The Articles of Confederation – an Effective Government?

The Articles of Confederation were a primitive version of the current Constitution of the United States. Back in the 1700's all thirteen states approved the Articles of Confederation. The Articles served as the only way to keep the states unified. Though they were weak (most people were afraid of having a strong central government) they still helped in modeling the United States Constitution and helped in stabilizing the government. Although this is true, it would be ridiculous to try to prove that the Articles of the Confederation were an effective government, because the Confederation failed to act as an effective government in about every way possible. Most people look for the following characteristics to comprise an efficient government: the power to tax and use taxes, the ability to regulate trade, and the ability to unite its sections under one power. Although there were some strong steps taken in the articles to try and make the United States a better country, The Articles of Confederation lacked most if not all of the characteristics necessary to be an effective government.

The Articles of Confederation provided effective management of expansion for the United States and created an admission process for new states (Doc E). Another successful point was allowing equal votes in Congress for each state and the ruling that most decisions be decided by majority vote. It also gave Congress ample control over guidance of the country.

However, the negatives of the Articles of Confederation outweighed the positives by far. For example, in 1782 when the Confederation attempted to pass a tax on imported goods it was rejected, displaying the overall inability of the Confederation to tax the people and to regulate trade (Document A). Once again in Document C the Confederation's inability to tax the states is shown in which a member of the Confederation must explain to Washington their lack of cooperation from the states to pay off the debt to the army. As well as owing the army, the Confederation also owed the farmers who gave supplies during the war and foreign countries that lent support during the revolution. The Confederation government once again incurred a debt never to be repaid, which is evidence of their inability to tax states. Without the ability to tax, the Confederation's ability to regulate commerce and trade was non-existent.

Not only was the inability to tax a downfall of the Confederation, but also throughout the United States, a great deal of people were unhappy with the