Articles Of Confederation Dbq Essay

Analyzing the Documents

On the day of November 15, 1777, the Articles of Confederation was created, a few years later on March 1, 1781, the Articles of Confederation was ratified. The Articles of Confederation, which used to be called the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual union served as the first constitution of the United States. The articles were a list of agreements the thirteen colonies could follow to become a unified nation. Unfortunately, the Articles of Confederation failed, because the government were too weak, some efforts were put in to try to strengthen the government but it failed. Soon after, a Constitutional Convention was held on May 25, 1787, here they put effort into finding out the weak points in the Articles of Confederation

In the article, “Transcript of Articles of Confederation (1777)” the second article states, “Each state retains its sovereignty, freedom and independence, and every Power, Jurisdiction and right, which is not by this confederation expressly delegated to the United States, in Congress assembled.” this mean the powers of the congress is deeply affected. This article made the Articles of Confederation fail, by rendering the central government and the congress weak. In the third article, the article declares the confederacy a “league of friendship”, this allow other states to feel safe, because other states are to protect each other from attacks. The fourth article allow citizens from each states to enter other states, because every state have the same set of rules, but when a people commit crimes, they’re required to return to their original state. This made any record, or documents in one state be known in other states. The fifth article decided to have every state send two to seven delegates to meet in the congress to manage the shared interests between the states. The fourth and the fifth goes together, because shared interests the delegates had of the state became a privilege. In the sixth article, limits of state powers were stated, this provided basic limits on state powers like no state may engage in a war

In the tenth article, James Madison talks about how to guard against factions, which is a group of citizens with similar interest that conflicts with others. Another article James Madison wrote was article Fifty-one, it deal with the separation of powers and checks and balances. Article ten and fifty-one was one of the most important article to ratify the constitution. In article ten, Madison states, “The inference to which we are brought is, that the CAUSES of faction cannot be removed, and the relief is only to be sought in the means of controlling its EFFECTS.” which could be translated into that the constitution is able to control the grief by factions. In article fifty-one, James Madison find a way how to separate powers in the government, and explains how checks and balances could be used to separate powers. The twenty-oneth article explains ways how this constitution will fix the three errors of the government under the Articles of Confederation. In article fifteen, sixteen, and seventeen, Alex Hamilton announces the failures of the Article of