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Changes in federalism history
Functions of the articles of confederation
Functions of the articles of confederation
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After the Declaration of Independence, colonies began to produce written constitutions and establish themselves as states. The Articles of Confederation, adopted in November 1777 and ratified in March 1781, was a plan to unify these states. Under these articles the national government proved to be a weak, decentralized system. In this essay we will discuss the advantages and disadvantages of the Articles of Confederation in order to understand the need for a new system. The Articles of Confederation were America’s first national government. At the federal level, the continental congress was formed. Limited powers were allocated to this branch. A lot of power remained among the states after the Revolutionary War. States were sovereign, but …show more content…
agreed to work together for the welfare of the nation. Despite its flaws, the Articles of Confederation allocated war, foreign affair, interstate and financial powers to the continental congress.
“The United States in congress assembled, shall have the sole and exclusive right and power of determining on peace and war, (The Articles of Confederation 1781).” With some exceptions, this power granted congress the right to declare war and make peace. This would prevent individual states from going to war among themselves and with other nations. A second power of the congress was its right to engage in foreign affairs and sign treaties. For example, after the American Revolution congress placed an embargo on any states that traded with the British and punished violators (Freedman, Eric M). Thirdly, congress had the right to coin and borrow money. This was especially necessary after the war because debt had accumulated due to the war. Lastly, “congress’ control over the national domain was a source of wealth, prestige, power and patronage, (Freedman, Eric M).” The continental congress held interstate power. It settled disagreements between states without legal court. The congress was also in control of the post offices built to facilitate correspondence among states. Without intending to do so, the Articles of Confederation set up a legislative …show more content…
body. There were more weaknesses than strengths under the Articles of Confederation. These weaknesses included the absence of a system of checks and balances, judicial branch, executive branch, power to tax or regulate commerce between states. There was a single branch of government under the Articles of Confederation, the legislative branch. The Articles gave the continental congress the right to pass laws, but not the right to enforce them. The national government could not force the states to obey the law, the enforcement of law was a state power. This system of power was decentralized and called upon reform. The Articles of Confederation proved the national government to be weak.
The articles failed because there was no set currency. Different money was being used for state, federal and foreign affairs. There remained a huge war debt after the revolutionary War. The continental congress could not tax states and this made it difficult to pay off war debt. Therefore the states acted like individual countries. This made agreements between states difficult to achieve. The states acted on behalf of their own interest and not on behalf of the nations interest. As mentioned, congress was unicameral and this made it difficult to pass laws. Perhaps, Shays’ Rebellion was the turning point that led to the revision of the Articles of Confederation. During this rebellion American farmers were against state and local economic enforcement. In Massachusetts debt was not amnestied (Shays’ Rebellion). The tax collections, as a result of debt, were outrageous and the farmers demanded fair collection as their
right. Consequently, the advantages and disadvantages of the Articles of Confederation led to the need for a Constitution. Under the new Constitution, the distribution of power would be monitored by a system of checks and balances. The legislative branch, an advantage of the Articles of Confederation, was allocated more power under the new Constitution. The absence of a judicial and executive branch of government, a disadvantage of the Articles of Confederation, was addressed in the Constitution. The original form of government established under the Articles of Confederation served as an initial study of what form of government best represented our nation.
The unpredictable failure of the Articles of Confederation to the continental congress was a huge problem. The Articles of Confederation was made so the states would have more power, And limit the powers of the national government. Main contributors for this action was the fear that the national government will gain too much power and overstep its authority.This would have a negative effect on the nation, because tensions will start to rise for the ineffectiveness of this new system of government. A Rebellion best known as Shays rebellion, took place shortly after The adoption of the Articles of Confederation. The states, in which shays rebellion has taken place, were becoming unjust/unfair the way in which the state collected taxes. Since the Articles of Confederation was a complete failure
During the American Revolution the not yet established United States, held two Continental Congresses that eventually help defeat Britain. The First Continental Congress informed the local militias to prepare for war. The Second Continental Congress helped end the war and issue the Declaration of Independence. The Second Continental congress sought out to create a national government for our new country named the Articles of Confederation. However, The Articles of Confederation had many problems, for example, Congress and the states shared the right to regulate currency and issue money. This led to an excess of currency, which pushed down the value of currency and created inflationary pressure on the Continental dollar. The downfall of the Articles of Confederation ultimately sparked a political conflict between
It was the mid-late 1700s, and America had finally achieved and received independence from Great Britain. Peace in America on the other hand, not so much. After gaining independence, the Articles of Confederation were made as a system of government for the United States, but gave very imbalanced power between federal and state levels. For example, on the federal level, the national government couldn't force a state to pay taxes. To try to amend the Articles, in 1787, a meeting made up of delegates representing the states was called up, but instead, what would be created is what we now know as the Constitution. But how exactly did this document remedy the flaws of the Articles, and prevent tyranny from unjust amounts and usage of power? The Constitution helped stop tyranny in government with a
In an effort to limit the power of the national government, Congress created one without enough power to govern effectively, which led to serious national and international problems. One of the main weaknesses under the Articles of Confederation was its incapability to regulate trade and levy taxes. The states controlled all of their “cash flows.” Sometimes, the states were in debt because of tariff wars that they would engage in with one another.
