Articles Of Confederation Essays (1070 words) - United States

Articles Of Confederation In the 1770s, as Americas great thinkers and writers were declaring their desire for independence; they also established a committee to lay the foundation for the American form of government. These brilliant writers and philosophers hesitantly began designing the national level of government for use in America and named their final draft the Articles of Confederation . Out of their utter distrust of a centralized government, due to their association with the English monarchial system, the drafters deliberately established these articles as a loose confederation of states, rather than a firmly united nation. Life under the Articles of Confederation was filled with hardships and uncertainty, and the political scene was paralyzed with inability due to the lack of sovereignty in a central executive branch and the unanimous state consent required for the ratification of an amendment together with the lack of a taxation privilege . However, despite its inherent flaws, the Confederation gov ernment did prove capable to accomplish a few foreign and domestic achievements. Under the authority of the Confederation, the United States began to introduce itself in the global scene. The United States determined its place in the community of nations by establishing diplomatic relations and its participation in the world economy. The Confederation Congress also accomplished something many historians overlook. They successfully managed, organized, and eventually won the Revolutionary War . After winning the war, the Congress went on to successfully negotiate the Treaty of Paris and compelled the British to recognize American independence. On the domestic home front, the Congress began to effectively solve the land ordnance problem. The Confederation Congress established a procedure for governing the new territories and organized them into prospective states, giving each prospective state full and equal status with the original thirteen states. Furthermore, they institutionalized systems of local government, and public education . Moreover, while accomplishing all this, the congress managed to keep the national economy afloat. This proved to be an enormous feat because the economy was suffering from the loss of colonial privileges. These major achievements were all accomplished despite the inherent flaws in the basic structure of the Confederation government. The Articles of Confederation created a unicameral Confederation Congress, with each state having only one vote. On most political matters this legislative body required the approval of 9 out of 13 states to ratify any proposed Congressional intention. In Article 13, the Articles declared that in order to ratify an amendment to the Articles the consent of all 13 states were required . This left the national government, running through the Confederation Congress, powerless and unable to proceed with the most trivial matters of politics. The Confederation Government, under the Articles, lacked an executive and judicial branch. This caused Congress to be severely handicapped when it came to the enforcement of her requests. This lack of an executive, coupled with the Congresss negated power of taxation, caused a crippling financial difficulties. The Congress, having only enough power to request essential national funds from the states, found that many refused to pay, or were late in doin g so. Due to the lack of an executive branch, Congress soon found itself facing a mounting national debt that it was unable to pay on its own or force states to assume their share of the burden. Since change was virtually impossible, due to the unanimous amendment process, the Articles remained unchanged and hardships continued to mount for many Americans. The major hardships of America in the period of Confederation rule were primarily between the debtor and the creditor . The economic downturn of the mid 1780s, caused by the removal of the guaranteed English markets, left many farmers ruined and inundated with debt . These farmers pleaded with their state governments for help, but in most cases states refused to interfere, in one case in particular, these angered mobs of farmers rebelled against the government. This rebellion was known as Shays Rebellion in 1786 . Alarmed by the rebellion, other state governments agreed to help the angry farmers to thwart these rebellions. Their help came in the form of coining money to cause inflation, thus making the debt seem smaller and smaller. Under the Articles, this coinage was completely legal and it