Articles Of Confederation Dbq

The Articles of Confederation were drafted in June 1776 and was completely ratified in March 1781. Written by the members of the Continental Congress, it was an agreement between the thirteen independent states formed mainly for the purpose of defending the states against Great Britain. The Articles of Confederation, however, contained many flaws that resulted in its failure and generated the need for a new Constitution to be written. It lacked a more effective distribution of power between the states and the national government, an organized economic system, and a strong central government with a chief executive. When the Articles of Confederation were written, the there was a great influence from a “radical’s point of view” (SparkNotes Editors, n.d.) due to the states being in the middle of a war with Great Britain. The majority of Americans were afraid of the new governing forces being too strong and taking away the rights of the people, just as the British government had done, which led to the war for independence. Therefore, …show more content…
Too much power was given to the states, too little power was given to Congress, and no primary leader was appointed. The people were afraid of a “chief executive who would rule tyrannical. In turn, the Articles of Confederation were written to where the “president” was no more than the chairman at meetings with the Continental Congress. Without an executive branch, there was no one to enforce any acts passed by Congress, the states could, and did, ignore the majority of the rules Congress attempted to make. The lack of a chief executive created problem s when trying to deal with foreign affairs, as well as threats from the inside and the outside of the confederation. There was no representative to meet with foreign diplomats to make any negotiations and assist in solving