Proving that the Articles of the Confederation were an effective government is nearly impossible. In about every way possible, the Confederation failed to act as an effective government. To have an efficient government it must have the following: the power to tax and use taxes, the ability to regulate trade, and the ability to unite its sections under one power. The Articles of the Confederation succeeded in not one of these categories.
             In 1782 when the Confederation attempted to pass a tax on imported goods it was rejected, displaying the overall inability of the Confederation to tax the people and to regulate trade (Doc A).
             Once again in Document C the Confederation's inability to tax the states is shown in which a member of the Confederation must explain to Washington their lack of cooperation from the states to pay off the debt to the army. As well as owing the army, the Confederation also owed the farmers who gave supplies during the war and foreign countries that lent support during the revolution. The Confederation government once again incurred a debt never to be repaid, which is evidence of their inability to tax states. Without the ability to tax, the Confederation's ability to regulate commerce and trade throughout the nation and internationally was greatly diminished.
             The national government during the period of 1777 -1789 was completely ineffective in regulating national and international trade. During the Confederation, international trade either dropped value in or stayed in stalemate each year, even though the population of the nation grew (Doc B). Thus, even though there were more workers and more people to support the growth of industry throughout the nation to export higher quality and increased quantity of goods and become a economically prosperous country through international trade, the Confederation was not able to take control of this opportunity and only succeeded in decreasing the ratio ...