What Are The Flaws Of The Articles Of Confederation Dbq

During the Revolutionary War, it seemed necessary to the pro-independence Americans that they break away from England and form their own country. This country, of course, could not be started with no structure; the Americans needed a governmental basis, something which to build on. This cornerstone was to be the Articles of Confederation, the predecessor to our current Constitution. The Articles of Confederation, proposed by John Dickinson mere days after America declared its independence from England in July of 1776, were in effect from 1781 to 1789. The Articles were debated for a year until being approved in late 1777, and ratified by all the states on March 1, 1781. However, the Articles only lasted for less than a decade before being replaced. They had proved to be ineffective, and the government was rather too weak to handle many issues that arose while under the Articles. The Articles of Confederation showed their weaknesses especially when it came to economy of the country and land disputes in the west.

The Articles of Confederation set up a government that was nearly powerless and could not enforce the laws it made. Within a decade of its nationwide implementation, the Articles were deemed to be insufficient to govern a country. It soon became clear that a new system was needed to provide a structure for the American government. It was from this idea that a new document would eventually be created, the Constitution that outlasted its predecessor by more than two hundred years. The Constitution was created in response to flaws of the Articles, and has stood the test of time as the ultimate law of our land and the basis for our country today. Though the Articles of Confederation themselves may have failed, those failures are what allowed the nation to know what it needed and helped shape America as we know it