The American Articles of Confederation - Essay Example

?American history Successes of Government under the Articles of Confederation The article of the confederation is also known as the article of confederation and perpetual union. It was actually an agreement among the 13 different founding states developed by the United States of America as the confederation of several sovereign states. It was served as the first constitution. Government of the United States of America achieved several significant aspects under the articles of the confederation. On the other hand, there were several failures of government under this article of confederation. This part of the study will discuss about several successes that were achieved by the government of the United States of America under the articles of the confederation. Under this article of the confederation, the colonists of America fought against the soldiers of Great Britain with their full strength and achieved independence. The government of the United States of America succeeded to maintain a strong unity by keeping 13 different states together. In addition to this, these states stayed together for a longer period of time in order to realize the importance of unity. The Land Ordinance of the 1785 was the most effective territory expansion plan introduced by the government of the United States of America under the articles of confederation. The government of the United States of America raised huge money by selling the lands. It helped government to source and allocate required fund for several planned projects and development programs. In addition to this, this sourcing of funds or capital helped the government of the United States of America to repay the previous debt account (Collins 136). It helped the country to achieve significant economic growth rate. Under this article of confederation, government of the United States of America introduced several public development projects. For example, government initiated Section 16. It was the designated for the development of several public schools. Northwest Ordinance is also considered as one of the key successes of the government under the articles of confederation. The government of the country planned for the establishment of governments in different territories. It helped the government of the Unite States of America to maintain discipline and sustainability in these territories (Kellogg 58). Government of the country developed several processes for these territories to become a state. It helped the government of the country to reform and improve overall economic and social condition of these territories. In addition to this, government of the United States of America succeeded to expand fundamental democratic rights into the Northwest region. Aspects like Freedom of speech for common people, no slavery, trial by jury and freedom of speech for press were guaranteed by the Congress. In addition to this, government of the United States of America succeeded to prepare a constitution for the country including these territories and states which approved by the Congress. Several developed laws and regulations developed by the government of states helped to maintain peace and control the social life in the newly developed states. Failures of government under the Articles of Confederation The inherent weakness in the Articles of Confederation arises from the fact that it is called a confederacy. The sovereign power was placed in the hands of the states of the America. This fact was explicitly stated in Article II of the confederation which states that each state will retain the freedom, sovereignty, independence, jurisdiction, power and right. Such distribution of power was chosen by the Founding Fathers since Americans colonist were very wary of the national governments (Feinberg 78). They have to deal with the British Crown for many years; the American colonies did not want to make another out-of-touch national government. During this short lifespan, the Articles of Confederation became ineffective at governing the growing American states. The main cause for this ineffectiveness originated from the lack of strong, central government. This emerged as the main limitation which rendered the Articles of Confederation futile. This lack of strong national government led to three limitations. Economic disorganization Lack in the central leadership Inefficiencies of the Legislation Economic Disorganization First flaw in the Articles of Confederation was the economic disorganization which led to the financial hardship. Hence America was struggling to pay off the dues it accumulated during its fight for independence and compete economically with the rest of the countries. The problems worsen because of the limitations present in the Articles of Confederation. The Limitations originated from the inability of the government to manage their trade. Under the Article of Confederation, Congress had very limited power to regulate the trade. They could only regulate the trade with Native American tribes and did not have the ability to negotiate the trade terms with the foreign countries. Again there was no uniform system of currency. Though the Congress had the right to regulate all forms of American currency, the Articles of Confederation failed to call for a singular form of currency. Hence though the national government and each of the state could separately print money there was lack of uniformity in it. The Congress had no authority to impose the taxes and raise revenue (Roza 31). Only the states have such power. Lack in the central leadership The second limitation which they faced was there was no central leadership. According to the Articles the power was placed in the hands of the state. This led to both economic troubles and leadership trouble. There was no independent judiciary. There was no system of courts for the national government. The entire judiciary system was dependent on the states. Again there was no foreign affairs head. It led to the inability of the national government to deal with both the internal and the external threats. Inefficiencies of the Legislation Under the Article of Confederation there are rules which made the legislating of rules inefficient. It resulted in difficulty in passing the laws. Hence the government couldn’t formulate policies appropriately. With difficulty in passing the laws, the amendment process became difficult. It was extremely difficult to pass the changes since unanimous vote was required to pass the bill. Ironically the Article of Confederation was poorly structured and hence it couldn’t fix itself. Works Cited Collins, Susan. Fourth Grade Success. New York: Teacher Created Resources, 2011. Print. Feinberg, Barbara Silberdick. The Articles of Confederation: The First Constitution of the United States. Brookfield: Twenty-First Century Books, 2002. Print. Kellogg, William. American History the Easy way. New York: Barron’s Online Bookstore, 2003. Print. Roza, Greg. Evaluating the Articles of Confederation: Determining the Validity of Information and Arguments. New York: The Rosen Publishing Group, 2005. Print. Read More