Weaknesses of the Articles of the Confederation and the reasons why the founding fathers created a weak national government

After the American Revolution it was up to congress to establish an organized government so that the United States would not fail. In a quick attempt to do this congress approved the first nation contistution- the Articles of Confederation. The Articles of Confederation, however, was anything but perfect. This "constitution" did not give the national government the power to tax its citizens and regulate trade in order to reduce the national debt. It also got rid of a strong executive branch and gave little power to congress and more power to the states. All of these factors played a role in the weakness and failure of the Articles of Confederation.

The Articles of Confederation never gave congress the right to tax U.S. citizens or regulate trade nationally or internationally. With no power to tax U.S. citizens, congress could not reduce the national debt, and with no pwer to regulate trade it could not have hault imported goods or the flow of gold and silver to Europe. In a desprate attempt to help this situation congress and the states printed paper money during the war. The government promised to redeem the bills with money from future taxes. However, since congress did not have the authority to tax, the value of the dollar plunged. This caused inflation, one of the reasons Shays' Rebellion occured. Since farm wages and prices had falled sharply the farmers were selling little produce but they still had to pay morgages on their farms and other debts. When Shays' Rebellion took place it sent a message to congress showing them how horrible the debt really was huring the American citizens and the country as a whole. This showed how the national government needed to take charge and be granted more power in order to take better care of their people.

Americans feared the threat of monarchy. As a result of this the Articles of Confederation did not grant the executive branch much pwoer over the states. This made it difficult to carry out foreign policy. In effect states took this issue into their own hands. When John Jay and Don Diegode Gardoqui agreed on the Jay-Gardoqui Treaty this was an example of that very problem. Being that congress hand no authority over foreign policy because it lacked executive power, Jay decided to take action. Jay was supposed to draw up a negotiation with Spain to preserve American rights to navigate the Mississippi. However, Gardoqui persuaded Jay to give up all American rights to the Mississippi in exchange for trading privledges to American merchants. The public became hostile and felt betrayed by the Treaty. There was no assembly to make the decision, just one person. This would have been a good time for executive power to step in.

Lastly, the Articles of Confederation gave congress very little power overall. This left voters within a state to do whatever they wanted. Shays' Rebellion, lead by Captain Daniel Shays', revolted against the Massachusetts government. This sent a message to the national government to take care of their people and regulate their actions. With little power congress could do little about their nations' behavior, but with power they could control it. In a sense, this was the "straw that broke the camels' back" because shortly after the new constitution was drawn up.

The Articles of Confederation did not let the national government regulate trade or levy taxes, it got rid of a strong executive power and it gave congress minimal power over citizens. All of these things contributed to its weakness as well as its failure. This benefited the contry in the long run, however, because it showed congress what was wrong which helped create a final constitution.

Note: This was written in the early days of my AP U.S. History class. Please excuse the shoddy support, word choice and structure.