The main weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation are that it legislated for states but not for individuals. Congress had no power to tax or regulate trade. It lacked power to control commerce. And it was too difficult to change any of the articles. Then the Constitution was put into place 1787 to overthrow the Articles of Confederation.
It established a weak central government with strong individual state governments. Because of this the federal government was too weak to maintain control over all the colonies, which led to many problems amongst the states. It left the country without a political leader such as a president. It also left the country no way to pay off the war debts from the previous years and it was lacking a tax
By the time it was 1763 most of the white colonies would say that they are loyal British subjects. However after 1763, mostly between the time periods 1775-76, these years saw the send of the relationship with Britain. The British should take some of this blame as they did introduce some rigorous polices after 1763. This was an unwanted change for the American Colonies, As Britain left them alone for so long but now are starting to change things. But there are other courses of the break out of the armed conflict not just polices of the British Government that are the colonies as not all of the polices where unreasonable.
One would be the fact that Britain had just won a war against France and was imposing high taxes on the colonists in order to pay for it. But the colonists who had to pay the taxes didn’t have a say in any negotiations regarding these high taxes, and resented that fact. All of the colonies were in the same boat when it came to taxes and representation, and the first group to join together across all of the colonies was the Sons of Liberty, a group that acted almost like a political party and was comprised of mainly the middle class. They stood for the boycotting of trade and had a lot of anger towards the rich British, which sort of added fuel to the fire. Protests arose, and led to the Boston Massacre, where five protestors were killed.
Revolutionary Americans resented the economic restrictions, finding them exploitative. They claimed the policy restricted colonial trade and industry and raised the cost of many consumer goods. In his 1774 pamphlet, "A Summary View of the Rights of British America, " Thomas Jefferson asserted the Navigation Acts had infringed upon the colonists' freedom in preventing the "exercise of free trade with all parts of the world, possessed by the American colonists, as of natural right." Yet, as O. M. Dickerson points out, it is difficult to find opposition to the mercantile system among the colonists when the measures were purely regulatory and did not levy a tax on them. The British mercantile system did after all allow for colonial monopoly over certain markets such as tobacco, and not only encouraged, but with its 1660 regulation was instrumental in, the development of colonial shipbuilding.
The French and Indian War was fought by the British and the French. This war caused many issues between the American colonies and Britian because of the things the British were doing to the Americans during the war. Economically, the British were doing things ideologically, and politically, as well. After the war, the British were trying to find a way to get back all the money they spent on the war. The English did not have much money aand it did not help the British much.
(DOC E) By doing so, this allowed ratification and successful land policies for frontiers. Even though the article was able to set up a national government that the states could agree upon, the powers given to it were inadequate. The Articles of Confederation had problems settling and fixing their poor economic situation. The nation was put under heavy debt from the Revolution and taxation of imports and exports. Since the government could not set up a national currency, and states were allowed to make their own, this caused trade between states to be very difficult.
The Revolutionary War: Why was it fought and was it preventable? Many believe that the trouble started brewing in 1763 at the end of the French Indian War but in all truth the colonist first started feeling discontent with the passing of the Navigation laws in 1650. This law stated that all goods flowing to and from the colonies could only be transported in British vessels. It was aimed to hurt rival Dutch shippers. This law kept money in the empire but hurt the pockets of the wealthy colonists mercantilist that depended on the shipping trade.
They knew the weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation; as a governing body, it lacked legislative power that was necessary to support a functional democracy. The important factor in the Constitutional Convention of the seventeenth century was powerless America. The United States was incapable of competing in the global economic because of lack of power to enforce laws and decrees in the states. They understood that a national government would definitely limit the power of total democracy. Without a strong central government, democracy was impossible thus America was propelling towards the gallows of failure.
Taxation became an huge issue as British needed money to pay off their debts from the previous war so they passed the Sugar Act in 1764 and then the Stamp Act shortly afterwards. This taxed sugar, molasses, and paper goods which was a huge deal to the colonies that started getting them angry right away. The colonies first act of rebellion was the creation of the Sons and Daughters of Liberty and came up with the idea to tar and feather tax collectors while threatening their life. Trade even became tougher as the British started putting tax on pretty much everything especially tea with the Tea Act in 1773. Was this a tax?