Articles of Confederation dbq
Essentially, when Britain agreed to the terms of the Treaty of Paris following the Revolutionary War in 1783, a new American nation was finally legitimized. The United States, which as thirteen individual colonies had retained a tradition of internal jealousies and suspicions, began a long and difficult process of building a democratic cohesion for the first time. More or less, at this juncture, the only true unifying force between the newly formed states was a ramshackle national government devised by the Articles of Confederation, a political document that was created during the open hostilities two years earlier. However, in less than ten years after the Revolution's conclusion, this sole unifying force proved far too inadequate as a system of government to support an expanding nation, and it was replaced with a stronger Constitution. Overall, from 1781 to 1789, the Articles of Confederation failed to provide a truly effective government both politically and economically. Perhaps the most fundamental inefficiencies of the Articles were related to the nation's economy. Having just won just won their own control over commerce and taxation from Britain, the individual states were reluctant to hand these privileges to anothe
r authority, even to one of their own creation. Therefore, Congress under the Articles was intentionally designed to be weak to preserve the valued sense of state sovereignty. This governmental feebleness exhibited itself in several areas of the American economy. For example, under the Articles, Congress had no power to tax the individual states; rather, a voluntary taxation program prevailed. The government was first to assess its expenses and establish quotas for the individual states. States were then to tax their own citizens to raise money for these expenses and turn the proceeds over to Congress. With oftentimes as few as one-fourth of all the states complying with the government's requests, raising internal revenue was hardly effective under the voluntary policy (Doc C). Incidentally, inflation at one point even devalued currency by ninety-eight percent. Essentially, by the time Shays' Rebellion was suppressed, both supporters and critics of the Articles of Confederation agreed that at the very least it needed considerable strengthening (Doc H). For nearly a decade, the government had been basically second to state interests and was consequently ineffective. It could not impose taxation or regulate commerce, which ultimately made it penniless and unable to settle interstate economic rivalries or poor foreign economic policies. Furthermore, politically, only a unicameral legislature existed with which it was virtually impossible to improve existing laws, and without an executive branch or an ability to raise an effective army, law enforcement was nearly impossible for the government. Finally, although the government conducted foreign affairs, they were done so for the interests of the individual states. Despite all of these ineffici
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Approximate Word count = 1188
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)
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