Preview

What Are The Consequences Of The Articles Of Confederation

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1088 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
What Are The Consequences Of The Articles Of Confederation
After the Revolutionary War started, the Continental Congress soon realized that America needed a stronger and more unified government in order to defeat Britain. Soon after, the delegates began to draft the first ever Constitution of America. In 1775, Benjamin Franklin attempted to write the first copy of the Articles of Confederation, but it was never formally considered by the Continental Congress. Then, in June of 1776, John Dickinson, a delegate from Pennsylvania began to draft the Articles of Confederation that were completed by November of 1777. However, after the draft was complete, not all of the states agreed with it. For instance, Maryland strongly disagreed against the Articles because claims to the western lands set Maryland in a disadvantage compared to the other states. Finally, in March of 1781, the Articles of Confederation were ratified by all of the states, but soon after, there were many problems that erupted. Ultimately, the Articles of Confederation were considered a failure because the Continental Congress did not have power to impose taxes, amend articles without state approval, and control foreign trade. To begin with, in the Articles of Confederation, it clearly stated that Congress did not have the power to levy taxes on the Americans. However, the Americans have been …show more content…
However, the consequences that were produced after this document was considered rather negative. There were outbreaks and rebellions that broke out which lead the Americans into more problems. More specifically, the Articles of Confederation were considered a failure because the Continental Congress did not have power to levy taxes, amend articles without state approval, and control foreign trade. With the amount of problems the delegates were already facing, the establishment of this document doomed America into a weaker and hopeless

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    At Philadelphia in 1778, John Dickinson drafted the first constitution for the United States as a nation. The Articles of Confederation was adopted by Congress in 1777 and submitted to the states for ratification. When Virginia and New York agreed to give up their claims to western lands, the Articles of Confederation were finally ratified in March 1781. The Articles established a central government that consisted of just one body, a congress. In this unicameral nation, the power given to states had greater power than the Federal power. Under the Articles of Confederation America was a weak nation without unity, which caused many problems to arise.…

    • 799 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    However, the Articles of Confederation had provided America with an ineffective form of government. Eventually, the Constitutional Convention to revise the Articles of Confederation ended up resulting in the overthrow of the Articles and the writing of the Constitution. Congresses two greatest weaknesses were that it had no power…

    • 440 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    without the power to tax, and the states were supposed to donate money to the government…

    • 679 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Articles of Confederation are considered to have created a highly controversial period in American history. Ironically, these articles also provided a steady form of government for many years after the revolutionary war. For many economic, political, and social reasons the Articles of Confederation were an ineffective form of government for the United States.…

    • 950 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    1985 DBQ

    • 608 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Even the sewer colony that accepted all religions and everyone had the Rhode Island Assembly reject the recommendation of Congress to tax imported goods (DOC A). Their reasoning was that it would be unequal in its operation; it proposes to introduce into this and the other states, and granting Congress a power to collect moneys from the commerce of states (DOC A). “Every class of public creditors must know the inability of Congress to pay their demands…” (DOC C) This country with a lot of debt needs to have some way to repay that debt. That is common sense. When we were not a country, we made $6555000 in 1775. When we became a country, our peak profits from exported goods between 1784-1792 was 4901000. We were making less as a country and we owed a lot more. (DOC B)…

    • 608 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    After America declared their independence from Britain in 1776 they had no governance system. One year after the Declaration of Independence was signed, and America gained their freedom the Articles of Confederation was signed and served as the governance for the nation. There were weaknesses in the articles such as the inability of the natural government to implement foreign or domestic policy, to tax, or regulate trade, and due to these weaknesses in 1778 the Constitution was the replacement of the Articles. The articles simply did not allow enough power to the national government, and because the constitution maintained state power it also gave the central government power over commerce and foreign policies. During this time, Britain was…

    • 417 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Between 1781 and 1789 America experienced a period of political weakness and lack of action to fix the impending crisis. Following the Revolutionary War, America succeeded in establishing its liberty, free of tyrannical British rule. During this period, the new found freedom of America acted as a double-edged sword. Although Americans had finally achieved the freedom that they had fought for, they were faced with the challenge of establishing an entirely new system of government which they organized under the Articles of Confederation. John Dickinson led the authors of the Articles of Confederation by sharing the document with the Continental Congress on July 12, 1776. The Articles of Confederation provided the United States with an ineffective government, incapable of performing the necessary duties to ensure the success of the growing nation.…

