Congress Under The Articles Of Confederation example essay topic

Following the Declaration of Independence, and the birth of the United States of America, one of the most important task facing the new nation was setting up a constitution - a set of laws to govern the 13 states. On June 20, 1776, Congress appointed a committee, led by a man named John Dickinson; he prepared the first draft of the Articles of Confederation. After much debate and discussion, the Articles, the nation's first constitution came into effect in 1777. These laws helped to keep our country independent from collapse, however; it failed to unite the entire nation as a whole. The articles, which where not ratified until March 1781, required approval by all of the states, this was not an easy task. Dispute over land West of the Appalachian Mountains and the announcement that Maryland assembly would not ratify until all Western states had been given to Congress created a huge delay in the ratification of the Articles.

What the Articles provided was a "firm league of friendship" in which each of the 13 states expressly held "its sovereignty, freedom, and independence". The People of each state had equal privileges and rights, and freedom of movement was guarantee. Congress was charged with responsibility for conducting foreign relations, declaring war or peace, maintaining an army and navy, settling boundary disputes, administer relations with Indians living within state boundaries, establishing and maintaining a postal service, and various lesser functions. Some of these responsibilities where shared among states, and in one way or another Congress was dependent upon the cooperation of the states for carrying out any of them.

At this time, the government consisted of only one branch - Congress. This did not provide the United States of America with the support necessary to run a country efficiently. From the on-set, the Articles where very weak and lacked the necessary powers needed to run the new country effectively. The Articles of Confederation proved to be a weak form of government for the colonies because they provided little opportunity for the Congress to establish its authority over the states or individual citizens. The Articles limitations consisted firstly of lacking an executive role, for no president was in charge to help enforce laws. Secondly, there was no judicial system or court system to help settle disputes.

Third, the Articles could not regulate trade among the states, therefore, the states set-up their own rules and could tax each other. Since Congress lacked the power to control trading, its power to conduct foreign relations was not necessary, for most treaties except those of peace were concerned mainly with trade. Fourth, the Articles did not give congress power to impose taxes. States would tax their own citizens to raise money for their expenses.

In turn, they gave the proceeds over to Congress, who was lacking money. Finally, representation became an issue because each state, regardless of population had only one vote; many felt this was unfair to larger states. Why did the people set up this form of weak government? For a simple reason, they had a terrible experience with the British King and his oppressive laws. The colonists had come to distrust a government that was too strong and too powerful. They associated tyranny with too much power.

They were therefore, afraid of setting up a strong central government that might turn around and pass oppressive laws just as the British King had done. Similarly, they were afraid of having a president that one day might become another King George. For these reasons, the powers given to Congress under the Articles of Confederation were very limited. Despite the limitations of the Articles of Confederation, it helped in sparking the people of the colonies to political action as never before, and created a sense of national purpose and unified the country with a just cause.

With limits imposed on the Congress by the Articles, the states set to work creating their own written constitutions and political assemblies. Two of their biggest concerns where issues of religious freedom and taxation. All of this transformed politics and inspired the views of government, freedom, democracy and our current political system of today. The American People, Nash.