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new national government that reserved freedom, sovereignty, and independence for the states. The Articles of confederation provided an effective form of government for western lands, on the contrary, foreign relations were not were not as well benefited from it. The Confederation’s major contributions were Ordinance of 1785 and the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 to the American life. The Ordinance of 1785 established the law for the lands north of the Ohio River. The Northwest Ordinance of 1787 provided three stages for the creation and admittance of new states, as well as served as a pre

Measures passed by Congress, however, required the approval of 9 of the 13 states. The Congress was severely limited in its powers.

• It could not raise money by collecting taxes;

• it had no control over foreign commerce;

• it could pass laws but could not force the states to comply with them. Thus, the government was dependent on the willingness of the various states to carry out its measures, and often the states refused to cooperate.

• In addition, the articles were virtually impossible to amend, so problems could not be corrected.

These defects provided an insurmountable barrier to effective constitutional government. Several failures illustrated the new governments weakness. These failures included:

• The inability to pay off