Articles Of Confederation Thematic Essay

The Articles of Confederation were the first set of guidelines for the government in America that was ratified in 1781. The Articles of Confederation limited the powers of the government, gave most of the control to each individual state, did not require a president, and was quickly found to be ineffective. It left America at risk to be invaded by other countries or to suffer from economic problems. If another country wanted to conduct business in America, they had to deal with each state individually. Any amendment required unanimous approval (Evans & Michaud, 2015).

The Articles of the Confederation was the first government constitution that the United States used, and, although there were strength like the Northwest Ordinance of 1787, there were major weaknesses of the Articles of the Confederation like the following: requiring 9 out of the 13 colonial votes from the representatives from different states to pass a law; having no executive and judicial branch; and the federal government being unable to impose tax revenue onto the states. Such flaws would eventually lead to the Constitution and the repeal of the articles, for the Constitution was a measure to fix the problems of the articles with a stronger government that allowed them to impose taxes and and implement new laws for a more effective government.

The Articles of Confederation were put into effect to form some semblance of a central government, to keep peace between the states and to keep individual states from conducting foreign diplomacy on their own. Unfortunately the articles were flawed and gave the existing government little to no power. Federalism was the number one weakness of the Articles of Confederation. Without a separation of powers this type of government was bound to fail.

The Articles of Confederation provided the United States with a predominantly ineffective government that could not deal with problems at home and abroad. The country was unable to regulate commerce and effectively deal with foreign nations from 1781 to 1789. Although there were some advantages to the first constitution, the issues caused by the document greatly outweighed the benefits. The Articles of Confederation limited America’s ability to deal problems within its own borders and with foreign nations.

The original constitution of the United States was drafted for multiple reasons. Under the Articles of Confederation, the federal government was extremely weak. The individual states had more power than the federal government, and each of the states acted more like independent countries. Additionally, the Articles of Confederation did not distribute power well. The revised Constitution allowed for 3 branches of government, which divided federal power so that one branch could not become more powerful than another.

Following the Revolutionary War, America had just gained independance from Great Britain and needed to form a new government. The Articles of Confederation were established as an attempt to create a government that was unlike Britain’s. Unfortunately, the Articles of Confederation had several weaknesses. When in the process of repairing those weaknesses, the Federalists and the Anti-federalists formed. The Articles of Confederation were very weak as well as useless to America and because of this, the Federalists and the Anti-Federalists could not agree on a new type of government.

The events and ideas that led to the belief in 1786 and 1787 that the Articles of Confederation was not working well, was the fact that America did not have a president, Congress did not have the power to collect taxes, and every state had its own money.

The Articles of Confederation set up a unicameral government that only consisted of a legislative branch, with each state having a single vote. There was not an executive branch, nor a judicial branch.The Articles of Confederation gave too much power to the states. For example, the states could coin money, but couldn't collect taxes. Congress was very limited in its power, they could declare war, conduct foreign affairs and make treaties The Constitution aided the issues brought forth by the Articles of Confederation by creating three branches of government (separation of power), which each have a limited amount of power thanks to the checks and balances

In the middle of the 18th century, Britain and France were at war against each other. Both the British and the French wished to extend their colonies in North America into the territory west of the Appalachian Mountains. Britain’s purpose of this expansion was to gain more territory and power, whereas the French were pursuing trade with the Native Americans that lived in that part of the country. After seven years of fighting, Britain had won the war, and Treaty of Paris of 1763 officially resolved the French and Indian War. Despite the immense amount of land that Britain attained in the aftermath of this war, they were in severe debt because the French and Indian War was unbearably expensive. As a result, Britain decided to tax their colonists

The Articles of Confederation was the United States first constitution. Under these articles, the states remained sovereign and independent, with Congress serving as the last resort. Congress was also given the authority to make treaties and alliances, maintain armed forces, and coin money. The Articles of Confederation was written in 1787 and ratified on March 1st, 1781. (http://www.history.com/topics/articles-of-confederation)

All of the issues in the Articles of Confederation were resolved in the Constitution. For example, under the Articles of Confederation, Congress had zero power to tax, regulate trade between the states or enforce laws. This problem was fixed in the Constitution because it had the U. S ruled by a strong central government that could tax, regulate trade and enforce laws. The Articles of Confederation also had many weaknesses like having no national army or currency. This was fixed by the Constitution because now, there is a national army and a national currency (dollars).

The Articles of Confederation were a major improvement over the past government of England, in which the power only belongs to a few people, the king and parliament. The Articles of Confederation allowed each individual state to have its own power. Congress could not require any state to pay taxes, nor could they require to build a national army. Preventing tyranny was a major idea and a major goal that the Articles of Confederation produced. One other improvement that the Articles of Confederation instituted was the idea of not only reducing the power of the king, but increasing the power of the people. The people were “fed up” with all of their decisions being made by the central government, and as a result, The Articles of Confederation

The Articles of Confederation was an agreement among the thirteen original states of the United States that served as the first constitution. The Articles had first been introduced by Richard Henry Lee in the Second Continental Congress. Although the Articles of Confederation has made its contributions throughout history, the Articles, however, did not last very long and had been proven inadequate from the very start. I agree with this statement based on the examples and analysis of the Constitution I will soon provide. The Articles of Confederation were written during a time when the American people feared a strong national government. Since the United States was relatively a new nation, it needed some form of organization to hold the states together and keep its government and society stable to build a stronger economy (Knoedl, 2003).

The Articles of Confederation and the Constitution are very alike. Like, they were both written by the same person, and they were both official government of the united states. Plus, They were both the laws of the United States government. However, there was a great connection between them it was that the Articles of Confederation was the first written Constitution. The AoC was used to make the Constitution with the weaknesses and failures of it. If our country never made the AoC it would be pretty hard for us to make the Constitution. The Aoc had such a big effect on the Constitution it gave James Madison ideas of what to fix and put on the Constitution. It also gave us facts on what our country succeeded on.

Both of these Documents were created with the mind set to provide the foundation for a unified, centralized government. Even though the confederation only lasted from 1781-1789, it was still seen to be valuable with its belief that sovereignty belongs to every state. After the Confederation ended in 1789, the U.S. Constitution took place bringing the states together as a whole. While these two documents have the needs of the nation in mind, they both do have quite a bit of a difference as well.