America and the Articles of Confederation essays

America and the Articles of Confederation essays The new United States had finally gained their freedom from England. With being a new country, they needed to form a new system of government. The Articles of Confederation was adopted then between 1781 to 1789. The Articles of Confederation, I believe, were a "successive failure." Even though the Articles had some successes, there wasn't too many. One of the successes was that the negotiation of the Treaty of Paris, which ended up ending the Revolutionary War. Another successful section was the passage of the Northwest Ordinance. In the Northwest Ordinance, the formal procedure for transforming territories into states was established. The Ordinance included a Bill of Rights, which guaranteed freedom of religion, the right to trial by jury, public education and a ban on slavery in the Northwest. The Articles were key to guide the new nation through a critical period of it's beginning. Also through the successes, there were the failures produced by the Articles of Confederation. Measures that were passed by Congress needed to seek the approval of nine out of the thirteen states. Under the Articles, the government was severely limited in its powers. They could not raise money by collecting taxes; they could only ask the states, which did not have give the money. They also had no power over foreign commerce and could not regulate trade between the states. Laws could be passed, but the states could not be forced to agree with them. Since the states did not have to comply, often they did not cooperate. Soldiers were unable to be drafted by the government and states were often asked to provide them willingly. Some of the failures of the Articles had caused a couple of cause and effect circumstances. The inability to pay off the debt had caused the United States to seem less like a nation in the eyes of other countries. Therefore also hurting our ability to borrow mone y from the other countries. States began taxing each other, which c...