Adopted on November 15th 1777 but fully implemented on March 1st 1781
« 1754 League of friendship »
The text
-Article I : Name of the new country
-Article II : It guarantees the sovereignty of the States
-Article III : Definition of the Confederation as a « League of Friendship » + mutual defense
-Article IV : Rights and privileges of the people + statis of criminals
Article V : Congress
Article VI : Area for which the states are not responsible.
The congress is the main institution in this new country.
Distribution of power between the institutions and the State.
A great imbalance of powers appears between the State & the Congress, illustrated by the Article IX & X
The characteristics of the Articles of Confederation
Imbalance between the executive power and legislative power Independence of the States Freedom Equal Laws Avoir arbitrary taxation
The main goal of this system was to avoid tyranny. This system is composed of 2 sources of legitimacy :
The people & the States
There was some problems:
No standing army, no execuive leadership, no National Currency, Each state had Equal Vote in Congress, Required unanimous vote to amend.
In the 1780's, the Flaws of the system. > Reasons for a new Constitution
Economic Crisis 1780's Absence of an American economic policy + Trade barriers between the states : Risk of implosion Debt transferred to the states Crisis of legislative rule : Legislative tyranny Increasing tensions > Shay's rebellion.
The localists took measures that only benefited themselves.
The shay's Rebellion :
In July 1786 = series of farm foreclosures
Demonstration and rioters protested against high taxation, the governor's high salary, high court cost and the assembly's refusal to issue paper money ?
The opposition was organized byDaniel Shays, at first there was only meetings and petitions, but then > escalation.