Articles of Confederation

1. Articles of Confederation

2. Signed on November 15, 1777 • Established firm league of friendship • Sovereignty • Ratification • Delaware first state • Maryland last state • Declared effective

3. Government Structure • Congress was the sole body created • Unicameral • Delegates chosen yearly • Each state had one vote • No executive or judicial branch • President picked each year by congress. • Presiding officer not president of the United States

4. Powers of Congress • Make war and peace • Send and receive ambassadors • Make treaties • Borrow money • Set up a money system • Establish post offices • Build a navy and army • Standards of weights and measures • Settle disputes among states

5. State Obligations • Pledged to obey the articles and Congress • Provide troops and funds when requested • Treat citizens of other states fairly and equally. • Surrender fugitives to each other • Submit their disputes to Congress • Allow open travel and trade between and among states. • States primarily responsible for protecting life and property.

6. Weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation • One vote for each state, regardless of size • Congress powerless to lay and collect taxes to duties. • Congress powerless to regulate foreign and interstate commerce. • No executive to enforce the acts of Congress.

7. Weaknesses (contd.) • No national court system • Amendment only with consent of all states. • Not one amendment passed under this system. • A 9/13 majority required to pass all laws. • Articles only a “firm league of friendship.”

8. The Critical Period, the 1700’s • Revolutionary war ends in 1781. • Central government unable to act • States bickered • Refused to support central government • Several made agreements with foreign governments • Most organized their own military forces. • George Washington said, “We are one nation today and 13 tomorrow. Who will treat with us on such terms.”

9. State taxed one another • Printed their own money • Economic chaos spread throughout the colonies.

10. Shays Rebellion • Caused by bad economic conditions • Farmers began to lose land and their possessions. • Daniel Shay led uprising • Unsuccessful attack on Springfield arsenal • Massachusetts eases laws on debtors

11. Was Shay a Traitor? • Did he deserve to get a pardon? • What was the significance of Shay’s rebellion? • Why would some of Shay’s contemporaries see the rebellion as an extension to War of Independence?

12. Showed weakness of Nations Government under the Articles of Confederation.

13. Rebellion against a government who was taxing people unfairly and using arbitrary power, just as the colonists had rebelled against British abuses.

14. A Need for a Stronger Government • Government was unstable • Large property owners, merchants, traders and creditors started the movement for change • Washington invites representatives from Maryland and Virginia to Mt. Vernon. • Virginia calls for all states to meet to make a federal plan to regulate commerce.

15. Joint meeting opened in Annapolis. • Only five of 13 states attended. • The convention called for a constitution of the federal government. • February 21, 1787 Congress called on all states to send delegates. • This meeting became the Constitutional Convention.

16. Under the Articles of Confederation was congress Unicameral of Bicameral?

17. Unicameral

18. How were representatives chosen to serve Congress?

19. Chosen yearly from each state what ever method they used.

20. Did the states honor the Articles of confederation?

21. No

22. How do you know that the states failed to support the central government?

23. They made alliances with foreign powers • Created their own money.

24. What did Washington fear?

25. A foreign country will see each state as sovereign and deal with them instead of Congress.

26. Do you agree or disagree?