How Did The Articles Of Confederation Provide An Effective Form Of Government

Analyze the degree to which the Articles of Confederation provided an effective form of government with respect to all of the following:

Foreign relations, Economic conditions and Western lands

Once the Articles of Confederation were created, the government was effected in many aspects. These requirements or agreements ranged from allowing the central government to control foreign relations and war, to granting equal treatment and freedom to all the citizens. An effective government is defined as a government that serves the people but also uses the people to help develop the state or country. For example, a government is supposed to help the economy but they are also supposed to tax the people in order to help the economy. Through the Articles

The first step that America took to increasing their foreign relations was translating the Articles of Confederation into French so that France would believe that America created a true government. Because of these new laws, only the central government had the ability to conduct foreign relations or declare war. By forbidding any state from declaring war, the government was able to have greater control over the states and attempt to create a long-lasting peace in America. Even though the government prevented states from declaring war, in terms of other foreign issues such as the foreign economy, the central government was not perfect. In the Confederation, Congress was forbidden to levy or collect taxes, which not only affected interstate trade but also made Congress incapable of taxing internationally imported or exported goods. Therefore, Congress could not earn any money through all the international trade nor could they regulate the trade. Because of this, all of the states had the ability to trade with whomever they wanted and were not taxed or restricted. Furthermore, since Congress was unable to enforce treaties, other countries had no desire to create treaties with America because the treaties would never be fulfilled. As the Articles of Confederation limited the central government’s

Before the Articles of Confederation, any state had the ability to claim land west of the Appalachians and until the Mississippi. Following the implementation of the Articles of Confederation in 1781, Maryland became nervous that because they did not have any claims in the West, that they would become small in comparison to all the other states. That being the case, Maryland proposed to Congress that rather than each state controlling land in the West, the central government should be in charge. In 1785, once Congress did not take in enough money to pay for it’s basic necessities, Congress decided to create the Land Ordinance of 1785. As a result, Congress had the capability of arranging towns into 36 squares, with a school in the middle, and selling the other 35 equal sized plots of land to citizens. Not only did this process of selling land provide money for the central government but also, all of the citizens in each town had equal sized properties for their farms. Additionally, Congress created the Northwest Ordinance of 1787, which stressed the Articles of Confederation’s goal of freedom and equality. According to this law, any place can become a state once they had a governor and 60,000 inhabitants. Then, these states would be treated equal to states such as New York