Why was the Articles of Confederation weak and ineffective?

After the American Revolution, the Articles of Confederation were created to create a stronger and more effective government. However, it failed as a result of an ineffective government. From 1781 to 1789, the articles of confederation were ineffective and failed to provide a strong government. The Articles of Confederation were ineffective because it lacked enough powers. It had the power to give orders to the states. The Articles could not enforce laws and each state had its own way of enforcing law, constitution, and monetary system. Regionalism eroded states against each other, which that decreased sense of unity. When Congress recommended duty on imported goods, Rhode Island went against because they felt it was against the constitution…show more content…
After the Articles of Confederation was ratified, their weakness was known. Not only did they lack power, but were relying on donation from other states. The economic decreased when the Articles of Confederation were ratified in 1781 (doc B). This was because the central government didn’t have the power to regulate trade or tax. States could tax themselves. The states didn't want to pay their debt. Most people were not aware of the situation around their government. People felt they were being taxed unfairly and this led to the Shay’s rebellion which threatened the government. The government could not regulate trade and the Rhode Island Assembly responded in a letter (doc A). The assembly thought it would good to give the congress money so that “they would become independent of their constituents” (doc A). The money donated were not enough off the debt. The government owed money to farmers, foreign nations, and wealthy Americans. In (doc C), Joseph says he is disappointed by the in congress because they refuse to pay and are not capable to pay the soldiers and commanders. Since the farmers are not getting their pay, the farmers started the Shay’s rebellion which lasted 2

The Articles of Confederation was the first form of government of United States. The Articles of Confederation was so weak because the Federal government didn’t have the right to tax the citizen, so they would not have enough capital to pay the loan that was borrowed during Revolutionary War. Nevertheless, every amendment required all 13 states to approve, so it was so difficult to set up an amendment. Therefore, changes were almost impossible to happen. It led to the Constitutional Convention because the politician thought the Articles of Confederation was too weak, so they did need improvement. The purpose of Constitutional Convention was to revise Articles of Confederation. There were two major political parties which were Federalists and Antifederalists. For…show more content…
Antifederalists wanted to fight for the Bill of Right which can ensure their rights would not be deprived. In order to balance the power, there were 2 plans that were advocated at that time, which were Virginia Plan and New Jersey Plan. Virginia Plan thought that the state with larger population would have larger power, the more representation in government. For New Jersey Plan, they thought that the legislative should have one house with 2 representation, no matter the population. Therefore, Senate was formed. The Compromise allowed the states to count their slaves as 60% of a human being. There are three major branches of government, they are Executive branch, Legislative branch, and Judicial branch. Executive branch’s role is to execute laws, the role of Legislative branch is to make laws, at last, the role of Judicial branch is to interpret laws. The purpose of intent of checks is to ensure that no one branch of United States government would be more powerful than each other. Check and Balance is included because people are feared of power-abusing, as the Antifederalists still remember what would happen i there is a overpowered

The Articles of Confederation established the first governmental structure unifying the 13 colonies that had fought in the American Revolution. This document created the structure for the confederation of these newly minted 13 states. After many attempts by several delegates to the Continental Congress, a draft by John Dickinson of Pennsylvania was the basis for the final document, which was adopted in 1777. The Articles went into effect on March 1, 1781, after each of the 13 states had ratified them. The Articles of Confederation lasted until March 4, 1789, when they were replaced by the U.S. Constitution. They had lasted for just eight years.

In response to widespread antipathy toward a strong central government, the Articles of Confederation kept national government weak and allowed for the states to be as independent as possible. But almost soon as the Articles took effect, problems with this approach became apparent. 

The purpose of the Articles of Confederation was to create a confederation of states whereby each state retained "its sovereignty, freedom, and independence, and every power, jurisdiction, and right...not...expressly delegated to the United States in Congress assembled." 

Every state was as independent as possible within the central government of the United States, which was only responsible for the common defense, the security of liberties, and the general welfare. Congress could make treaties with foreign nations, declare war, maintain an army and navy, establish a postal service, manage Indigenous affairs, and coin money. But Congress could not levy taxes or regulate commerce.

Because of widespread fear of a strong central government at the time they were written and strong loyalties among Americans to their own state as opposed to any national government during the American Revolution, the Articles of Confederation purposely kept the national government as weak as possible and the states as independent as possible. However, this led to many of the problems that became apparent once the Articles took effect. 

Despite their significant weaknesses, under the Articles of Confederation the new United States won the American Revolution against the British and secured its independence; successfully negotiated an end to the Revolutionary War with the Treaty of Paris in 1783; and established the national departments of foreign affairs, war, marine, and treasury. The Continental Congress also made a treaty with France in 1778, after the Articles of Confederation had been adopted by the Congress but before they had been ratified by all the states.

The weaknesses of the Articles would quickly lead to problems that the Founding Fathers realized would not be fixable under the current form of government. Many of these issues were brought up during the Annapolis convention of 1786. These included: 

• Each state only had one vote in Congress, regardless of size.
• Congress did not have the power to tax.
• Congress did not have the power to regulate foreign and interstate commerce.
• There was no executive branch to enforce any acts passed by Congress.
• There was no national court system or judicial branch.
• Amendments to the Articles of Confederation required a unanimous vote.
• Laws required a 9/13 majority to pass in Congress.
• States could levy tariffs on other states' goods.

Under the Articles of Confederation, each state viewed its own sovereignty and power as paramount to the national good. This led to frequent arguments between the states. In addition, the states would not willingly give money to financially support the national government.

The national government was powerless to enforce any acts that Congress passed. Further, some states began to make separate agreements with foreign governments. Almost every state had its own military, called a militia. Each state printed its own money. This, along with issues with trade, meant that there was no stable national economy. 

In 1786, Shays' Rebellion occurred in western Massachusetts as a protest against rising debt and economic chaos. However, the national government was unable to gather a combined military force among the states to help put down the rebellion, making clear a serious weakness in the structure of the Articles.

As the economic and military weaknesses became apparent, especially after Shays' Rebellion, Americans began asking for changes to the Articles. Their hope was to create a stronger national government. Initially, some states met to deal with their trade and economic problems together. However, as more states became interested in changing the Articles, and as national feeling strengthened, a meeting was set in Philadelphia on May 25, 1787. This became the Constitutional Convention. The gathered delegates realized that changes would not work, and instead, the entire Articles of Confederation needed to be replaced with a new U.S. Constitution that would dictate the structure of the national government.