The Articles of Confederation | BRI’s Homework Help Series

0:00 Welcome to Homework Help. Whether you’re studying for the AP US history exam or any other exam that your teacher is inflicting upon you, we’ve got you covered. The US Constitution was unique in that it combined Enlightenment thinking with the practical concerns of taxation, regional representation, and fears of foreign entanglements. But to understand the United States Constitution, we must first take a look at America’s

0:21 first government the Articles of Confederation. During the American Revolution, the Continental Congress began drafting the Articles of Confederation as a working document almost immediately after declaring independence. The Articles reflected the American fears of a tyrannical central government restricting the lives of local citizens. So the Articles were inherently weak and more like a treaty between

0:41 the individual states, where each state’s legislature is governed as if it were practically an independent country. For example, under the Articles of Confederation, each state coined its own money, created its own individualized laws, taxed its citizens, and created its own militia. While the Articles addressed American fears of an impressive government, it had serious drawbacks.

1:03 It only gave the United States legislature the power to declare war, sign treaties, appoint foreign ambassadors and manage relations with Native Americans. There is no separation of powers or checks and balances because there is no national judiciary or executive branch independent of the legislature. Regardless of size or population. Each state had only one vote under the Articles.

1:25 In fact, the only way the central government can raise money under the Articles Confederation was to ask each state to donate funds or seek out loans. While Congress could declare war under the Articles, the United States has to hope that each state would choose to support the war with troops, but there’s no way to compel the states to cooperate. Any amendments or changes to the Articles of Confederation could not take effect

1:46 unless unanimously supported by the states. It is also important to note that each colony was in debt from the American Revolution. Some states, such as Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina and Pennsylvania, were able to pay off their debts quickly, while other states struggled. America under the Articles of Confederation faced a multitude of problems, including states taxing

2:08 merchandise shipped from other states, causing the prices of goods to be inflated, volatile local economies, disputes over the value of one another’s money, and a worry that European nations will attempt to negotiate with individual states to turn them against one another, thus splitting America into several different confederacies rather than the United Country. One event that highlighted the weakness

2:28 of the Articles Confederation was Shay’s Rebellion. Massachusetts was forced to impose very high taxes to pay off their debts. Many farmers in the western part of the state were hit by bad economic times and couldn’t afford those taxes, as the government was threatening to take their land. Daniel Shays has raised a militia in 1786 to oppose the Massachusetts government.

2:49 The national government cannot raise an army to suppress the insurrection, and the Massachusetts governor had to raise a private army to combat the rebels. Shays Rebellion alarm nation because it demonstrates the weakness of the central government under the Articles. Many individuals such as George Washington, James Madison and Alexander Hamilton wanted to create a stronger central government.

3:12 So in 1787 a convention was called to discuss ways in which they could change the Articles of Confederation to strengthen the national government. However, delegates to the convention quickly chose to scrap the Articles of Confederation and completely start over. A new document to govern the United States would become known as the Constitution with the stated purpose in the preamble of creating a more perfect union.

3:35 This Constitution will solve many of the problems of the Articles of Confederation. The Constitution empowered the federal government to be able to tax and regulate trade have three branches of government with separation of powers and checks and balances and the federal system of shared powers between the national and state governments.