Confederation Dbq

Once America was free of British rule, U.S citizens were on their own. They had no form of government to keep them together. The Articles of Confederation were the American’s first attempt at their own government system.

Social factors played an important role in the transformation from a monarchy to a democracy. However, there were also economic factors that played an intricate role. One such economic force was trade interaction among the colonists. People became independent on one another for their lively hood. Through inner-commerce people began to share the same interests and the same goals. This was a change from previous republican views on trade. People became inherently dependent on one another instead of being dependent on the government. At this point in history you can begin to see the social ties of Americans grow stronger. Wood writes on the changing

“From 1781 to 1789 the Articles of Confederation provided the United States with an effective government.” This statement is quite bold considering that the Articles lasted only eight years. In some ways this form of government was effective and in some ways it was not. It did provide the newly formed American colonies with the means to govern themselves in the manner that they wished to be governed and set the rules for operations of the United States government. On the other hand, it was ineffective because there was no president or executive agencies or judiciary, nor was there a tax base or even a way to pay off state and national debts from war years. They could also be called ineffective because of their limited scope and the

As you can see the Massachusetts Bay Colony was very diverse in its form of government and how the colony was run. Some people say it consists of a mix of all of these forms of governments (theocracy, democracy, oligarchy, and authoritarian) when in fact the government was one of a kind and very influential to other colonies. It helped other colonies because it helped them decided to take bits and pieces of

1. Briefly explain the authors argument and whether you agree or disagree with their position. Why or why not?

As we have strengths of the confederation, we also have weaknesses. First of all voting, to have one vote to each state is big

The Leaders of America knew that the articles of confederation was weak. Under the Articles of confederation the federal government had little to no power. The federal government could not raise taxes and could not hold the states responsible for laws made. Many situations led to the leaders realizing that our young nation would not survive without a stronger Government.

The Articles of Confederation served as the written document that established the functions of the national government of the United States after it declared independence from Great Britain. Although, it established a weak central government, it contributed to U.S principles because The Articles of Confederation were the basis of the first government of the United States of America. The Articles were essentially the “training wheels” of the government; it was a learning point to create something much greater which became the Constitution. The problems that this weak document created, combined with the Confederation government’s ineffectual response to Shays’ Rebellion, convinced national leaders that a more powerful central government was necessary.

The success of colonial unity depended on the scale and causes of that unity. The inhabitants of the different English colonies came from widely different backgrounds, traditions, and histories. A Virginian colonist would have a much different worldview than a colonist from Massachusetts; these differences led to disagreements and disunity. However, most colonies were exceptionally unified within themselves and most colonists did see themselves as part of a greater colonial population. Therefore, the colonists excelled at intra-colonial unity, demonstrated by the creation of numerous colonial constitutions, but struggled with inter-colonial unity, unless faced with a common enemy, due to strong cultural differences between the colonies.

The government established by the Articles of Confederation lacked the coherence, strength, and cooperation needed to spur the young nation to success, instead wreaking havoc politically, defensively, and economically. For example, because there was neither a national currency nor regulation of commerce, the mid-1780s were stricken with inflation and economic depression. Moreover, due to the absence of a national legislature, laws varied from state to state; thus, Congress had difficulty passing and enforcing laws and taxes. Lastly, the nation lacked strong, solid leadership to guide decisions and head foreign affairs. In essence, at the time of America’s new-found independence from Britain, the Articles failed to provide a unified government

Due to the Revolutionary War, the new United States needed a functioning government. This new government was called the Articles of Confederation and came to be due to the Continental Congress. The Articles of Confederation were a confederation, or loose alliance, of states. It was modeled off of previous colonial governments, and in it states would retain sovereignty. Sovereignty is governmental power, and with this form of government the states would have it. Even though the United States needed a government, it was risky. The founders of the Articles of Confederation were apprehensive about the concentrated power found in this form of government. They were perturbed about this due to past relations with the British. The Articles

The national government of the United States had many challenges under the Articles of Confederation. The Articles caused money problems and the most essential detail, a weak government. This also caused America conflicts among each of the 13 states. These problems greatly impacted the United States and it’s government as well.

The Articles of Confederation, a written agreement that ensured each state’s sovereignty, freedom and independence, led America to victory over the British centralized government. During the late eighteenth century, the empowered government terrified the Americans, hence the thirteen colonies decided to spread governance powers equally to all functional states. The states had absolute dominance over the Congress due to the Articles of Confederation. While the localized power of states seemed to be promising, the system posed great threat to the major components of a democratic government, which are coercion, revenue, and legitimacy (Lecture 1 - The Roots of Government). The system of localized power did not ensure legitimacy, which referred to people’s recognition of national government. Congress’s lack of power to control each state’s actions caused great chaos. Eventually, national government’s lack of power and inability to unify the states exposed multiple flaws in the Articles of Confederation; consequently, a new supreme law, the Constitution was established by the founding fathers. The new supreme law successfully altered the imbalanced system into a novel democratic government.

The newborn United States of America was in a state of disarray following the American War for Independence. The people had just fought a war against tyranny and corruption, which naturally raised concern over the government’s role in the sovereignty of independent states. This fear of corrupt government led to the failure of the Articles of Confederation. Soon after the war ended, American politics revolved around two important ideologies. Republicanism and Federalism.

The purpose of the report is to analyze the arguments raised by both sides of the debate and have the readers decide their strengths. The subtopics the report will cover are as follows: