Strengths And Weaknesses Of The Articles Of Confederation

With a revolution starting, the thirteen colonies needed to implement a new government to replace, and improve upon the British one that the colonies were fighting against. The Founding Fathers’ first attempt at such a government was drafted and defined in the Articles of Confederation. This draft was put in front of the Second Continental Congress in 1777. It was completely ratified and adopted by March 1, 1781. While battles large and small enveloped the fledling country, it was written quickly, and in the grand scheme of things was also adopted and implemented rather quickly.

The articles of confederation is the first national government of the United states America, however, this constitution is flawed. The new independent nation needed an organization that would hold all of the states together, send a military off in the future if needed and of course a stronger economy. The articles seemed to be the best route to take for the United States in order to build unity in their nation. The U.S wanted to avoid higher power like Great Britain with King George the third. They wanted to spread power to the people evenly.

Adopted by Continental Congress on November 15, 1777, The Articles of Confederation served as the United States Constitution and was in effect from March 1, 1781 to 1789 when the current Constitution took effect. The Articles of Confederation was a written document that entailed the position and function of the national government after the United States declared its independence from Great Britain. It established a weak central government that mostly prevented individual states from conducting their own foreign diplomacy. Until its ratification in 1789, it served as the first constitution of the United States. The Articles had more weaknesses than strengths.

The Article of Confederation was the first written agreement in the United states. There are many strengths of the Article of Confederation. Congress gain the power to deal with foreign affairs. Not only did it they deal foreign affairs, it also dealt with Native American affairs. They also had power to regulate coinage.

Alexander Hamiltion had wrote The Federalist 21 to express the weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation. The Federalist 21 talks about many weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation. The specific weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation according to The Federalsit 21 included the following, the first weakness is the inability of the government to enforce its legistation. The government could pass laws but could not force the laws on the states. States could choice to disregard the laws without conquences from the government.

The three branches that the constitution have made include the legislative, the executive and the judicial branch. The Legislative branch, also known as the House of Representatives, has certain powers over the other branches, the Executive is known as the President will also have powers over the other branches, and the same goes for the judiciary which is known as the Supreme Court. By creating these three branches of government, the representatives will also build a check and balance system which is included in the

The thought process behind the Articles of Confederation was to create a document that created division between states with laws but also created confederacy by creating national laws to protect the defense of the country. - (Khan Academy) This would make it so that the state governments would have freedom to rule their own territories given to them without much national laws preventing them from controlling over everything. - (Khan Academy). The Founding Fathers also wanted to make the Articles of Confederation because they wanted to divide power and not let all of it be based on one-person ruling.

Many of these farmers who joined the rebellion had been fighting in the American Revolution, leading the farmers to not be able to tend to their land. The government did not pay them for all the time the farmers spent fighting in the war. Shay was determined to save his farm so he gathered nearly 2,000 farmers and started to attack courthouses. The point of attacking courthouses was to prevent the courts from selling property as payment for debts. Once George Washington stated, “If there exists not a power to check them,” Washington questioned what would happen and what was happening at the time without an executive branch (Document 3).

The United States Constitution was ratified in response to the weaknesses present in the Articles of Confederation. The Articles of Confederation was the first constitution of the United States and it intentionally gave the central government very little power. The colonists had just escaped life under the British monarchy where they had no representation and no way to legally protest the way they were being treated. The colonists were forced to pay unfair taxes without representation, forced to house British soldiers, and many other things that they had no choice in. Because of this experience, the articles of confederation was drafted to make the central government weak and to protect the people from the government.

As it applies to the Articles of Confederation there were many weaknesses in the way it went about governing the United States. For one, the loose federation of the states was too weak to act as a foundation to be considered or act as a central government. In addition the state legislatures had too much power and in turn had the ability to influence economic issues of all kinds. This strong legislature is the same one that allowed for mob ruling and actions by debtors. The Articles of confederation were also weak because the required congress to have all 13 colonies in agreement when a new tax was to be passed.

The anti-federalists saw that the Bill of rights as very necessary, and federalists thought that the constitution was perfect the way it

Supporters of the new Constitution were known as Federalists and the ones that opposed the new Constitution were known as Anti-Federalists. Federalists argued that we needed a stronger central government to address the economic and political problems facing the country. While Anti-Federalists argued that the new Central government would be too strong and that it would take away individual liberties. Before the ratification process began there were a series of essays written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay known as the Federalist Papers. They were published in support of the new Constitution, and it helped to sway the public’s opinion in its favor.

They felt the Constitution would create a system of federalism, a system in which the national government holds significant power, but the smaller political subdivisions also hold significant power. They felt the country needed a strong central government so that it didn’t fall apart. The Ant-Federalists were on the opposing side, they felt the Constitution granted the government too much power. They also felt there wasn’t enough protection of their right with an absent Bill of Rights. Another concern of the Anti-Federalists mainly came from the lower classes, from their standpoint they thought the wealthy class would be in main control and gain the most benefits from the ratification of this document.

The Articles of Confederation was an agreement among the thirteen original states of the United States that served as the first constitution. The Articles had first been introduced by Richard Henry Lee in the Second Continental Congress. Although the Articles of Confederation has made its contributions throughout history, the Articles, however, did not last very long and had been proven inadequate from the very start. I agree with this statement based on the examples and analysis of the Constitution I will soon provide. The Articles of Confederation were written during a time when the American people feared a strong national government.

The Articles of the Confederation was the first government constitution that the United States used, and, although there were strength like the Northwest Ordinance of 1787, there were major weaknesses of the Articles of the Confederation like the following: requiring 9 out of the 13 colonial votes from the representatives from different states to pass a law; having no executive and judicial branch; and the federal government being unable to impose tax revenue onto the states. Such flaws would eventually lead to the Constitution and the repeal of the articles, for the Constitution was a measure to fix the problems of the articles with a stronger government that allowed them to impose taxes and and implement new laws for a more effective government.