Essay On Articles Of Confederation

The idea of sovereignty was of utmost importance to the colonists when drafting the Articles of Confederation. Article V is one of the areas that ensures this. Article V essentially gives the right of a court system to the states. It allows the state to override any of the laws of government and leaves the government with no way to enforce its laws. If the state doesn’t agree with a Congressional ruling or act, they simply don’t have to abide by it and they are within their rights. (Brackemyre, n.d.)
Although Congress was given the power to declare war, it was not given the power or right to assemble a militia. Having to rely on the states’ militia severely impeded the response time required to address both foreign and domestic situations that arose. For example, when the British began to encroach on America’s fishing rights and

If the smaller states were united in their votes to block a bill from passing, they could do so. (Brackemyre, n.d.) If larger and smaller states had different agendas, which they often did, a smaller population could over rule that of a larger one, whose majority may actually benefit from the passing of a piece of legislation. (Brackemyre, n.d.)
The final weakness in the legislative process of the Articles of Confederation was the ability to amend them. In order to do so, a unanimous vote of Congress plus every single state needed to occur. This made passing amendments extremely difficult.
After Shayʻs Rebellion leading politicians recognized the need for change and began appealing to the public for reform. (Keene, 2012) In 1785, a few delegates met to to discuss issues America was facing under the Articles of Confederation and by 1787, 55 delegates from twelve states met. They decided to hold a convention to create a new form of government which they called The Federal Constitution. (Keene,