About Articles Of Confederation - Essay Example

The confirmations by the 13 states involved were accomplished in early 1781. Before the ratification was complete, the article provided local and international legality for the continental congress to direct America evolutionally war. In addition, the article could conduct mediation with Europe and also deal with territorial affairs. However, the feeble government produced by the article became an issue of concern for nationalists involved. The confederation article had a lot of weaknesses. Firstly, it had a unicameral legislature which allowed a single vote per state.

This unicameral legislature left the countries with only one legislative or parliamentary chamber. This was because the majority could not vote to pass legislation and amend the articles as they wanted. The article left the 13 states and the central government without the separation of powers. In additional to these problems, central government had no power to collect taxes, raise an army, or even control trade. With the one vote per state to change or amend the article, it left the 13 nations plus the central government without the division of powers.

With a 2/3 majority need to pass laws made the changing of the article difficult. In order to make the changes on the article, they needed 9 of the 13 states to approve which was very difficult. 1. This shows that the article left the central government weak since the states maintained a majority of power. Limits in the article The delegates to the first and second congresses did not fix the terms of service. However, the members of the congress under the confederation articles were selected by state legislature annually.

With the restriction that, no single person would be able to become a representative for more than three years. This is found in confederation article (v). This made the first national legislative body in the United States to operate with term limitations. During the time of confederation article existence, the service of delegate who had violated the term restrictions was challenged many times. The congress organized a committee on qualifications to determine whether any of the members were tarrying beyond their appointed terms.

One of the delegates found was Samuel Osgood of Massachusetts. He was found ineligible for the service because he had served for three years after the ratification of the Articles. This caused Osgood to withdrawn from the office 3. Other delegates were investigated, primarily for serving beyond the one year for which they had been elected. Other controversies ensured that over the exact date of electing the delegates from Rhode Island, and they refused to vacate from their seats. The concern was that prolonging the controversy would disrupt the proceedings of congress; the Committee of Qualification dropped the matter.

In many ways, the limit of the confederation article has helped the operation of the congress today. Firstly, it has come up with good constitution that governs citizens in a better way. Presidents now cannot exceed certain term set by the constitution. This allows more people to participate in the offices and bring change in the country in question. It has also improved the democracy of citizens where they are able to vote for the leaders they desire and think they will rule them the best 3.

The limitation on raising an army has led to reduction of war among states because the nation had lived together for a long period without fighting. Article 10 made provision for functioning of the committee of state and for the possible admission of Canada 4.This shows that, if this article was carried out, Canada