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Although the Articles of Confederation provided a working government for the United States, it was not necessarily an effectively working government; an effective government would be one that not only establishes control and authority, but one under which the nation flourishes. Certainly the Articles set down a basic government with the idea of a democratic republic. However, the Articles of Confederation didn't impose an effective government as much as it set the basis for one. It was unable to enforce many laws and many of those set were also unequal in operation, as unfair to some states as fair to others. Thus, from 1781 to 1789, the Articles of Confederation established a working, yet ineffective government, with very little control or authority over foreign relations, the economy, and western lands.…
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One of the problems of the United States under the Articles of Confederation was the…
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Regarding structure, the Articles of Confederation, or simply Articles, were relatively ‘bare-bones’ when compared to the complex constitutions and declarations of government other countries had. It laid out a simple and ultimately primitive government: the power of the government was to lie solely in Congress, a group of delegates from all states. It was to be Congress and only Congress to create laws and run most of the government. This concept did not work well in practice: Congress, the only branch of the government, was weak and unable to bring about policy change for the country. First, all amendments to the Articles required a unanimous vote of all thirteen states - something that was quite rare - and even the simplest of national laws required a two-thirds majority to be established. This became a major issue. As a new country, a lot of issues were going to come forth to Congress, and due to the bureaucratic rules that were in place, it was difficult for a treaty or policy to be approved. Furthermore, the Articles did…
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The Articles of Confederation was the first American constitution completed by the Continental Congress in 1777. The Articles of Confederation created a “firm league of friendship” between all 13 states. Each state agreed to send delegates to the Confederation Congress where each state will cast one vote in Congress. Under the Articles Congress had no possession over trade or passing laws regarding taxes. However, Congress can declare war, appoint military officers, coin money, and foreign affairs. Unfortunately, there were some downsides to the Articles of Confederation that people from all 13 states did not agree with or argued about it such things as alliance, passing laws, courts, money, and trade. (Davidson, 189)…
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In some ways The Articles of Confederation was a dream come true for the states. Small states such as Rhodes Island benefited from the equal number of votes in congress. Also it allowed the states to run themselves with little interference from the central government. In other ways the articles became a nightmare. The Articles of Confederation…
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Between 1781 and 1789, the Articles of Confederation provided the United States with an ineffective government, Although there were flaws, strong steps were taken in the attempt to try and make the United States a better country. The Articles set up a government that gave individual states the power to make their own laws and enforce them. This was ineffective for the following reasons: 1) The Continental Congress controlled public affairs but there was nothing in the Articles that gave Congress the power to enforce laws or unify the states. 2) There was no solid system of money to ensure that taxes would be paid or protect commerce, both nationally and with foreign trade. 3) The country lacked unity and strength because there was no leadership.…
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(Doc A) A letter from the Rhode Island Assembly was sent to Congress stating the fact that states cannot tax. Under the Articles of Confederation state taxes could not be impressed, which forced them into economic failure. It also allowed Congress to collect from any state without a limit to time and the amount taken; this would allow Congress to become independent. Under the Articles of the Confederation Congress was allowed the power to choose which states they were to obtain money. Congress decided to obtain this money from the states, the ones that were commercially inclined. This act severely affected the commerce of Rhode Island and other states. The Articles of Confederation only proved to be a terrible idea among most states and the country. In 1770, the United States had the smallest population and income. In 1775, right before the Articles of the Confederation with a small population brought in the most income over a period of twenty years. Since the Articles of Confederation the population would still be increasing and the revenue would became pretty stable. However, in time the limited income under the Articles of Confederation would not be able to suite the growing population. Soon after the government would not be able to pay off debt and would not be able to tend the states needs which effected the people. Soon under the Articles of Confederation the government would become broke. . (Doc B), Shows…
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This investigation assesses the problems the United States faced under the Articles of Confederation and the extent to which the Constitution addressed them. To achieve this, the investigation analyzes five defects of the Articles: (1) Lack of a proper legislative authority to regulate commerce between states and with foreign nations; (2) The State Quota…
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When the United States of America won its Independence from Great Britain in 1776 many Americans began to have fidelity to their states instead of their country. Diverse citizens opposed to have an influential government. As a result, to the independent views of Americans the document Articles of Confederation was proposed. It was established with the primary purpose to balance the differences between states. Over time, this document became inadequate to govern itself and protect…
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Although the Articles of Confederation gave the state more power but this was not enough because the congress did not get enough power. The country was in need for a stronger Federal government;in which, it was not present in the Articles of confederation. The lack of power for the national government and the congress led to the creation of the United States Constitution. The constitution created the executive branch, and federal courts. This makes the constitution better than the Articles of confederation because the Federal court system was created to ensure that law was followed throughout the country. The creation of executive branch is another advantage of the constitution.…
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The Articles were the first constitutional agreement made between the 13 American states. They kept the United States together long enough to realize unity. Its goal was to establish a written document of the functions of the national government after declaring independence from Great Britain. The Articles of Confederation were not successful for many reasons. It established a weak central government with no president. The government was ran by the thirteen individual states themselves. They controlled their own foreign policy. Another reason the Articles of Confederation were not successful was because they gave the national government no power of direct taxation. This was a bad decision because governments get their money from taxes. Without taxes, the government did not have any money and would not be able to run…
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Even though the Articles of Confederation did have some achievements like bringing peace and unity, they were more ineffective than effective for providing a stable government for the United States. The Articles of Confederation were ineffective for these reasons. First, The Articles of Confederation did not allow Congress to impose a tax, so this prevented the new nation of the United States of America to have a strong economic system. Second, The Articles of Confederation prevented the Chief Executive (President) from having any power and thus also having no military. Lastly, The Articles of Confederation didn’t allow the United States to have very good foreign relations with any foreign nation since we were viewed as weak.…
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Throughout these few years, the lack of a central government seemed to be an overwhelming factor when it comes to the effectiveness of this document. A large fault in the Articles is the inability of Congress to create taxes and regulate trade. There is simply no way that a central government can survive without taxes. Also, since the government had no authority over the colonies, they could not force anyone to contribute to the overwhelming war debt caused by the American Revolution. And without their ability to control the colonies, there is no central government. Also, the difficulty to make amendments to the Articles made it almost impossible for anything new to be put into action. With so many different ideals coming from the different parts of the nation, the Articles lacked in that it called for a nine-state majority to make amendments. It seems nearly impractical to try and acquire nine completely different states to agree on one topic, seeing they came from different parts of the country, and thus, making Congress close to nothing. And finally, if the U.S. were to be attacked by Britain again at this time, there would be no way for them to defend themselves, seeing that Congress could only ask states for troops, but could not raise an army. This would have been catastrophic if another country had decided to attack the U.S. for any reason. To sum that up, the inability to create taxes and trade regulations, the difficulty to make amendments, and the inability to rise up an army contributed to the ineffectiveness of the Articles of Confederation.…
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Thee American Confederation and Constitution has caused several colonist to be reluctant for several years. The United States government ratified these articles creating unity between the states and the representations for all citizens. Articles of Confederation and the Constitution are justified for an effective United States rule and law. To better understand what the level of economics and drawbacks were during this time, it is imperative to compare and contrast the situations in which the documents contradict.…
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The main idea of the Articles of Confederation was to make the states come together. Many people of the nations had agreed, but some people did not understand the complete purpose of this new government. many of the strengths were that the nation was able to make peace/declare war with other nations. It encouraged cooperation with other states. But where there is strengths there are also weaknesses.…
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