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How Did The Articles Of Confederation Fail

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Some of the issues that the United States had to deal with under the Articles of Confederation were: there was an inability to raise funds, the need for unanimity to make necessary changes, and the lack of authority over internal trade; thus, causing the Articles of Confederation to fail miserably in meeting the needs of the new nation. To begin with, the inability to raise funds was a primary weakness of the Articles of Confederation. As it stands, the Articles stipulated that Congress could not levy taxes. This was an unfortunate challenge for a new nation who was in debt as a result of the war. Furthermore, this stipulation had far more reaching consequences. The new nation could not pay for an army, nor could it standardize its currency, or receive credit. …show more content…

As a direct result of the Articles, the stipulation that “all bills must receive unanimous approval before becoming law” (Schultz, K. M., 2013), weakened the nation’s ability to make changes to benefit the nation as a whole. This was exemplified in 1781 when the Congress attempted to charter a national bank to alleviate the nation’s debt and credit woes. Consequently, their efforts failed when the tiny colony of Rhode Island voted against the needed tax. Therefore, not receiving the unanimous vote caused the bill to die. Additionally, lack of internal trade was another weakness of the Article of Confederation. The Articles did not address a policy on commerce and trade. As a result, each state had its own currency and varying rates of inflation. Furthermore, attempts to rectify the problem was met with resistance for nearly five

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