What were the weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation?

Almost all of the major limitations of Articles of Confederation were due to the lack of a strong Federal government. Three of the major areas that this arrangement significantly limited were defense, trade, and taxation. The years between 1781 and 1787 were most certainly a period of chaos and conflict.

With the power to levy troops centered in the various states, raising and maintaining a standing army was a tenuous affair until the ratification of the Constitution. This military weakness allowed the British and Spanish to behave aggressively at the borders of the nascent United States. A paramount example of this aggression was the British occupation of the Northwest Territory, something disallowed by the Treaty of 1783.

Trade famously suffered between individual states and with foreign governments. Under the Articles, individual states printed their own coinage and determined their own monetary and trade policies, which made business between the states extraordinarily difficult. Foreign powers were hesitant to sign trade agreements with the United States, as there was no guarantee that all the states would ratify them.

Underlying many of the problems of the young United States was the inability to reliably collect taxes for any large expenditures. The inability to consistently fund the army was perhaps the most hobbling difficulty. The inability of Congress to pay the soldiers after the war led to the states paying the returning soldiers in currency that was often virtually worthless.

The Articles of Confederation produced a chaotic and disjointed collection of states, described by George Washington as joined together by "a rope of sand."

What were three shortcomings of the Articles of Confederation?

There were several shortcomings with the Articles of Confederation. One problem was that it was very difficult to pass a law or to make changes to the Articles of Confederation. In order to pass a law, nine states needed to approve the proposed law, while all thirteen states needed to approve any proposed changes to the Articles of Confederation.

Another issue is that the federal government had very limited power. It didn’t have the power to tax, which made it difficult for the government to raise money. The country had significant financial issues because of this shortcoming. The federal government also couldn’t make people join the military, which made it more difficult to respond when other countries, such as Great Britain and Spain, were interfering with American trade and were encouraging Native American attacks on the United States. It also made it difficult to keep order at home. When Shays’ Rebellion occurred, the state militia ended it, not the American army.

A third issue with the Articles of Confederation was that there were no federal courts. This made it difficult for states to resolve disputes that they had with each other since there was no place for the states to take their disputes in order to get them resolved.

What were three shortcomings of the Articles of Confederation?

The desire of the early political leaders of the United States to assign power to the states was quite evident in the Articles of Confederation.  What these leaders discovered, however, is that granting states unfettered rights was not healthy for the development of a strong republic.  There were many weaknesses in the Articles of Confederation that caused a number of problems for the early republic.

First, the national congress was created to be quite weak.  Each state had only one representative and to pass a law, 9 of the 13 states were required to ratify the law.  To change the Articles of Confederation itself required a unanimous vote.  This caused necessary lawmaking to proceed very slowly. The fact that Congress was hampered in creating policy put the national government at a great disadvantage.

A second error in the Articles of Confederation was that it did not allow for a national army.  The states would raise armies and in times of war, could voluntarily send troops if they desired.  This left the United States open to invasion or other international interference, particularly from Britain and France.  The federal government did not have the right to tax the people to even fund a national defense system.

A third weakness of the Articles of Confederation was the lack of a president or executive branch to enforce the laws of Congress. This further hampered the process of uniting the states.  The Articles of Confederation did not provide for a national court system to interpret laws. The end result of the lack of a strong federal government was the absence of a unity of purpose between the thirteen states.  

What were three shortcomings of the Articles of Confederation?

Our first plan of government was called the Articles of Confederation. It had several weaknesses. One of the weaknesses was that the federal government was designed to be a weak one. We were afraid of having a strong federal government because of our experiences while colonies of Great Britain. We didn’t want a leader or the government to have too much power so various restrictions were put in place. This led to significant issues for our country.

Another problem was financial. Because Congress couldn’t tax, it was difficult for the government to raise money. As a result, we had a hard time paying our debts to other countries. There also was no unified currency. Each state and the federal government printed money. This led to inflation, and people had a hard time trusting any of the paper money that was issued.

A third problem was dealing with foreign affairs. Other countries were pushing us around. Since we couldn’t make people join the military, it was hard to maintain an army to respond to these problems. Also, we didn’t have much money to pay soldiers and get equipment. Thus, we were limited in how we could respond to other countries when they interfered with our trade or encouraged Native Americans to attack us.

