Friday, November 19, 2010

The Articles of Confederation

  1. The Articles of Confederation were articles that made a national government with limited power. 
  2. The key features of the articles were no chief executive, laws needed approval by nine of the thirteen states, congress did not have power to tax citizens, they could only request tax money from states, congress did not have the power to draft an army, no national court system, any changes to the articles must be approved by all thirteen states, congress did not have the power to collect state debts owed to the federal government, and congress did not have the power to settle disputes among states.  
  3. They did want want to make a strong, abusive central government.
  4. The key problems were the lack of leadership from central government, the central government could become too powerful, states often chose not to pay taxes and the federal government didn't have the funds to operate effectively, there was a possibility of not having an army if no one volunteered, issues could become too big for the state courts to handle, it was nearly impossible to make changes to the articles because any one state could stop an amendment that all the other states wanted, they could not have money if the states refused to pay, and disputes among states often could not be resolved.
  5. Congress not being able to tax citizens or draft an army probably caused the most issues because if the states refused then the government would have no money and no military.
  6. There should have been some form of tax and drafting system so it wasn't abusively forced but it was still required.