"From 1781 to 1789 the Articles of Confederation provided the United States with an effective government. Using the documents and your knowledge of the period, evaluate this statement."
AP US History: Articles of Confederation paper The people of early America had many faults and strengths after becoming free from England. They wanted to create a government different from England’s so the Americans could have more rights. To do this, the articles of confederation had no executive branch, congress didn’t have the power to tax directly which made it hard to support their own country, to change a law, it had to be unanimous and to pass a law 2/3 of the colonies had to agree which made it practically impossible to change or make laws and overall the country was just unbalanced. The first official form of government of America, The Articles of Confederation, was one of the disputable topics whether or not it was a good form of government. Evidence that proved the articles was an effective form of government was the spreading of land westward. On the other hand, there were many more ineffective ways the articles didn’t work, like Americas affairs with foreign countries like England and Spain and its economy. Land was an important part of early America. When America was under England’s control, the Britain’s put a proclamation line forbidding Americans to cross westward of the Appalachian mountains, but when the colonist gained their independence the area to the west was available for the states to expand. Areas of the west were ceded by the larger states, which were unfair to the smaller states with no western claims (Doc. E), but the Land Ordinance of 1785 changed that. The Land Ordinance sold the western land to the government who sold it back to the people so they would be able to pay back the government’s national debt. The land ordinance divided areas into 6 square miles with and area in each devoted to public schools, since education was important. Eventually it showed that the ordinance wasn’t as organized, so The Northwest Ordinance of 1787 came into play. It stated that an area would be under federal rule until it reaches a population of