Because we couldn’t require people to join the army, it also led to issues at home. When farmers in western Massachusetts revolted in Shays’ rebellion, the federal government didn’t step in to end the rebellion. Because of these problems, a new plan of government was needed. This led to the writing of the Constitution.

What were three shortcomings of the Articles of Confederation?

One difficulty was a major fiscal crisis confronting the new nation. Both the states and the national government had enormous debts from the Revolutionary War. The problem was that under the Articles of Confederation, the national government essentially lacked the power to tax. Therefore it could not raise enough money to service the national debt, and could not inspire much confidence among potential creditors among the nations of Europe. 

Another problem was the lack of unity in dealing with foreign affairs. The British were quick to exploit this weakness by maintaining forts on the American frontier in contravention of the Treaty of Paris that had ended the Revolutionary War. Spanish influence among Western settlers was also seen as a problem, and farmers who moved west of the Appalachian worried that they couldn't ship their produce down the Mississippi River, as Spain controlled the city of New Orleans. There was little the national government, which couldn't really raise an army, and which totally lacked diplomatic clout, could do about it.

Finally, in the absence of a central authority with the sole power to regulate interstate commerce, many of the states levied tariffs on each other's goods, a potentially ruinous development. This created enormous animosity between many of the states, and was, in fact, was one of the reasons that the first meetings of state delegates was called at Annapolis, Maryland one year before the Philadelphia Convention. 

What major problem did the Articles of Confederation have?

The major problem with the plan of government created by the Articles of Confederation was the lack of power that was given to the federal government.  The colonists were afraid of creating a government that had too much power because of the issues they had with the British government. Thus, the government was unable to levy taxes, couldn’t require people to join the military, and had no unified currency. As a result, many problems occurred.

During the time the Articles of Confederation was our plan of government, we had serious economic problems. Because there was no unified currency, people lost confidence in our money system.  Some people wouldn’t accept the paper currency because both the state government and the federal government issued it. As a result, inflation occurred. We also went into debt, and the federal government was limited in how it could respond to this issue.

We had a difficult time dealing with issues caused by the actions of foreign governments. Our military was weak and small. The federal government couldn’t require people to join the military. As a result, other countries pushed us around.

Since the federal government had so little power, it caused many problems for our new country. Eventually, people realized changes were needed, and the Constitution was written to replace the Articles of Confederation.

What are the strengths and weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation and the Constitution?

First of all, let's look at the strengths of the Articles of Confederation:

• This system of government helped the American colonists defeat the British in the Revolutionary War. The Treaty of Paris that ended the War was also negotiated under the Articles of Confederation.

• Because they formed such a loose, decentralized system, the Articles of Confederation were more in keeping with the principles of radical republicanism. As ultimate sovereignty resided with the states, this made it more difficult to re-establish what the colonists regarded as the tyranny of British rule.

Now, the weaknesses:

• After the War, the United States needed to speak with one voice on the international stage. But without a strong, centralized government, it was simply impossible, making it especially difficult to resolve territorial disputes with other nations.

• As ultimate sovereignty resided with the states, Congress had to rely on state authorities to deal with serious domestic disturbances. If they didn't or couldn't, there was very little that Congress could do about it.

• The United States needed to pay off its crippling war debts. But without a central bank, it was unable to do so.

The weaknesses of the Constitution:

• It placed too much power in the hands of a strong, centralized government. This was regarded by many as a betrayal of the Declaration of Independence's republican spirit.

• It infringed states' rights. The Revolution had been fought over the liberty of the states to determine their own affairs. By taking away that liberty, the Constitution, it was argued, had simply replaced one form of tyranny with another.

The strengths of the Constitution:

• With a strong federal government at long last, the United States could be a major player in international affairs, speaking with one voice instead of thirteen separate ones.

• Now able to pay its debts, the United States could be taken seriously as an economic partner. This led to increased trade and commerce, greatly improving the state of the country's shattered post-war economy.

