Can u tell me the strengths & weaknesses of the articles of confederation & what it did 4 our country?

Answer 1

The Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union, commonly known as the Articles of Confederation, was the first governing document, or constitution, of the United States of America. It was written in summer 1776 and adopted by the Second Continental Congress on November 15, 1777, after a year of debate. In practice it served as the de facto system of government used by the Congress ("the United States in Congress assembled") until it became de jure by final ratification on March 1, 1781. At that point Congress became Congress of the Confederation. The Articles set the rules for operations of the United States. The confederation was capable of making war, negotiating diplomatic agreements, and resolving issues regarding the western territories, and the ability to print money and borrow inside and outside the US. One major weakness was it lacked taxing authority. A second weakness was one-state, one-vote. The larger states were expected to contribute more but had only one vote. As Benjamin Franklin complained, "Let the smaller Colonies give equal money and men, and then have an equal vote. But if they have an equal vote without bearing equal burthens, a confederation upon such iniquitous principles will never last long."[1] It was initially intended only as a weak national government designed to manage an emergency, and as such, following the conclusion of the War and the onset of new priorities, its many conspicuous inadequacies became glaringly obvious. It was replaced by the much stronger United States Constitution upon its ratification on June 21, 1788.

Even though the Articles of Confederation and the Constitution were established by many of the same people, the two documents were very different. The original five paged Articles contained thirteen articles, a conclusion, and a signatory section.

Establishes the name of the confederation as "The United States of America" and says it is a "perpetual Union."
Explains the rights possessed by any state, and the amount of power to which any state is entitled.
Establishes the United States as a league of states united ". . . for their common defense, the security of their liberties, and their mutual and general welfare, binding themselves to assist each other, against all force offered to, or attacks made upon them . . ."
Establishes freedom of movement–anyone can pass freely between states, excluding "paupers, vagabonds, and fugitives from justice." All people are entitled to the rights established by the state into which he travels. If a crime is committed in one state and the perpetrator flees to another state, he will be extradited to and tried in the state in which the crime was committed.
Allocates one vote in the Congress of the Confederation (United States in Congress Assembled) to each state, which was entitled to a delegation of between two and seven members. Members of Congress were appointed by state legislatures; individuals could not serve more than three out of any six years.
Only the central government is allowed to conduct foreign relations and to declare war.
No two states can form an alliance without permission of Congress.
No states may have navies or standing armies, or engage in war, without permission of Congress (although the state militias are encouraged)
When an army is raised for common defense, colonels and military ranks below colonel will be named by the state legislatures.
Expenditures by the United States will be paid by funds raised by state legislatures, and apportioned to the states based on the real property values of each.
Defines the rights of the central government: to declare war, to set weights and measures (including coins)
Congress serves as a final court for disputes between states.
Defines a Committee of the States to be a government when Congress is not in session.
Requires nine states to approve the admission of a new state into the confederacy; pre-approves Canada, if it applies for membership.
Reaffirms that the Confederation accepts war debt incurred by Congress before the articles.
Declares that the articles are perpetual, and can only be altered by approval of Congress with ratification by all the state legislatures.
Still at war with the Kingdom of Great Britain, the colonists were reluctant to establish another powerful national government. Jealously guarding their new independence, the Continental Congress created a loosely structured unicameral legislature that protected the liberty of the individual states at the expense of the confederation. While calling on Congress to regulate military and monetary affairs, for example, the Articles of Confederation provided no mechanism to ensure states complied with requests for troops or revenue. At times, this left the military in a precarious position, as George Washington wrote in a 1781 letter to the governor of Massachusetts, John Hancock.


The end of the war
The Treaty of Paris (1783), which ended hostilities with Great Britain, languished in Congress for months because state representatives failed to attend sessions of the national legislature. Yet Congress had no power to enforce attendance. Writing to George Clinton in September 1783, George Washington complained:

Congress have come to no determination yet respecting the Peace Establishment, nor am I able to say when they will. I have lately had a conference with a Committee on this subject, and have reiterated my former opinions, but it appears to me that there is not a sufficient representation to discuss Great National points.[3]

Function
The Articles supported the Congressional direction of the Continental Army, and allowed the 13 states to present a unified front when dealing with the European powers. But as a tool to build an effective wartime government, they were largely a failure. Congress could make decisions, but had no power to enforce them. Perhaps an even larger setback was retained in the fact that unanimous approval was required by all 13 states before any modifications could be made to the Articles. This prohibited many necessary changes from taking place until the later ratification of the Constitution.

Perhaps the most important power that Congress was denied was the power of taxation: Congress could only request money from the states. Understandably, the states did not generally comply with the requests in full, leaving the confederation chronically short of funds. The states and the national congress had both incurred debts during the war, and paying congressional debts became a major issue.

Nevertheless, the Continental Congress did take two actions with lasting impact. The Land Ordinance of 1785 established the general land survey and ownership provisions used throughout later American expansion. The Northwest Ordinance of 1787 noted the agreement of the original states to give up western land claims and cleared the way for the entry of new states.

Once the unity demanded by the Revolutionary War became unnecessary, the Continental Army was largely disbanded. A very small national force was maintained to man frontier forts and protect against Indian attacks. Meanwhile, each of the states had an army (or militia), and 11 of them had navies. The wartime promises of bounties and land grants to be paid for service were not being met. In 1783, Washington defused the Newburgh conspiracy, but riots by unpaid Pennsylvania veterans forced the Congress to leave Philadelphia on June 21.


READ FULL ARTICLE ON LINK.

Answer 2

its primary strength was that it accepted the power of the States. Except for a few powers, all States (through their delegates) had to agree on new directions.

Clearly this made it difficult to accomplish some things such as raising taxes. So the need to create changes in it were addressed at the convention that actually wrote the constitution. While the new agreement strengthened centralized functions through the newly created general government, it did so only through specifically delegated powers, leaving the remainder to the States.

Much was made of the need for a Bill of Rights such as existed in Old English Common Law and in various State Constitutions. A agreement was made that “after” the Constitution was ratified, during the first Congress a Bill of Rights would be written and proposed to the States as Amendments to the Constitution.

This Bill of Rights was quite different as compared to other Bills of Rights. That is, it was intended to be a list of rights. In the ratified Bill of Rights the first 8 are exclusionary in that they exclude the “federal” government from doing specific acts. These first 8 Articles of the Bill of Rights were meant only to be applied to the federal government and not to be applied to the States. The final 2 are declarative statements of basic truths.

The key here is that, as in the Articles of Confederation, the body of the Constitution and the subsequent Bill of rights were intended to continue the position of the States as free, Independent, and sovereign, with exceptions only in the delegated powers of the Constitution.

Answer 3

Oh, well I 'll help a litttle here, yet you will have to read them to finish your homework for the complete answer to your question. No central power--each State maintained its own sovereignity.