Weaknesses Of The Articles Of Confederation

Before the U.S. Constitution there was the Articles of Confederation. The document could declare war, negotiate treaties, and control foreign affairs. It couldn’t enforce laws, tax, and raise its own army. What the Articles Of Confederation lacked was a strong central government. Alexander Hamilton called for a constitutional convention in 1786, and it took place in Philadelphia on May 14, 1787.

When the State of Franklin failed in 1789 it demonstrated the weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation. For example, when the State of Franklin failed it did not collect the people’s taxes. When this happened the State of Franklin ceased to exist anymore. According to the text,”The state collapsed as laws went unforced, taxes were not collected, and courthouses failed to meet in the state 's final 15 months before they ceased to exist”(paragraph 6).

Unit 3 Test After the Revolution and the failure that was the Articles of Confederation, the nation needed order. Thus the nation’s leaders came together during the summer of 1787 at the Philadelphia Convention to draft the Constitution of the United States. The constitution was ratified in 1788. The Federalist Party had to gain nine of the thirteen states’ approval of the constitution to ratify it despite the goals of the Declaration of Independance. After the tyranny of the British rule, the new citizens of the United States wanted a severely limited 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 weaknesses of the articles of confederation contributed to the Failure of Franklin in many ways. There were 3 reasons that stuck out to me the most. However, there were many weaknesses and failures that was mixed in with these two. They have there alikes and differences to them.

To begin, their are numerous reasons why the State of Franklin demonstrates the weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation. Subsequently,the main basis of the failure was due to the Articles of Confederation. The State of Franklin did not cease to exist, because there was not enough votes to be recognized as an independent state, the settlers fought each other over control of the government, and it did not meet the requirements. Correspondingly, the Confederation Congress heard William Cocke’s petition asking for Franklin’s admission to the Union as an independent state that is when everything changed for Franklin to become a state. According to the text, “A vote was held, but Franklin supporters failed to reach the 2/3 majority required

The Articles of Confederation couldn’t deal adequately with many problems that arose during the 1780’s. Some of the problems include National Security and Currency. On the other hand, The Articles of Confederation did have some admirable traits to it. Such as the Ordinances of 1787 and 1785. Though the Articles had some praiseworthy achievements, it did come with some major complications.

Articles of confederation, the first try at government; failed miserably for the colonists. In order to fix the wounds made by the Articles of Confederation a convention met in order to build a new government. The constitutional convention occurred in the months of of May to September 1787; this meeting was probably the most important in the history of the United States of America. Till that point America was separate states not a united country. Various state representatives met to talk about issues such as slavery and representation per state.

Before the government we have today was created we originally started off with the Articles of Confederation. This first form of government was weak since it couldn't enforce laws, regulate trade, and collect taxes. Even in this weak state, it continued to weaken. Around this time a rebellion named Shay's rebellion happened which made people fearful; causing them to want a stronger government. Therefore action was taken to change the articles of confederation.

Although the intention of the Articles of Confederation was to create a stable government for the 13 colonies, it was sadly designed poorly resulting in an overall ineffective government. The Articles may have been rewarded with some success with respect to western lands, but the overall effect was negative, especially the economic conditions. The economic conditions were primarily the most negative aspect of the Articles of Confederation. The inability to tax settlers caused the federal government to have a serious shortfall in revenue, and the restriction to regulate trade added to the chaos.

The Articles of Confederation were a major improvement over the past government of England, in which the power only belongs to a few people, the king and parliament. The Articles of Confederation allowed each individual state to have its own power. Congress could not require any state to pay taxes, nor could they require to build a national army. Preventing tyranny was a major idea and a major goal that the Articles of Confederation produced. One other improvement that the Articles of Confederation instituted was the idea of not only reducing the power of the king, but increasing the power of the people.

Following the Revolutionary War, America had just gained independance from Great Britain and needed to form a new government. The Articles of Confederation were established as an attempt to create a government that was unlike Britain’s. Unfortunately, the Articles of Confederation had several weaknesses. When in the process of repairing those weaknesses, the Federalists and the Anti-federalists formed. The Articles of Confederation were very weak as well as useless to America and because of this, the Federalists and the Anti-Federalists could not agree on a new type of government.

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.

Contrary to popular belief, the United States has two constitutions: the Articles of Confederation and the present day constitution. So, what happened to the Articles of Confederation? The Articles of Confederation failed for many reasons: the reluctancy of the individual states to surrender their powers to a national government, the impotence of Congress to tax the colonies in order to pay off war debts or pay veterans of the American Revolution, the inability to back up the currency coined by Congress, the institution of multiple currency as states began to coin their own money, and the lack of power to regulate trade and commerce among the states or foreign nations. In addition, the Articles of Confederation limited the executive and judicial

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.