• The federal government could now be used to suppress potentially dangerous outbreaks of political disorder and rebellion, wherever they took place. This was a much more effective method of dealing with domestic disturbances than relying on the individual states.

What were the strengths and weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation?

There were strengths and weaknesses with the plan of government created by the Articles of Confederation. The Articles of Confederation did a good job in organizing western lands and in selling them. The Land Ordinance of 1785 accomplished this. The Northwest Ordinance of 1787 also established the process a territory would follow to eventually become a state. The plan of government created by the Articles of Confederation helped get the United States through the difficult early years of the United States becoming a country.

There were problems with the plan of government created by the Articles of Confederation. The federal government that was created was a weak one. It could not levy taxes or force people to join the military. As a result, the new government faced significant financial problems. It also made it difficult for the government to respond to countries, such as Spain and Great Britain, who interfered with trade and encouraged the Native Americans to attack the United States. It also was difficult to pass a law or change the Articles of Confederation. Nine states needed to vote for a proposed law, and thirteen states needed to agree to change the Articles of Confederation. Finally, since there were no courts, states had no place to resolve disputes with each other.

The plan of government created by the Articles of Confederation had strengths and weaknesses.

What are the Articles of Confederation and its weaknesses? How were these weaknesses addressed?

The Articles of Confederation was our first plan of government. It was created after the Revolutionary War so we could govern ourselves. There were many weaknesses in this plan.

Because the colonists were so worried about having a strong government or a strong leader, they created a weak federal government. The government created by the Articles of Confederation was not able to levy taxes. This made it difficult for the government to pay its debts. The government couldn’t force people to join the military. This made it hard to deal with countries like Spain and Great Britain that were pushing us around. There was no place for states to resolve their disputes because there was no court system. The government even had trouble keeping order at home. This was clearly seen when Shays’ Rebellion occurred.

Eventually, people realized that we needed a new plan of government. A meeting was held in Philadelphia in 1787 to work on developing this new plan. As a result of this meeting, the Constitution was created. The federal government had more power. For example, the federal government could levy taxes. A court system was also created. However, there were controls put in place to limit this power. Each branch could control the others, and no branch could do everything by itself.

The Constitution tried to resolve some of the issues that existed because the government created by the Articles of Confederation was too weak.

What were the drawbacks of the Articles of Confederation?

When the American colonies declared their independence from Britain in 1776, they drafted the Articles of Confederation' to bind themselves together as unified country. These Articles, however, came with some drawbacks. For a start, they created a federal government which was subservient to the state legislatures. The Articles gave Congress certain powers, over foreign over policy, finance and internal disputes, but it was the individual states who really had the final say. On the issue of defense, for instance, Congress could theoretically declare war and raise an army but it had no way of forcing states to provide a quota of soldiers or pay for the necessary arms and equipment - should a state refuse.

The Articles didn't enable the federal government to collect taxes, either, and this was another major problem. Within a few years, Congress was plagued by debt and the states reacted by printing their own money. They used this to pay off veteran soldiers and a number of other creditors but the money was essentially worthless because the national economy was in such a poor state.  

What were some weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation and what effect did they have on the new country?

The main weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation were all things that made it so that the central government was very weak and the state governments were very strong.  These problems affected the new United States by making it weaker economically, militarily, and politically.  Here is a list of some of the problems:

•         Congress could not impose taxes.  It had to ask the states to voluntarily donate money.  This made it hard to have a strong military because there wasn’t a guaranteed source of money to pay for it.
•         Congress could not regulate trade with foreign countries or between the states.  This meant that states could try to restrict trade with one another.  This made the US economy smaller and more fragmented, preventing the country from getting richer.
•         There was no executive branch.  This meant that there was no strong leadership to keep the country together politically (or to push for solutions in times of troubles).
•         Congress could not coin its own money.  This meant that the various states had to coin their own, making it hard to have trade between the various states.  This, too, made the economy smaller and more fragmented.
•         9 of the 13 states had to agree (one vote per state) to pass anything in Congress.  This made it hard for the government to do anything, thus weakening the country politically.

All of these problems weakened the new United States, helping to convince many people of the need for a new constitution.