Weakness_of_Articles_of_Confederation

3)Nothing in life is perfect. Everything has its strengths and weaknesses; its pros and cons. The United States of America has had a great deal of success but also a fair share of failures. The Articles of Confederation was the system for national government during a crucial time of American history. It served the American colonies during the Revolutionary war but there were several flaws that led to the replacement of the articles. The Constitutional Convention, triggered by federalism, revised and improved the Articles of Confederation and constructed the present Constitution of America. There were several necessary revisions that came out of the Constitutional Convention but the success of the Articles of Confederation should not be forgotten. The establishment of the United States was by no means an easy task. The Articles of Confederation was the first form of written government and supported our country through a rough time. One strength of the articles was its ability to unite the colonies by name. Even with 13 different colonies , 13 different ideas and 13 different arguments this document was able to bring a common understanding amongst them all. It was also able to organize the country well enough to defeat Great Britain and successfully end the Revolutionary War. This is a great achievement that no flaw can take away from the Articles of Confederation. The most significant achievement of the Articles of Confederation was the establishment of the Treaty of Paris. In 1783 congress and the King of Great Britain signed documents eliminating British rule from America soil. The congressmen appointed under the Articles of Confederation were able to successfully negotiate with Great Britain and fight for country. If it were not for this official Treaty, America could still be under British influence today. The Articles of Confederation needed still needed to be revised because it could not keep up with constant change. It worked well for the time it needed to but the United States was in trouble after the Revolutionary War. There was only one congress that was made up of 13 individuals, who were not even present at all of the assemblies. A major problem of the Articles of Confederation was that Congress had no authority to establish any tariffs or import duties. This meant that individual states were taxing good s from other states. This would be like buying Florida oranges at the grocery store today, here in New York, but paying a tax that cost almost as much as the oranges themselves. This could have led to severe economic problems. The country was not benefitting from this as a whole. Certain colonies benefited while others struggled; that is not a stable country or government. Another flaw was that congress could issue currency but not prevent the states form making their own. There were way too many forms of currency in one country which made trade and travel very difficult. Can you imagine traveling one hour into Pennsylvania and having to stop at the bank to exchange currency' It would be a great hassle and discourage most to cross their state borders. Due to congresses’ lack of authority and abilities they earned little respect from other nations. People abroad referred to the United States congress as a “weak body that had no purpose” (O’ Connell, 2009). All the power was invested in individual states which made it near impossible to have a united country. The most significant weakness of the Articles of Confederation was that Congress had no authority to raise an army. How can a country defend itself from other countries if there is no solid form of military' Again the individual states had the choice or power to send their own men or not. If South Carolina did not want to march up to New York to fend off Canadians they did not have to. With no military there is no safety. The country was risking its existence in the fact that Great Britain could have noticed these weaknesses and taken the land back over, which is why the articles needed to be revised. The Articles of Confederation were revised during the Constitutional Convention which was influenced by federalism. Federalism is a belief that the government should divide its power between a central authority and political units. The federalists called for one leader, also known as the President, and claimed that the states would be the other political unit. The federal government is made up of all the states, or colonies at the time. This means that the states are controlled by the President, Congress, and Senate in contrast to the articles’ one group of congress. The federal government has delegated power, which means that the particular elected officials have the power for some issues. The individual states have reserved powers, which may be categorized as less significant but still gives them a say in the government. The states are encouraged to take control of laws concerning their citizens only. The states have the opportunity to come together with the federal government to make laws; this is referred to as a concurrent power. For example the power to coin money is a delegated power which means the federal government has control of currency. This eliminates the problem from the Articles of Confederation where the individual states had the power to make their own currency. Each state has equal representation in the Senate and representation based on population in Congress. The President or executive official that the federalists called for is voted on by American citizens from all states. The federalists did their best to please everyone, while still keeping the countries best interests in mind. The Three-Fifths Compromise can be considered the best compromise to come out of the Constitutional Convention. The South was ready to succeed from the country and this compromise kept the United States together. Although the Northerners were left at a disadvantage, they accepted the terms in efforts to keep the southern states. The Three-Fifths Compromise stated that 60% of the slaves in the south could be added to the white population for representation numbers in Congress. This gave the South a disproportional advantage but the Northerners were willing to sacrifice because they had more populated states anyways. If the Constitutional Convention did not get the North and South to agree on this Compromise there would have been no Constitution made, no country, and the British would have come back and taken over. The Articles of Confederation were sufficient guidelines for government during the American Revolution. It was also there for the federalists to learn from and they were able to improve our government and our country. With all of its flaws, the Articles of Confederation has helped make America the superior country it is today. 1) In the 17th century warfare and chaos ruled England and for a while it seemed they were out of options; however England did have another opportunity and that was to expand towards America and set up colonies. The first English establishment was in Virginia at the colony of Jamestown. King James I began the Virginia Company in 1607, this joint stock company marked the first English colony in America. Though there were many colonies they were not all the same such things that separated them; such as the colonists themselves and the population’s demographic over time and how they are utilized for there labor. Though the English wanted to start settlements in this new world there were some motivating factors. One of the main factors was the England practiced mercantilism which is the colony working solely for the mother country. So now that England was profiting off its colonies thus making it as a country more economically well off. Also getting people to America was not a problem seeing that America is the start of a new life where one can be prosperous even if they are not in England. For example the colonies of Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay became settlements for different reasons. Their reasons for settlement were that of religious freedom the settlers known as Separatists did not want to convert to the Church of England. So to avoid religious prosecution the Separatists shipped across the Atlantic Ocean and started a new life in Massachusetts. The Great Migration brought over 15,000 settlers to New England Colonies. In New England the population varied over time; at the beginning it was only a few hundred people and it was mostly upper class men. This went on until the 1620’s it became mostly unemployed, uneducated mostly poor people came over for a fresh start but, most of them started as indentured servants which entailed doing labor for some length of time but this work is in exchange for the servants food, shelter, transportation and other needs. These servants were not slaves for they were tied to a binding contract and once their time was served they were set free. Though the colonies both worked to make money for them and the mother country had very different forms of labor; specifically between Jamestown and the New England colonies. Landowners in Jamestown cultivated their crops for trade and person use. This is due to the warm climate because when Jamestown was founded it was chosen to be on the same latitudinal line as Florence but it did not have the same warm almost tropical climate however though it was warm it did have marshy land at some points. Jamestown and other southern colonies had to use large plantations which can be costly so indentured servants and slaves to avoid paying farm hands which in the long run can be costly. However New England Colonies did not have the luxury of land they had to find other means of production; thankfully the colonists learned to fish and do some small farming from the local Native American tribes. The colonies also had very different economic systems which led to the way to how they advanced in technology. While Jamestown invested mostly on cash crops and trade to keep their economy stable. However New England was more advanced in building their cities with building ships, which made them the center of trade for the colonies. Even the south who worked hard to cultivate their cash crops had to trade through New England. Both colonies were also becoming independent from England developing their own unique forms of self-government. But, both colonies had about the same similarities especially in social aspects. Both colonies have religious freedom and they shared a common language. An open social class system which can allow people to move either up or down in social classes which was very important in the growth of the colonies. Each settlement though different in there own right are also sharing the same things. With the southern colonies being a primarily agricultural cultural society who use slaves to cultivate their cash crops. However the New England colonies where centered on trade and commerce. But both share the same sociological privileges such as religious freedom and open social class with their own self-governing systems. With these differences and similarities set in place our colonies became unique and successful enough to prosper.