Question

What were some major
problems the U.S. had under the Articles of Confederation?

Answer 1

Definition: The Articles of Confederation formed the first governing system of the United States of America, which linked the states during the turbulent years of the American Revolution.

Problems:

The national government could not tax citizens directly, only request money from the states. The states rarely contributed money, meaning the national government could not pay its debts or fund initiatives.

The national government could not regulate international or interstate trade and could not stop states from undermining it by making their own trade agreements with foreign nations.

The national government could not raise an army, only request that the states send soldiers. This caused the states to be able to refuse sending soldiers, which made it difficult to defend the nation.

Each state only had one vote in Congress, regardless of its population. The citizens of small states had proportionally more political power than the citizens of large states.

Because the national government had no executive branch, they had no way of implementing or enforcing its legislative decisions.

Passing laws required the approval of nine states, and amending the Articles required the approval of all thirteen states. This made it difficult to get enough consensus to make laws and nearly impossible to fix the Articles themselves.

Answer 2

The Articles of Confederation were the original governing document for the United States.

States' Sovereignty

Under the Articles, every state had sovereignty. Sovereignty is the ability to govern oneself. So, each state was independent and did not have to listen to other states or the federal government. This led to conflict between states and there was no federal government to solve disputes. Additionally, when the confederation made laws or bills to solve national issues, there was no guarantee that every state would follow the law passed by the federal government.

Federal Taxation

The federal government had no way to implement federal taxes. This means that the federal government had no way to make money. Without money, the federal government was extremely weak and unable to fulfill any duties. Since the federal government had no funding, it could not support public works or any other government programs.

National Military

The Articles did not allow for the federal government to create a military. This means that the government could not protect against international threats. Additionally, the federal government had no way to put down violent rebellions within the states. Most notably, this became an issue during Shay's Rebellion. Shay's rebellion was a violent uprising of farmers in Massachusetts. Eventually, the militia was able to put the rebellion down, but it was difficult and almost ended poorly for the state.