The Articles of Confederation Failed to Provide the Unitedstates with an Effective Government

From 1781 to 1789, the Articles of Confederation failed to provide the UnitedStates with an effective government. Amongst its many weaknesses was the single branchgovernment, unicamel, and the inability of Congress to tax the states or declare war.During the 1780s, the United States witnessed several acquisitive, individualstates expand their borders. According to a map of western lands ceded by the states, eachstate claimed new lands on their own, but with little regard to the boundaries of other states. Under the unicamel government provided by the Articles of Confederation, therewas simply Congress, the legislative branch which had very limited powers which wereinsufficient to control a nation. The controversial expansions resulted in massive disputesover boundaries between the states, and these arguments were not easily resolved due tothe lack of judicial or executive branch. Without a central court to work out nationalquarrels and determine the boundaries of a state, the central government that consisted of solely Congress could only plead for the states to make compromises about their westernclaims. Unsurprisingly, the suggestions of Congress did little to persuade the states togive up their important lands. John Jay summed up the inefficiency of this system of begging provided by the Articles of Confederation in a letter to George Washington in1786 where he stated, “Our affairs seem to lead to some crisis, some revolution. . .”Frustrated about the lack of productivity in the new country, along with others, Jayforesaw a rebellion of some kind that would drastically alter the execution of America.Considering that unfair taxation played a large role in separating the coloniesfrom Britain, it was expected that Congress had not been granted the power to tax. Themoney that could be used to benefit the entire nation came from voluntary donations. Naturally, this method did little to profit the National Treasury which desperately neededto pay back all war debts. After a recommendation from Congress the states donatemoney, the Rhode Island Assembly wrote a letter informative of the views of many anti-federalist states to Congress. The assembly was convinced that by giving Congressmoney to fund their country, “they would become independent of their constituents.” As aresult of the similar attitudes of Rhode Island and other states towards donating money,the funds available to pay off the debts of the war were

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