    • 285 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    In addition, The Articles of Confederation had shortcomings. There were many flaws that affected almost every aspect of the United States. For example, there was no unity between states because states acted only for their own benefit. Both foreign and domestic economic issues started to appear. The country couldn't even pay off its debt, Congress wanted to tax imported goods but the British later refused to evacuate forts around the Great Lakes. Another issue included the wealthy wanting high-state imposed taxes. This would only cause farmers to have higher debts due to not being able to pay off higher taxes, Shays Rebellion is an example of how angry farms got with the government. Daniel Shays led rebels to an uprising in Massachusetts during…

    • 140 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The articles of confederation is just not good for our states. It has so many weaknesses that affect the people living in the states. Examples the government can not force the states to obey its laws so the states can do things the government says is not ok, the states can make its own paper currency in other words they can have there own money, also there is no army or navy so we can not protect ourselves as a country we just regular people have to stand up and fight for ourselves. The articles could be a really good system but the weaknesses overrun the strengths by about 3 to 1. A revise would be really good for our states because things are not looking to well for farmers and people like me.…

    • 240 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Although the Articles of Confederation successfully steered fledgling America through the Revolutionary War, in peacetime society its flaws in unifying the country became increasingly clear. Largely thanks to the insistence of Alexander Hamilton, a delegation came together in May of 1787 to either revise the Articles or create a new government. With George Washington as president of the Constitutional Convention, the delegates drafted the Constitution by September, leaving the states with the responsibility of ratifying. Although Virginia had been heavily influential in the formation of the Constitution, with delegates such as James Madison actually proposing a full plan for the new American government, many of Virginia’s prominent statesmen…

    • 2269 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    Decades of Salutary Neglect provided fertile soil for the roots of independence, which eventually led to the American Revolution. A constitution for the new emerging nation called the Articles of Confederation was drafted shortly before the declaring of independence in 1776. Through extraordinary chance, the American colonists managed to secure an alliance with France and defeat the British. The Treaty of Paris of 1783 was formed, which recognized the United States as an independent nation. Now the nation was governed under the Articles of Confederation. Fear of British rule led to the inclusion of certain ideas during the drafting of the Articles of Confederation, which provided a reasonable and workable transition from the unitary system of British rule to the…

    • 1074 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    The aftermath of instituting the Articles of Confederation brought about rebellion and tensions between states. The Articles of Confederation have failed the U.S. and need to be replaced by something new. The Articles of Confederation have been a flawed system of government from the start. These Articles were caused by them being written in haste and in fear. The Articles of Confederation were written when the U.S. declared independence from Britain and they did not want to leave the chance of a tyrannical government moving in.…

    • 2477 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Constitution of the United States was written in 1787, yet there was a struggle for its ratification that went on until 1790. Members of Congress believed that the Articles of Confederation, the first government of the United States, needed to be altered while others did not want change. After the Revolutionary War, there was a need for strong state centered governments, rather than a strong central government based on their experience as a colony. However, an investigation of the historical record reveals that the Articles of Confederation were not meeting the needs of Americans, and the need for a new Constitution was desired. This desired Constitution created a huge dispute and argument between the Federalists and the Anti-Federalists.…

    • 1033 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The power to tax was crucial power needed by the government. Under the Articles of Confederation the US economy was extremely fragile having just emerged from depression. The market value would jump thousands of dollars one year and fall the next. The power to tax was needed to help stabilize the volatile market.…

    • 354 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    For the laugh of it

    • 537 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The Articles of Confederation has both its strengths and weaknesses. A Strength would be that the government passed the Northwest Ordinance of 1787, which allowed the Northwest Territories to organize their own governments. It has also banned slavery from the region. A weakness of the Confederation would be that the congress had no power to coin money; therefore each state developed its own currency. Shays rebellion stopped the collection of taxes and forced the closing debtors’ courts thus showing the weakness of the Articles of confederation. This made people think they needed a stronger government, which led to the Constitutional Convention being held in Philadelphia for the purpose of revising the Articles of Confederation. The Constitutional Convention was held in Philadelphia 25th of May to the 17th of September 1787. Since a number of delegates wanted a new government and system altogether, they constructed an entirely new government to what it is today. Compromises were made almost every day, but one of the big ones were the Great or Connecticut Compromise allowing for different representations in the House and Senate. It combined both the idea of The New Jersey Plan and The Virginia Plan so both large and small states were happy about it.…

    • 537 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays