Articles of Confederation

Sarah Hirst

Articles of Confederation

            The Articles of Confederation went into effect in 1781 and spread across New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. The Articles of Confederation were then abolished in 1787.

            The Articles gave rights to both the state and federal government, however it was created to be a weak government. The colonists were afraid to have a strong central government because of what their government was like in Britain. They did not want the government to have to ability to get too powerful and become an anarchy like their previous one had. Because of the loose connections, The Articles of Confederation has been described as more of a “firm league of friendship”(Article III).

            The Articles of Confederation failed because it failed to hold a strong and organized system. Under the Articles, the government could not collect taxes and could only amend articles with a unanimous vote from all states. There was only one house of a body of delegates, and no matter the size of the population, each state would, "have one vote"(Article V)..The Articles made is so that they could only discuss issues that were affecting all 13 states at the same time and that to pass a vote, it required nine of the thirteen states. The only thing the government could firmly do was declare war, conduct foreign affairs, and make treaties with other nations.

            The Articles of Confederation where abolished because America needed a sturdier platform to run our government on. We needed a strong government with more regulations, thus the Constitution was drafted shortly after.  Without a stronger government, the nation would not have been able to succeed.