Articles Of Confederation Analysis
The Articles of Confederation provided for the basic structure of American government from 1781. The articles bound states together, but this tie was so weak that central government was impossible. "A national government should have the ability to enforce its authority, have a clear description of where the governing powers lie, a delineated leadership, and disposition of economic and foreign affairs. The Articles themselves were drafted at the beginning of the war, but all 13 states had to sign before they could be ratified."1 At last ratified in 1781, "the articles granted a basic system providing a unicameral congress in which each state had one vote, and was itself elected by the state legislatures. As there was no conventional executive,
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Again, as with independence, there were no guarantees undergirding this process of national development; the outcomes were neither assured nor foreordained. Rather, the Americans had to do some heavy political lifting to prepare the political ground for reform of their government, and some heavy intellectual and theoretical lifting as well to devise the mechanisms and institutions that they felt ought to be put into place as a new national constitution."19 The impact of the Articles of Confederation on the Constitutional Convention of 1787 is underlined "by more than 150 years of conventional wisdom which deemed the Articles to be a total failure. Not until 1940, did historian Merrill Jensen - in his first book, The Articles of Confederation (1940)-set out to redeem the articles from the strictures of conventional wisdom. Today we have a clear-eyed view of the strengths and weaknesses of the Articles and of the achievements of the government under the Articles as well as the …show more content…
10 William Dudley, ed., The Creation of the Constitution: Opposing Viewpoints, Greenhaven Press, 1995, 40
11 Raoul Berger, Federalism The Founders ' Design, University of Oklahoma Press, 1987, 23
12 Merrill Jensen, The New Nation New York 1950, 410
13 Robert Hoffert, A Politics of Tensions: The Articles of Confederation and American Political Ideas, University of Colorado Press 1992, 64
14 Hamilton, Jay, Madison The Federalist Papers, Rossiter Ed. Mentor 1999, No
Again, as with independence, there were no guarantees undergirding this process of national development; the outcomes were neither assured nor foreordained. Rather, the Americans had to do some heavy political lifting to prepare the political ground for reform of their government, and some heavy intellectual and theoretical lifting as well to devise the mechanisms and institutions that they felt ought to be put into place as a new national constitution."19 The impact of the Articles of Confederation on the Constitutional Convention of 1787 is underlined "by more than 150 years of conventional wisdom which deemed the Articles to be a total failure. Not until 1940, did historian Merrill Jensen - in his first book, The Articles of Confederation (1940)-set out to redeem the articles from the strictures of conventional wisdom. Today we have a clear-eyed view of the strengths and weaknesses of the Articles and of the achievements of the government under the Articles as well as the …show more content…
10 William Dudley, ed., The Creation of the Constitution: Opposing Viewpoints, Greenhaven Press, 1995, 40
11 Raoul Berger, Federalism The Founders ' Design, University of Oklahoma Press, 1987, 23
12 Merrill Jensen, The New Nation New York 1950, 410
13 Robert Hoffert, A Politics of Tensions: The Articles of Confederation and American Political Ideas, University of Colorado Press 1992, 64
14 Hamilton, Jay, Madison The Federalist Papers, Rossiter Ed. Mentor 1999, No