The Ideas Behind The Articles Of Confederation

The articles of confederation one of the first documents to form a government after claiming independence from Great Britain was meant to be a formation of government in which everyone could live by and be proud off. The articles were everything, but that. The articles of Confederation was weak and had an inneffective form of government, as well as some accomplishments, and precedents for later events that eventually shaped America.   

The articles of Confederation were the beginning to what could have been something good, yet there was so many weak spots and negative reaction from it, it would not have lasted. Starting off with having a weak central government, giving the states most of the power.1 When the government has little to no power it also took away the right to tax, without taxes to fund government projects, it only trickled down to the effect of having no standing army or navy.2 Without taxes there was no government funding for the military to be there, besides in times of emergency. Without a govenrment America looked weak, it was unlike the Americans to be so weak in this time of age, but back then under this form of government they had no choice. With a weak central government and no power to tax, it led to an empty treasury, foreign countries threatening American borders, considering we had not military, and disputes between states couldn’t be fixed, because there was no court system.3 With the lack of a treasury as well without the funding of taxes, there was not stability there was no money that could have been spent to imporve the lives of the people.  Along with the point that it took 9/13 states to pass a law which made it even more difficult to get any laws passed.4 A government isn’t a government without funding, and without a military there is no point, because other countries could easily take over the people and the land of that area. The overall common idea around the articles was the lack weaknesss and the lack of stability forming around itself.  

Although the Articles were very weak and had lack of support, they did manage to complete some accomplishments. For example, one of the accomplishments was that they closed out the Treaty of Paris ending the American Revolution.5 This was a big step for them in gaining their independence. After fighting for so long with Europe, the colonist had finally made it to where they could self govern. Although it didn’t go very well it was the first step to building the nation with our new found independence. The Articles also  allow for settling in westward land and claims of various states.6 The idea of expanding has always been an American virtue it seems, so to be able to expand held on to the tradition of what America was founded upon. So when expanding out it gave a sense of pride to most Americans to feel proud of something they did on their own to expand their nation as free citizens. Finally, it led to the Northwest ordinance, which helped newer states that joined under the government equal to the pre-existing 13 states. This brought everyone together to help want to be a nation, even with the side of wanting own states rights, with a lack of central government, it brough unity to them as one nation, sharing similar values. Eventually leading to the ban of slavery creating a pro slave side and an anti-slave side.7 This was the first big step towards the end of slavery and a push to end the Africna American labor, coming so close to a fair society where the color of someone’s skin did not matter.   

In the long-term effects of the Articles, it brought on plenty of new and improving ideas as well for the future of the government. With the Northwest Ordinance being creating it allowed new states to join giving the names of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, which also greatly gave us the Ohio River Valley.8 The gianing of new states and land, created a stronger nation, and a stronger economy eventually with more states being able to be taxed for the future govenrment. With many of the new states joining, as well America had created a grid system for land parcels. Splitting land between sections and even acres.9  This gave the states an identifiable land territory within the grid to be their own state with set boundaries. Within the grid system land was set aside for public education and schools.10 The creation of schools for education helped teach more Americans basic skills and eventually create some of the very important leaders in future events. All coming together to finally have the end of slavery, even though racism itself was completely gone, as an African American they were free according to law, but as society pursues on it’s a lot harder fight then they had expected to gain equality.  

The articles of Confederation was weak and had an inneffective form of government, as well as some accomplishments, and precedents for later events that eventually shaped America, but even though The Articles of Confederation overall may have been a letdown, to see what it created and the new ideas the Americans were given created a whole new life for the citizens and future people to come.  

References 

Towards a stable government HIST111 Lecture guide Kelly, Martin. "Why the Articles of Confederation Failed." ThoughtCo. https://www.thoughtco.com/why-articles-of-confederation-failed-104674 (accessed October 10, 2021). 

History, Art & Archives, U.S. House of Representatives, “The Articles of Confederation,”  https://history.house.gov/Historical-Highlights/1700s/The-Articles-of-Confederation/ (October 09, 2021)