“From 1781 to 1789 the Articles of Confederation provided the United States with an effective government” Using the documents and your knowledge of the period, evaluate this statement. From 1781 to 1789 the Articles of Confederation failed to provide the United States with an effective government. Proper governments should have the ability to have a certain amount of power over its people, under the Articles; the government could not regulate trade, tax or enforce most laws on its people. The states were given the task that the national government should have been given. Among its many weaknesses were the single branch of government, unicameral, and the inability of congress to tax or declare war.
Under the Articles of Confederation its powers included conducting foreign relations, settling disputes between states, controlling market values, regulating trade and so on. It purposely did not give the national government all the power in fear of tyranny like in Britain. Economically and Socially, although the United States desired an effective government, they comprised an ineffective government because there was no president, the U.S. wasn’t able to pass taxes and laws, it had no army to protest the nation, it had a weak government, and it had no courts to settle problems between states. So in the end, the Articles of Confederation proved to be both inadequate in economic conditions, foreign relations and other aspects. Thus, these political, economic and social factors all contributed to the reasons why the Articles of Confederation couldn’t provide an effective form of government.
Mostly the Anti-Federalists thought that the Constitution created too strong of a central government. They felt that the Constitution did not create a Federal government, but a single national government. They were afraid that the power of the states would be lost and that the people would lose their individual rights because a few individuals would take over. As a result, they proposed The Bill of Rights, to make sure the citizens were protected by the law. They believed that no Bill of Rights would be equal to no check on our
They were a failure mostly due to the lack of a strong, central government. This led to a disorganized economy, no central leadership, and inefficient legislation. The Constitution presented a unitary government with the power being placed within the central government. This is the reason the Constitution was successful when the Articles of Confederation was not. In addition to this, the Articles of Confederation also did not address many things that should have been a part of the government system.
Because they left too much power with the states. The federal government had no power to levy or collect taxes, no power to regulate trade, and no power to enforce laws. There was also no executive branch under the Articles of Confederation, and no national court system. So the delegates had to create a national government that would actually work out and have no tyranny towards who has little power or strong power between a person or a group of people. So ask yourself, what did the constitution do to oppose cruelty?
They did this to “modify and address the failures of the Articles of Confederation” (Callahan 34). Although there were many weaknesses in the Articles of Confederation and they might not have provided the most effective form of government, the articles helped lay the foundation for the new government of America that we have today. The central government was too weak to govern, with no chief executive, no national court system, no power to regulate interstate commerce, no military, no national currency, and it was difficult to pass laws. According to Callahan, the Founding Fathers believed the Articles needed to be replaced by the U.S. Constitution because they needed the nation to function as one united country and not as thirteen small and unorganized nations. The Articles of Confederation was just a start to what made our nation how it is
Gridlock occurs when the branches of government scrutinise each other’s action to such a point where neither can pass any form of legislation, and the government therefore becomes less able to perform its duties, therefore leading to a less effective government. For example during Obamas presidency he had struggled with the majority of republican opposition in congress, and therefore had trouble to pass any major legislation such as immigration reform, jobs bill, gun control initiatives and etc. On the other hand, others may argue that the government is not ineffective because of the constitution as the checks and balances system do in fact work, as a way to prevent an overly centralised and powerful form of government, which may not stay accountable to the people as much as it does to large corporations who fund them for re-elections and etc.
Another weakness of the Articles of Confederation was its inability to levy taxes. Congress was unable to tax the states and, as a result, was unable to reduce the growing debt or provide a national military. In a letter to Congress, in 1782, Rhode Island rejected a federal taxation proposal from Congress saying the amount requested was “unequal in its operation, bearing hardest on the most commercial states.” Rhode Island thought such amount would negatively affect the economy of their state (Doc A). Since the power to tax was given to the individual states and not the federal government, the articles had no way of enforcing such a proposed tax.
Constitution Paper Latasha Andrews His/110 March 7, 2012 Allen Smith Constitution Paper Although the Articles of Confederation had its weak points it did surprisingly address a couple of issues that were crucial to take care of at that time. Somewhere in between the ideas of independence and unity, there were a couple of features that needed to be dealt with. Overall the Articles were weak and all these issues that I will discuss that had to be confronted were dealt with poorly due to poor government structure, which would result in the creation of the Constitution. Introduction While many people are aware that the Articles of Confederation were the precursor to the Constitution, few can actually describe why
The constitution created a more stabilzed federal government and giving rights and power to the central government. Congress had some weaknessess in the Articles of confederation that consisted of having no power to coin money, therefore each stay had to develop its own currency. Another weakness was that congress was unable to negotiate their interstate and foreign commerce. Some of the steates had refused topay for the goods that they had purchased from abroad. More weaknessed were that congress was unable to impose taxes.