Articles of Confederation

Notebook #21

Background

After declaring independence do you think the world recognized it?

– No, France and the Netherlands did – Everyone else just thought we were British colonies that were “rebelling” against the Crown.

1776 1781: No “real” government just 13 separate states!

1781

1781: The Articles of Confederation were ratified.

–

Ratified:

approval, done by a formal vote –

Confederation:

a loose association of states, “firm league of friendship”

What it did…

The Articles of Confederation created a central government.

Created a Congress Each state had one (1) vote in Congress

What else??

No Executive Branch No Judicial Branch No power to regulate trade No power to tax citizens No power to draft individuals into the military Amendments require a UNANIMOUS vote of all the states!

Why do this?

The idea was to preserve each individual state’s

sovereignty.

–

Sovereignty:

where the power is – Laws were enforced by each state, NOT the central government!

Why would they want this???

What else was going on during this time?

WAR!!!!!!!!

The Revolutionary War was already happening when the Articles were written.

War is very expensive So, who do you think was responsible for paying for the war??

What do you think?

Were the Articles of Confederation a good idea or a bad idea?

Was there anything wrong with the Articles?

Overall Weaknesses

Articles of Confederation: – Needed 9 out of 13 of the “states” to agree to pass important measures – No President or Executive Branch • No officials to see that laws are carried out – No National Courts • No way of interpreting laws • No way to judge who broke the laws

More Weaknesses

Any changes to the Articles required a UNANIMOUS vote of all 13 states Congress couldn’t impose taxes – No $$$ means you can’t pay debts – No way to pay the soldiers who fought in the Revolutionary War Can’t control trade between the states or foreign nations – Regulation of trade was up to each state

One more….

No national currency!

– Each state was responsible for printing their own money.

– What type of problems would this create?

– Examples?

The final result….

Instead of one UNIFIED country, we had… 13, small, SEPARATE nations States would refuse to obey laws of Congress – This diminishes the relationship between the two

Why were the States difficult?

No national identity – People saw themselves as citizens of their OWN state instead of as “Americans” – Reasons: • States were separated by great distances – travel was difficult • Colonies were founded at different times and for different reasons • Different types of Colonial Governments