October 2nd

The Articles of Confederation
*After the United States formally seceded from Britain, the new nation needed to come up with a plan for a new government. In 1777 the Second Continental Congress appointed a committee to devise such a plan. The plan devised was called The Articles of Confederation; it was ratified and went into effect in March 1781.

-The goal of the Articles of Confederation was to create a league of friendship and cooperation between 13 newly created, sovereign states. The structure of government created by the Articles of Confederation was as follows:
*A unicameral legislature called congress

*There was to be no executive to lead the government, Congress would collectively make all decisions for the Confederation.

*There was to be no judiciary. Each state would have its own, independent court system. Disputes between the individual states that required legal remedy would be decided by Congress.

*Each state had equal representation in Congress regardless of population; each was entitled to one congressional vote.

*The Articles could be amended, but only with the approval of all 13 states.

-Congress was the focal point of this new system of government. The Articles of Confederation gave Congress the following ten powers:
1. The power to make war and negotiate peace.

2. The power to send and receive ambassadors to and from other nations.

3. The power to enter into treaties.

4. The power to raise and equip a navy.


5. The power to maintain an army by requesting troops from the states.

6. The power to appoint senior military officers.

7. The power to set the standards for weights and
measurements.

8. The power to regulate Indian affairs.

9. The power to establish and maintain post offices.

10. The power to settle disputes between the states.




-The Articles of Confederation accomplished what it set out to accomplish, a loose league of cooperation and friendship between the states. The Articles were, however, weak. The states were constantly embattled in legal disputes with each other; and the direction in which the states were going were rendering the Articles largely ineffective. There were 7 major weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation that led to their demise. These weaknesses were:

1. Congress had no power to levy or collect taxes. The government was usually always broke.

2. Congress had no power to regulate interstate or foreign trade; this led to financial quarrels between the states over tariffs and import/export regulations.

3. Congress had the power to pass laws but lacked any power to enforce the laws they had passed. The government was dependent on the states to enforce the laws, but the states often ignored the laws.

4. Nine of the thirteen states, or a seven-tenths majority, had to vote in favor of laws for them to pass. This made it extremely difficult for Congress to get anything accomplished.


5. Thirteen of the thirteen states had to vote in favor of amending the Articles of Confederation, this made changing the structure and purpose of government nearly impossible.

6. The lack of an executive branch created a power struggle for control over congress between 13 states, each wanting to be seen as the strongest and most influential state. Strong leadership was sorely missed in the confederation.

7. The lack of a national judiciary made it nearly impossible for any disputes between the states to be fairly decided by congress. Politics played a much too important role in how each state voted when voting to settle interstate disputes.

*The Articles of Confederation were failing the states. In May 1787 representatives of 12 of the 13 states (every state but Rhode Island) met in Philadelphia to decide how to fix the problems created by the Articles of Confederation. This meeting eventually came to be known as The Constitutional Convention.