The Government: The Weakness Of Congress

Although the Articles were weak, there was a purpose to it. The reason for a weak government was to avoid a strong national government that would try to take an away individual rights. The government was granted the power to declare war and make peace, make treaties and establish a postal system. Although this was more power than the states had before, it wasn’t enough to keep the states in check. It was denied, along with the executive branch, raising taxes, stopping states from printing their own money, regulate trade with other countries or between states as well as a court system. Congress was also weak, with members being elected annually as well as a need for 2/3 vote to settle important issues and unanimous vote was needed to make amendment to the Articles, solutions to problems was hard to come by. Congress also could not raise a military. Congress could not collect tax either because it couldn’t force the stated to give it to them causing a decline in revenue.
The states were governed by themselves. The inability of Congress to deal with taxes led to the states to form their own tax laws and print their own money. It was hard on the nation, especially when a citizen was to travel from state to state, some states had higher taxes then the other. Without Congress involved, states argued over boundaries, as well as states taxing other states. This would lead to an important event in 1786, Shay’s Rebellion.
Shay’s Rebellion acted as a wakeup call to the nation. The start of the rebellion came from Daniel Shay, an angry farmer who was unsatisfied with the farmland mortgages. Shay and local farmers gathered in Massachusetts to start a take-over. Shat was quickly stopped, arrested, convicted, sentenced to death but was let go. The reason for its importance was that there was a fear of more violence boiling within the states, believing that a stronger federal