The Successes of the Articles of Confederation

The Successes of the Articles of Confederation Everyday, people go through trial and error. The Founding Fathers first created the Articles of Confederation in order to have a central government that did not have too much power. However, this did not work, as the central government was made too weak and the states did as they pleased. However, without this step, the Founding Fathers would have never created the document the United States goes by today, the Constitution. The Articles, however, did have a few notable successes. The successes of the Articles of Confederation were securing independence and the settling of the western land claims. Under the Articles of Confederation, the United States was able to secure its independence. Because the Treaty was adopted under the Articles, the Articles were considered responsible for this success. American representatives Benjamin Franklin, John Jay, and John Adams were sent to France to negotiate the terms of peace and spoils of war. Under the Treaty of Paris, the United States were to be acknowledged as a free and independent nation. The Treaty of Paris ultimately ended all hostilities between the newly free nation and its mother country. Without the Articles in effect, the Revolutionary War could have ended very differently. The Treaty of Paris also gave the United States new lands that extended to the Mississippi River that the central government had to settle without any one state getting to powerful.

These western land claims had to be settled quickly and in a fair way. Under the Articles of Confederation, the Land Ordinance of 1785 was passed. This ordinance decided how the new lands in the Ohio Valley would be divided up. This law surveyed the lands and divided it into squares to be sold. The Land Ordinance of 1785 was also important for public education in the United States. Parts of the new lands were reserved for schools or its proceeds went t pay for the school. In 1787, the Northwest Ordinance of 1787