1781, to June 21, 1788 and had both positive and negative effects on the states. The Articles of Confederation provided a very effective form of government with respect to the western lands but, in contrast, the government under the Articles of Confederation struggled in terms of foreign relations.
With the United States new found independence from Great Britain, its founding fathers realize from their historical experiences that a document of law needed to be crafted and established to preserve its new found independence, while maintaining order. However, the first document crafted by the founding fathers, the Articles of Confederation, did preserve the country new found independence but it did not maintain order. The Articles of Confederation described by many founding fathers to be a document that was crafted to satisfy needs of every state for its ratification, even when the document did not present a responsible democracy. The Articles of Confederation granted all national powers to the congress; however, it allowed each state to retain its sovereignty, freedom, and independence. With the Articles of Confederation granting states freedom and independence from congress, many states acted as separate sovereign countries with the rights to create their own laws and currencies. However, states having the rights to create their own currencies brought conflict between one anothe...
The Articles of Confederation were approved by all the early American states in 1781, but by 1787, it was apparent that the Articles were insufficient for the young nation to operate on. A convention was formed with the priority job being to revise the Articles of Confederation; however, they only concluded that an entire new structure was needed to fulfill the demands of the growing country. The Constitution was then born. The Constitution provided the structure of government and power that was needed to achieve a strong union. This structure “saved” the American republic from collapse while under the Articles of Confederation.
In 1776, when the United States declared independence from Britain, the new country needed a set of laws to apply to all of the states to replace the earlier British rule. The colonists, however, were concerned that if the United States put too much power in the central government the states rights would vanish. Therefore, the first form of government, the Articles of Confederation, gave too much power to the states and insufficient power to the central government. States could create their own money and refuse federal taxes, which caused many tribulations and almost destroyed the new country. In 1787, delegates from twelve states came together to revise the Articles of Constitution to provide the citizens with a stronger central government. However, instead of revising the Articles, the constitution was formed. The final document the delegates produced provided great compromises and ratification would help save the country from upheaval.
Everyone believes that our Founding Fathers were perfect. They always had the right answer and never made any mistakes. What people don’t know is that our Founding Fathers never would have written our Constitution if they did not make a mistake. The Constitution was actually the second document written that was meant to be the “supreme law of the land”. The first document our Founding Fathers created was called the Articles of Confederation. The Articles of Confederation was a good start for a young country, but not something the Founding Fathers wanted to base the future of the country on. That is why writing the Constitution was the best decision our Founding Fathers ever made.
The Articles of Confederation
As the Revolutionary War came to a close, the Continental Congress introduced a
new form of government as it instituted the Articles of Confederation. The articles
established a democratic government that granted the states sufficient power to control their own laws and regulations. However, the Articles of Confederation were ineffective and, hence; they failed to provide a strong government.
The Continental Congress between the years of 1776 and 1777 decided that the way of living was not suitable. After all had decided they drafted together, what we call The Articles of Confederation; “the document that defined the colonies’ collective sovereignty; drafted by the Continental Congress between 1776 and 1777, then ratified by the thirteen states in 1781”(Schultz 115). There was experimentation that was being done in the states that didn’t affect The Articles of Confederation. There wasn’t much change, as it was about the same from the late 1770s. The Articles provided each state their independence and granting very minimal power to the main federal government.
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
One of the, if not the most important event of our political history would be the creation of the Articles of Confederation. Written on November 15, 1777 and ratified on March 1, 1781, they were the first official constitution of the United States. Newly independent from the tyrant nation of Great Britain, the colonist didn’t want to establish a unitary government in fear that it would become too similar to the British system. Instead they wanted a confederation, where most of the power was in the hands of each individual state. Just after six years the Confederate system’s flaws became clear. Civil disorder,
The Confederation period is often viewed as one of the most pivotal times in American history. Having recently broken off from Great Britain, this young nation needed structure. The Articles of Confederation was the new system of government for the United States and established the nation with a virtually powerless government. The Articles of Confederation was one of the great failures in American political policy during its eight year existence. The Articles left the states loosely connected, and gave the government little to no ability to develop. The Articles constructed a completely ineffective government, and it became apparent fairly quickly that it was simply insufficient.