Articles of Confederation DBQ
In 1781, the newly independent states in America developed the first written constitution in the United States, known as the Articles of Confederation. During what was known as the "critical period," the Articles of Confederation served as the written law in the United States. While creating this document, the need for a confederation of states, similar to that of the Iroquois Indians, was stressed. The Articles of Confederation grouped the individual states with a weak central government to be sure the government of the United States would not be similar to that of Britain. This document took Americans through the American Revolution successfully, but contained many flaws. Although the Articles of Confederation had some effectiveness and, many points needed great change. One major flaw in the Articles of Confederation was that the state governments were given much more power than the central government. For example, the Confederation Congress could not levy taxes without approval of the states. They could only present their ideas to the states, hoping to reach an agreement. When the central government requested a tariff on imported items, the state of Rhode Island refused to pay. This inefficient method of funding resulted in
Another point proving the ineffectiveness of the Articles of Confederation is that after the Articles were created, the United States faced a per capita low in the amount of trade with Great Britain for this time period. Although this weak central government was though of as ineffective in governing the states, it provided equal rights for every state. The Northwest Ordinance was also successful in ending slavery in areas above the Ohio River. (Document B) Although the trade with Great Britain decreased, other countries may have possibly increased trade with the United States. (Document D) After many flaws were discovered in the Articles of Confederation, it was heavily debated whether to amend the Articles or create a completely new document to govern America. These two viewpoints prove that there were both positive and negative points in the Articles. The Northwest Ordinance of 1787 allowed western territories to become states. Each state had the same amount of power, allowing a small state with few people to have the ability to cancel the vote of another state. People gathered at the Philadelphia Convention in 1787 to frame the new United States Constitution. (Document E) These new states were guaranteed the same rights as the thirteen original states. The central government could not regulate the amount of money each state printed, allowing states to print excessive amounts of money. The Articles of Confederation also prevented the British from a counterrevolution, even thought some British officers still occupied forts in America. This left the money in some states nearly worthless. The inability of the government to acquire money left them without enough money to adequately pay United States troops. This part of the Articles of Confederation was very important in furthering the area and development of the United States.
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