The Articles of Confederation was the first constitution in America and served as an important stepping stone into creating the government we now have today. However, it turned out to be a very weak form of government and was often referred to as the "Articles of Confusion". But why didn't this first attempt of government work? It was because each state had a single vote in congress, unanimity was required to revise the article, and it created a state within a state.
One of the first problems that occurred with the Articles of Confederation was the fact that each state only had one state. At first, this seems like a very fair and a very practical decision. However, this one vote per state could not accurately represent the will of the whole nation. For instance, Rhode Island was the smallest state back then and has the smallest population, as compared to Virginia which had a much larger population. With that in mind, it does not seem fair that the will of 68000 people had the same weight as the will of 680000 people. With the system of one vote per state the will of the country could not be accurately represented.
The second problem that the Articles of Confederation faced was that it took a unanimous vote to amend the articles. Having thirteen states that 50 years ago, did not identify themselves as a union or a single entity, unanimously agree on anything was tough. Each state had their own goals to keep in mind and each state was still looking to get ahead of the other states. This made it very difficult for them all to work together and agree on things that needed to be changed.
Lastly, the Articles of Confederation created states within a state. The Articles of Confederation was built to create a weak congress, so that each state didn't feel threatened by the power of a "new parliament". For instance Congress made states pay up their share of taxes on a "voluntary" basis. This basically allowed the state government to keep their tax revenue and hurt the governments authority and funding. This caused the states to assert their on power and influence over congress, essentially making congress useless.
The Articles of Confederation were an important document in American history. It established the first government in American history and was a step to building democracy in the Western World.
Great points Andy, you really do make a persuasive case for why the Articles of Confederation failed. Fortunately, we Americans learned from our mistakes and we can see the changes reflected in America today.
ReplyDelete1. Representation is more proportionally based.
In the electoral system, the states with the largest populations have the most electoral votes (i.e. California has 55 votes to Rhode Island's 4). Also, larger states provide more House of Representatives members.
2. The vote to pass an ordinary bill in Congress no longer has to be unanimous.
3. The central government has more power. The U.S. constitution granted the federal government significantly more power than to the states.
In the end, you sum it up well. The Articles of Confederation was still important in a trial and error sense of way. We learned from its mistakes to make a strong constitution and a sturdy republic.