Articles of Confederation Flaws

1. Major domestic problems faced by the leaders of the republic under the Articles of Confederation was maintaining national security and creating a stable economic system. Maintaining national security was hard because the national government did not have the power to draft people into the army. The new country did not have an army therefore they were perceived as a weak nation. Many nations were waiting to invade the young country and claim the valuable land. The country also did not show unity. Each state was having disputes and the nation was on the edge of a civil war. An event like Shay’s rebellion destroyed unity and was a perfect example of the lack of stability shown by this country. Another problem faced by the leaders was economic stability. They did not have stability for many reasons. First, trading between states was very difficult because trade laws from state to state differed. Next, each state had its own currency. Money in New Jersey was worthless in Virginia. Finally, paper money in general was worthless because they didn’t have the gold to back the money. These are the major problems faced my leaders of the republic under the Articles of Confederation.

2. Challenges in ratifying the U.S. Constitution included The Great Compromise and the Three-Fifths Compromise. The Virginia Plan and the New Jersey Plan were both suggestions for our congress. However, Virginia, a large state wanted to have representation based on population while New Jersey, a small state, wanted representation to be the same no matter the size of the state. This compromise combined both ideas and made a bicameral congress with two houses. The Three-Fifths Compromise was used to settle the dispute about slaves for representation. The south wanted them to count for representation but not for taxes. Counting three fifths of the slave population for a person solved this problem. Three fifths of the slave population was added to the states population and that