Essay The Articles Of Confederation And National Government

The Articles of Confederation that was adopted in 1781 provided information about the numerous injustices and events that had led the American colonists to create the document as well as their desire to become independent from Britain. The contract had declared their new self-ruling and centralized government form, however, problems began to arise soon after its initiation. Under the Articles, each state only had one vote in regardless of their size, the government lacked a national army for protection nor could the national government enforce laws and there was no chief executive in charge of the country at the time due to the fear of monarchy. The Articles also resulted in no power in controlling interstate trade, which allowed states to put their own tariffs on trade between states. Perhaps the most important weakness of the Articles of Confederation can be seen in the requirement of a unanimous vote to make any changes to the document along with a long implementation time if a decision has been reached. Although the Articles failed to appropriately define the powers between the state and national governments, its creation led to fundamental changes within the following Constitution including compromises that aided in settling the debates between federalists and antifederalists which eventually led to its ratification in 1788. In order to reverse the issues sparked by the Articles, a number of fundamental changes were implemented in the Constitution to ensure basic…