The Articles of Confederation is the first national constitution created for the soon-to-be independent colonies. The Articles provided a very loose structure for the national government and put most of the power in that of the state governments. The Federal government could not levy taxes directly or control trade. This proved to be problematic after the Revolutionary War was over when the nation was left in a large amount of debt. The states retained their powers over "sovereignty, freedom, and independence" along with any powers not "expressly delegated" to the national government. Most Americans were in favor of this at the time because they did not want to see a strong, centralized national government turn into the same tyrannical authority they had been under with Great Britain.
While the national government was limited in most of its power, it could still declare war, borrow and print money and receive funds from states to benefit the nation. This made it possible for there to be some form of tax, but if states did not want to they did not have to contribute to the national government fund.
Could the United States have succeeded and continued to thrive under the power of the Articles of Confederation, or was revision necessary in order to maintain a stronger balance between the federal and state governments?
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11 comments:
I don't think that it would have been possible for the United States to succeeded and thrive under the power of the Articles of Confederation. The states had their own agenda and I don't think that the states would have given enough money to support a functional national government.
I definitely think that a revision was in order. The Articles of Confederation stated that there was no taxes which ultimately led to no power and no army. The United States could have not lasted on just the Articles of Confederation.
The revisions had to occur. Taxes are needed for funding a national government and military, the revisions had to happen. Having no taxes sounds like a lovely idea, but without the revisions, the Revolutionary victory wouldn't have lasted long. The US would have been too easily challenged again.
The Articles of Confederation were a great start to a successful government. I don't think that they would have carried the country up to today. The Constitution was definitely needed.
It was definately necessary for the Articles of Condederation to be revised. Giving each state the ability to refuse giving taxes to government funds would separate the nation and take away from unity. Also without taxes, there would not be a functional national government. Without this revision this nation would not be the same today.
The colonies could not have succeeded under the articles of confederation. They needed a strong central government to control the states, otherwise it would have been each state for itself which would have caused problems. they needed the power to tax and control the states but allow freedoms and not be a tyranny, the constitution provided this.
I do not think that we could have survived under the Articles of Confederation because no one can ever agree unanimously to ratify anything. Nothing would ever get done.
The revisions were in order. The new government needed money and better structure. The articles made it very dificult for laws and taxes to be passed. It was more democratic but when the changes were made the influence of a republic/democracy was evident.
I agree that the Article needed to be revised. I think it was a good idea at the time but eventually we needed something that was more structured for the needs of our young country.
The colonies could not have succeeded under the Articles of Confederation alone. It was a great start to the government we have today. Things would not have worked if you let each state have the ability to give taxes to government funds. Some revisons were needed and that is exactly what the Constitution did. The Constitution revised the parts of the Articles of Confederation that needed to be revised to make our nation and government how it is today.
The Articles of Conferderation would not have worked in America because no one can agree on one thing. And under the articles the national goverment wouldnt have any funds from taxation.
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