Causes Of The Articles Of Confederation Dbq

As the Revolution came near the end, Americans decided there needed to be a set of laws in place, for the independence that will be gained if they win the war. The first set of rules to be drafted is known as the Articles of Confederation. Seeing that it was America’s first attempt at a government, it is quite obvious that there were many issues with the rules and provisions created, which caused problems in the new nation and stress among political leaders. The Articles of Confederation caused economic, legislative and leadership problems, along with unrest in the Anti-Federalist Party as shown in Documents A, spoken by Melancton Smith and Document B written by Brutus 1. The first issue presented in the Articles of Confederation was legislative …show more content…
Due to its lack of organization, there was no set trading rules, no standards for currency and the federal government had no power to tax the states. The lack of trading laws caused tension between states, because trading was a free-for-all. Having no set form of currency was also an issue, because 10 cents in Massachusetts might be 12 cents in New Jersey and 9 cents in Rhode Island, making trade and purchasing items very difficult. The Articles also permitted the states to tax, which made it impossible to pay off debts because the state tax people didn’t enforce the taxes. Without taxes, there was no money to pay militia either, so there was no army to protect America. The Anti Federalist Party had an issue with this because they did not want the federal government to have any control over taxation in fear of over taxation. They also had an issue with the federal government having control over trade because of the chance a monopoly could occur. The solution to this issue was that congress could regulate trade and had to collect taxes for the federal government. Additionally, the federal government was given the right to set currency standards that applied all across …show more content…
It brought up leadership, economical and legislative issues. In conjunction with the issues it brought up, it also began to cause issues with citizens and political leaders. The Anti-Federalist party who wanted a weak central government, had strong opinions as to why they believed it was wrong for America. On the other-hand, Federalists believed a stronger central government was the best choice for the country. In the end, the Articles of Confederation were and replaced with the Constitution to satisfy both parties as much as they could. Today, the solutions created are still existent and being followed, proving that once everyone came to an agreement, America could stand as its own