Important Executive And Judicial Branches example essay topic

The Articles of Confederation was pulling the country apart, due to its ineffectiveness. The United States lacked three important structures. Politically, the Articles of Confederation only had one out of three branches, the judicial branch. Economically, the country was unstable. In foreign affairs, the country couldn't seem to create an effective treaty with other countries. Politically, the weight of the government was unbalanced.

The Legislative branch was the most powerful, while the important executive and judicial branches were left up to the each state. Each state had only one vote in the Congress, which was unfair population wise. Any bill or amendment had to be approved by a unanimous vote. These rules made it impossible to change any parts of the Articles. With no executive branch, the federal government could not enforce laws or taxes that were passed. In a letter from Delegate Joseph Jones of Virginia to George Washington, the government could not collect the money to pay the army's soldiers (document C).

With the judicial branch being left up to every state, there was no direct interpretation of the new laws or constitution, which made things very difficult. Foreign policy definitely had room for improvement. Every enemy stayed fixed on hurting the Unites States and allies soon turned against them. The Spanish cut off use of the Mississippi River.

In the John Jay's Speech to Congress on Negotiations with Spain's Minister Diego de Gardoqui, that action was shown as one of their main objectives (document F). The Spaniards claimed Florida, disregarding the U. S given to them by the British. The French turned on the U. S as well, after being their ally in the revolution, they demanded debts paid and cut off trade. England too took their shot.

7499 They would not repeal the Navigation Laws, wouldn't leave the forts on the northwestern frontier, and continued to arm Indians against the people of the United States. In John Jay's Instructions to the United States Minister to Great Britain, clearly states the inability of the government to enforce the demands. The foreign relations with these other countries embarrassed the U.S. Under the Articles, the government could not enforce laws, collect taxes, or even protect itself from threats. Of all the sections of the Articles, economic stability was the worst.

Since the executive branch was non-existence and couldn't collect taxes, the government had no money to work with. All that was left to do was ask the states for money in which half of the time they were turned down. As shown in a Letter from the Rhode Island Assembly to Congress, Rhode Island refuses Congress's attempt to collect a tariff (document A). Because the states would not give money, the nation's debt rapidly increased with no way of paying it off. The states started having disputes that led to taxes on each other. As the population doubled, the income did not grow along with it (document B).

Many farmers' farms had to closed, which led to Shay's Rebellion. The rebellion showed economic poverty among the citizens. The Articles of Confederation were a weak government that barely kept the Unites States together during the 1780's. Politically, judicial and executive branches were desperately needed and the legislative branch needed to be balanced throughout all the states. Economically, no money could be earned through taxes, national debt was piling up, and the states weren't unifying at all. Other nations were going against and trying to keep us from becoming a major world power.

All of these points lead to the conclusion that the Articles of Confederation were an ineffective government from 1781 to 1789.