Strengths And Weaknesses Of The Articles Of Confederation

The Articles of Confederation was the United States’ first constitution. It was created at a time when the nation feared a strong central government, after the United States declared Independence from Great Britain’s Monarchy and their tyrannical rule of the colonies. It was finally ratified on March 1, 1781 after years of the states having no central form of government. Being the first document of its kind, the Articles of Confederation had its strengths and weaknesses. A defined strength the articles expressed were that it set Congress as the highest power in the nation. To transform themselves from outlaws into a legitimate nation, the colonists needed international recognition for their cause and foreign allies to support it. In early …show more content…
Without such a declaration, Paine concluded, “[t]he custom of all courts is against us, and will be so, until, by an independence, we take rank with other nations.”[6]

Beyond improving their existing association, the records of the Second Continental Congress show that the need for a declaration of independence was intimately linked with the demands of international relations. On June 7, 1776, Richard Henry Lee introduced a resolution before the Continental Congress declaring the colonies independent; at the same time he also urged Congress to resolve “to take the most effectual measures for forming foreign Alliances” and to prepare a plan of confederation for the newly independent states. Congress then created three overlapping committees to draft the Declaration, a Model Treaty, and the Articles of Confederation. The Declaration announced the states' entry into the international system; the model treaty was designed to establish amity and commerce with other states; and the Articles of Confederation, which established “a firm league” among the thirteen free and independent states, constituted an international agreement to set up central institutions for the conduct of vital domestic and