When the United States had just declared their independence, it was clear that governmental structure needed to be established. In 1777, the Continental Congress adopted the Articles of Confederation, which all states would ratify by 1781. The Articles of Confederation would prove to be a weak constitution, giving too much power to the states and not having a strong enough central government. This realization led to several changes being made until a new framework was implemented. The Constitution established a better relationship between central and state governments, while making sure that no form of government would become too powerful.…
At the beginning of the French and Indian War, Britain and the American Colonies had a good relationship, Britain ruled over the Colonies but the colonies did not mind because Britain provided many lucrative trading opportunities for the American Colonies. The American colonies were for the most part only benefitting from Britain, that is until the end of the French and Indian war when Parliament passed many taxes and acts. After Britain began imposing unfair treaties and taxes some of the American Colonists began to not appreciate Britain as much as before. The American Colonies started to grow apart from Britain because the colonists believed in the idea of no taxation without representation. The colonists were outraged with the Sugar Act, Quartering Act, the Stamp Act and the…
The ideas and events that led to the belief that the Articles of Confederation was not working well (was because Congress had no power to regulate trade, coin money, collect taxes, or establish a military.) The Articles of Confederation was established to create the national government of the United States after the declaring independence from Great Britain. The purpose of creating the Articles of Confederation was to guarantee states of not “surrendering their sovereignty powers,” freedom, and independence (Davidson p. 152). The Articles of Confederation failed to regulate trade “Wit the outbreak of the Revolution, Americans had suffered an immediate loss of the manufactured goods, markets, and credit that Britain had formerly supplied,” (Davidson…
Rulers throughout history have proven that the way the rule is based on the way they are perceived by not only their subjects but other powers including religious authority. This was especially true for women rulers who were viewed as lesser than men, and in some countries were not even allowed the chance to rule. Queen of Elizabeth of England was one of the longest rulers of her time, however that did not stop people from questioning her ability to rule. Religious leaders believed her rule was unholy, some only believed her power was justified because of the fact that she had parliament under her and others saw her power as unearthly. This made Elizabeth a strong willed ruler who often times had to justify her actions.…
On numerous occurrences, it was perceived that Articles of Confederation was insufficient and ineffective to wrestle the difficulties. In 1786, Shays' Rebellion arose in western Massachusetts as a dispute to escalating debt and economic disarray. However, the national government was incapable to meet a shared military force among the states to help lay down the uprising. Correspondingly, when congress decided to advance western land assimilated by US through the Paris treaty, congress unsuccessfully reach on any decision. Separately from this states were separated on the issue of debt.…
The Articles of Federation left most regulation to individual states and much like the issue that arose with trade, the minting of currency and a regulation of currency was left to each state. This meant that each state could mint or produce different denominations of value for their “state” dollars and coinage. Because there were many discrepancies in money and their respective values, many problems soon would arise in the Confederation such as, inflation, parties not accepting each other’s money because it was not considered “legal” tender, and to the loss of property because of non-payment. The new government that was to be formed in the wake of the Confederation would attempt to resolve this issue by granting the Congress the ability,…
It was an experience that forced them for the first time, to act in concert against a common foe” (Brinkley 90). Americans then learned to resent British rule and sought out independence. The British had always tried to control everything. They wanted to be the most powerful, but from the French and Indian War they learned that the colonists needed their own central government. By 1775, Britain and America viewed each other as two separate societies.…
The American Colonies started showing signs of strain in the early 1700’s. Until then, England was mainly focused on civil conflicts and an ongoing war with France. This allowed the American colonies to carry out their trade with little help or interference. As a result, the colonists developed a sense of independence. When England started taking actions that suggested that the colonists did not have the same right as British citizens, the American Colonists began to question the authority of their mother country.…
Group Dynamics: Early American Colonies Group dynamics played a large role in the move towards independence of the American colonies. Since the first ships landed on the shores of the newly found land, settlements emerged. Each with their own social structure, strengths, and weaknesses. These settlements would have to come together and work as group in order to obtain, maintain, and protect the freedom and independence they desired.…
In 1787 the weak form of government brought together by the Articles of Confederation was not doing its justice for the colonists. In the Article of Confederation, there was only one branch of government, and that one branch had no power over the states. This soon proved itself to be ineffective to be a national government for the people. To remedy this problem the Founding Fathers got together at the Philadelphia Convention to discuss a new plan for the government. The Founding Fathers decided not to revise the Articles of Confederation, but to create a completely new constitution.…
Before Canada became an independent country, it was known as the Dominion of Canada. The British North American Act of 1867 came into effect, which meant, Canada was not fully independent. Britain controlled Canada 's foreign affairs, treaties, and could overrule Canadian court decisions, as well as, sanctioning Canada to go to war automatically with Britain. In the 20th century, the Statute of Westminster in 1931, Britain was willing to give Canada their own constitution but the federal and provincial government of Canada were unwilling to lose power and could not agree on a formula to amend the constitution after many years of negotiation Canada came up with a method of changing the constitution, called The Amending…
Prior to the Declaration of Independence, Great Britain was responsible for all the decisions pertaining the colonies, sometimes disregarded the requests and desires of the colonies. The colonies were limited to Great Britain’s’ regulations including taxation and frontier policies.…
When a country or colony’s economic state or safety is threatened action is required. Confederation was essential to make Canada what it is now. Without Confederation Canada may have been controlled by the US or in a very fragile state. Confederation was was an act in the 1860’s to unite the British North Colonies as one strong independant nation. John A.Macdonald was credited to influence Confederation as he was an Father of Confederation.…
Following the conclusion of The French and Indian War, England was faced with a at least two problems pertaining to her North American colonies that needed to be addressed. The first of which was how to recover from the burden of an enormous amount of debt that had befallen on England secondary to their war efforts. The second was how to control and govern the newly gained territories gained from the French with the treaty of 1763. England’s answer to these two problems for came in the form of numerous social and economic constraints such as taxes, acts, and programs imposed on the colonists in an effort to establish greater control. Ultimately however, England’s efforts to gain greater control were unsuccessful largely due to leading the colonists to believe that England was encroaching on their believed right for fair representation and self-governing, and the final result was uniting the colonists against a common enemy in what eventually would become The American Revolution.…
In the war, Canada had made a major contribution to the Allies victory and, Prime Minister Sir Robert Borden felt that Canada should be recognized as an independent country rather than under the British Empire for their efforts. He led a successful fight for the independent representation at the conference and…