Strengths And Weaknesses Of The Articles Of Confederation
The Articles of confederation allowed States to be independent while the federal government was overall a meeting place for all the state representatives to meet and debate new law. The federal government had laws in place but their were very hard to enforce. The federal government under the Articles of Confederation had no president. They instead had the Committee of the States which had one representative from each state. Even though that the Committee of the States was the most central form of the federal government, they had very little power to the Constitutional Congress. The Articles had many weaknesses that stunted the growth of the nation. First off, The articles had the inability to gain funds from its citizens. Congress could not
impose taxes under the Articles. The nation was already in a massive debt brought by the revolution. This debt stopped many creditors from loaning money to the nation. Secondly, The requirement for unanimity from the Congress was a major problem in America's development, An example would the Five percent import tax that congress wanted to impose to raise money for a system of reserves. Rhode Island's economy depended heavily on foreign trade and would not agree to this tax. This disagreement made the tax die off as well as the plans for a early national bank. Lastly, There was no central government department that regulated the trade within the country. Each state was administrated like their own country with their own currency, taxes, and inflation.This made it extremely difficult for trading between each state. The Articles did not provide any Commercial policies as well. When policy was to be added, Southern states resisted since they feared that Northern states would monopolize the South's major trade. The articles of Confederation did more harm that good to the new country. The articles put America into a financial collapse. States raised their import taxes causing states with lower taxes to get more trading, caused tension between states in need of money (Schultz, 2013).
Schultz, K.M. (2013). US History Through 1877. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
impose taxes under the Articles. The nation was already in a massive debt brought by the revolution. This debt stopped many creditors from loaning money to the nation. Secondly, The requirement for unanimity from the Congress was a major problem in America's development, An example would the Five percent import tax that congress wanted to impose to raise money for a system of reserves. Rhode Island's economy depended heavily on foreign trade and would not agree to this tax. This disagreement made the tax die off as well as the plans for a early national bank. Lastly, There was no central government department that regulated the trade within the country. Each state was administrated like their own country with their own currency, taxes, and inflation.This made it extremely difficult for trading between each state. The Articles did not provide any Commercial policies as well. When policy was to be added, Southern states resisted since they feared that Northern states would monopolize the South's major trade. The articles of Confederation did more harm that good to the new country. The articles put America into a financial collapse. States raised their import taxes causing states with lower taxes to get more trading, caused tension between states in need of money (Schultz, 2013).
Schultz, K.M. (2013). US History Through 1877. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.