The Articles of Confederation

And why they went wrong

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THE ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION

Origins

• June 1776- The Second Continental Congress

• Richard Henry Lee (VA) proposes 3 things:– A Declaration of Independence – Forming alliances with other Europeans– Plan a confederation of the thirteen colonies

Origins

• June 1776- The Second Continental Congress

• Richard Henry Lee (VA) proposes 3 things:– A Declaration of Independence – Forming alliances with other Europeans– Plan a confederation of the thirteen colonies

Confederation

• A group of sovereign states loosely join together to provide for national defense, conduct foreign affairs and promote each others’ well-beings

• Very weak central government as the majority of power belonged to the states

• They are technically not one country, but a group of small nations joined together

Central Gov’t (weak)

Why?

• During colonization, the colonies were always separate from each other

• Therefore, they consider themselves to be their own country

• They viewed other states as foreign countries!

Also why?

• They were also a little weary of a strong central government after dealing with the British

The Articles

• In total, there are thirteen articles.

Let’s do this!

(I recommend take a break here if you’re doing this in one shot)

The First Five

I. Establishes the name of the confederacy as the “United States of America”

II. Affirms that all the states are sovereign (right to rule themselves) except for powers given to the central gov’t

III. Commitment issues- states that the USA is not a nation, but a league of friend states

IV. Establishes equal treatment of people moving from state to state

V. Each state gets one vote in congress

The Next Five

VI. Only the cent. gov’t can conduct foreign relations, declare war. States cannot have standing armies except if “infested with pirates”.VII. Colonels and ranks below are appointed by state legislatures VIII. If the US spends money, the states are supposed to pay based on the value of their land.IX. Lists powers of the cen. gov’tX. The Committee of the States can act as the gov’t when the Congress is in recess

The Last Three

XI. If Canada wants to join, they can joinXII. Confederation accepts the war debts of the Continental CongressXIII. The Articles may be amended only by full approval of ALL state legislatures

IT SOUNDS ALL DANDY BUT…Weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation

THE GOVERNMENT COULDN’T DO ANYTHING!

Issue 1: Taxes

• The Congress couldn’t levy (raise) taxes

• They had to ask politely

Issue 2: Interstate Commerce

• Congress couldn’t regulate trade between the states

• States could issue their own money

Issue 3: Enforcement of Laws

• You pretty much couldn’t enforce any laws the Congress passed in the states

Issue 4: No standing army

• Since the Congress couldn’t tax the states, there was no money to pay for an army

• So really, a guys with a bunch of pitchforks and guns could probably cause a lot of trouble hypothetically…. Hypothetically…

SHAYS’ REBELLION!Second to last section I swear on tacos

Shays… Daniel ShaysI’ll take my rebellion shaken… not stirred

So what had happened was…

• Economic hardship hit much of post-Revolution America, especially Massachusetts

• Come on, you knew it would’ve been Massachusetts… them crazy people

Who did it hurt the most?

• The economic hardship hit rural farmers in Massachusetts especially hard

• Many were unable to pay their debts due to a lack of hard currency; this cost many to lose their farms

Protest and Revolt

• Around 1786, these farmers began protests not too different from those of the Revolution

• Once former Revolutionary War soldier Daniel Shays took over, things got kinda violent

• Massachusetts was saved once a force paid by merchants could put down the rebellion

Definitely not the Boston Massacre

Significance

• Showed the weakness of the central government as they could not respond with military aid to Massachusetts

But it wasn’t all bad…

• Land Ordinance of 1785– Set up procedures on how to survey (map out and

create square borders) west of the Mississippi

• Northwest Ordinance of 1785– States gave up claims to land to the west in order

for new states to be formed– None of the states formed under the NWO

became slave states

In Conclusion

The government under the Articles of Confederation was too weak to effectively provide support to all of the states. Therefore, calls came to create a new government that could do what the Articles couldn’t.

This new government is the one we have today.