The power to tax is key to a successful government. If a government is to act it needs the means to do so. The Articles withheld the power of taxation from Congress and gave it to the local governments. Congress could only appeal to the states for money. Unsurprisingly, the states did not respond with any of the requested money. This was a serious problem because the U.S. was in an incredible amount of debt as a result of the Revolutionary War. If money cannot be collected, how are debts to be paid? Some in Congress believed the problem could be solved by printing more money. However, this strategy only led to inflation, which weakened the economy furthe...
The Articles of Confederation was America’s first constitution. The Articles of Confederation failed to create a strong central government, however. With the demise of the states in sight, the need for a stronger and more structured central government became apparent. An invitation was sent to all thirteen states in February 1787 by the Confederation Congress to resolve the matter. The events that took place over the next several months would create the United States Constitution. Going down in history as a revolutionary form of government, the U.S. Constitution would give life to a country that is still running strong over 200 years later.
The Articles of Confederation were approved by Congress on November 15, 1777 and ratified by the states on March 1, 1781. It was a modest attempt by a new country to unite itself and form a national government. The Articles set up a Confederation that gave most of the power to the states. Many problems arose and so a new Constitution was written in 1787 in Independence Hall. The new Constitution called for a much more unified government with a lot more power. Let us now examine the changes that were undertaken.
In comparing the Articles of Confederation with the U.S constitution that was produced by the federal convention in 1787, it is important to note that the U.S operated under both documents. During March 1, 1781, the Articles of Confederation went into effect when it was ratified by Maryland. However, the U.S constitution replaced the Articles of Confederation as soon as it was ratified on June 21, 1788 by New Hampshire. The main difference between the Articles of Confederations and the U.S Constitution is that the constitution didn’t force the laws, but established the why of the constitution. In establishing the why, it warranted the farmers to work on the government being better than the Articles of Confederations. They wanted the government
According to the Federalists in the early stages of the American republic, a strong central government was necessary to provide uniform supervision to the states thus aiding in the preservation of the Union. This necessity for a more organized central government was a result of the ineffectiveness of the Article of Confederation’s government that was without a unifying government body. One component of this philosophy was the creation of an executive and other federal branche...
After the American Revolution, each of the original 13 colonies operated under its own rules of government. Most states were against any form of centralized rule from the government. They feared that what happened in England would happen again. They decided to write the Articles of Confederation, which was ratified in 1781. It was not effective and it led to many problems.
The Articles of Confederation was the first government of the United States. The Articles had created a very weak national government. At the time the Articles were approved, they had served the will of the people. Americans had just fought a war to get freedom from a great national authority--King George III (Patterson 34). But after this government was put to use, it was evident that it was not going to keep peace between the states. The conflicts got so frequent and malicious that George Washington wondered if the “United” States should be called a Union (Patterson 35). Shays’ Rebellion finally made it evident to the public that the government needed a change.
The Colonies were excited about having won their independence in 1783 with the signing of the Treaty of Paris, but they still had to be able to create their own system of government which they thought would create a strong government which would not have an overpowering central government as they thought Great Britain had had. With this was the creation of the Articles of Confederation. These articles were meant to create strong local and state governments while not granting any power to the central government with the idea that it could not have any power over the states. The states were allowed to conduct their own diplomacy, or war, from nation to nation or even from state to state. States were allowed to create their own currency and put heavy import taxes on goods from other states. The federal government had no independent executive, nor could it levy taxes on any part of the states. It could not create or maintain a militia; this duty was left to the states. All decisions had to be ratified by all thirteen colonies. In thought, this was a great idea because only the most popular decisions would be ratified and stronger states could not hurt the smaller states through majority rule. In practice it did not work very well because it could be thwarted by a single stubborn state.
The powers given to the American government were few, and consisted mainly of the ability to handle foreign affairs. The government was not allowed to create taxes, had no executive branch, no judicial branch, and no power to regulate the states’ actions among each other. In order to amend the articles of confederation, under the articles of confederation, the states had to come to unanimous agreement which was a difficult thing to accomplish. There was no central form of currency in America which lead to disagreements among the states and their individual forms of currency. With such little power, the national government was helpless when states had problems with each other, and problems were frequent. Favoring their own local economies, the separate states would tax goods from other states and create trade barriers inhibiting free trade on the interstate level. This led to terrible economic problems in America as a whole, and throughout the 1780s the American people began to realize the Articles of Confederation was in need of revision; the National government had to be
The Articles of Confederation were not the best laws Congress passed, nor were they the worst. The Articles, which was supposed to be the constitution of the United States, brought along terrible changes and numerous problems. In the Rhode Island Assembly’s letter to Congress, it stated that the Articles created a weak and unhelpful government, one that could not levy taxes, lacked the power to regulate interstate and foreign trading, could not enforce national policies; the list goes on and on (A). Because Congress could not control taxing, this eventually led to a poor army that lacked a leader to start an effective
The Articles were ineffective because Congress only had the power to recommend actions to the States. It could not enforce its recommendations or laws. Each State had its own constitution, monetary system, and means to enforce the law. Each State had a stronger commitment to the State laws and to the State's own self interests than to the recommendations of Congress. Regionalism pitted one State against another, which decreased the sense of unity in the country. For example, when Congress recommended an impost, or duty, on imported goods, the State of Rhode Island voted to reject the idea because they felt it was unfair and was against the constitution of the State (Document A). Defending the Articles is tough but not impossible. Even though Shays' Rebellion did not succeed, Congress did get to raise troops which, at the end were not needed (Document G).