The first forms of self-government that the States had were The Articles of Confederation. During the time when the Articles were in effect they were used to test their effectiveness. The Article of Confederation effectiveness was tested through foreign relations, economic conditions, and how they settled the western lands.
Western Lands
In the Articles there was a system established on how to deal with the western lands. The government had the responsibility finding a way of having an orderly expansion of western lands. The government first came up with The Land Ordinance made in 1785. This was a detailed plan for surveying, selling, and settling western lands. The said lands were located North of Ohio River, West of the Appalachian Mountains, …show more content…
Yet the crucial powers like control interstate trade and tax these powers were help by state governments. To make matters worse the currency Continentals that was printed was worthless. A major problem that surfaced was that Congress does not have the power to tax and to add to it the states are in a very large sum of debt. The states do not want to give congress the money it needs, which means we cannot repay the debt to any of the countries. Britain in response to the nonexistent pay for the debt put a large some of soldiers on our land. This made the economy unstable and unable to withstand crisis like this, the state’s inflation and individual debt created unrest with the people. An effect that came of this was Shay’s rebellion. The poor farmers are having trouble making ends meet. They ask for more time to repay their debts to the rich. The rich in response go to court and foreclose the land. To put a stop to this the poor farmers form a rebellion lead by Daniel Shay, they go around and seize court houses so they are unable to make rulings. Then the militia shoot at the famers killing four, ending the rebellion. This was the final event which brought the need for a new form of government to the attention of the American
Western Lands
In the Articles there was a system established on how to deal with the western lands. The government had the responsibility finding a way of having an orderly expansion of western lands. The government first came up with The Land Ordinance made in 1785. This was a detailed plan for surveying, selling, and settling western lands. The said lands were located North of Ohio River, West of the Appalachian Mountains, …show more content…
Yet the crucial powers like control interstate trade and tax these powers were help by state governments. To make matters worse the currency Continentals that was printed was worthless. A major problem that surfaced was that Congress does not have the power to tax and to add to it the states are in a very large sum of debt. The states do not want to give congress the money it needs, which means we cannot repay the debt to any of the countries. Britain in response to the nonexistent pay for the debt put a large some of soldiers on our land. This made the economy unstable and unable to withstand crisis like this, the state’s inflation and individual debt created unrest with the people. An effect that came of this was Shay’s rebellion. The poor farmers are having trouble making ends meet. They ask for more time to repay their debts to the rich. The rich in response go to court and foreclose the land. To put a stop to this the poor farmers form a rebellion lead by Daniel Shay, they go around and seize court houses so they are unable to make rulings. Then the militia shoot at the famers killing four, ending the rebellion. This was the final event which brought the need for a new form of government to the attention of the American