The Articles of Confederation
The Articles of Confederation did manage to successfully handle the new west erne lands which were acquired by America after the war. Following the war America gag Ned new lands and the government needed a system to divide and govern these new lands. Many of the larger colonies claimed to own these western lands due to their original charters.
B t, in order for the Articles of Confederation to be ratified and to pay off the debt from the war, t he states needed to give up their land to the national government, so that it could be sold in order to pay off the country's debt. The large states did give up their lands to the central govern .NET (Document E). In order to govern these new lands the government needed to make new law s. One of the laws passed was the land ordinance of 1785. This new law divided up the land in the e new western territories into sections which could be sold to individual citizens.
The money received from the people who bought this land helped to pay off the debt. The land ordinance al so promoted republican ideals by providing a school for each of the new territories that we re created. Providing a school in each town allowed all people to be educated which pro meted equality. The northwest ordinance of 1 787 was passed to set up government in these n ewe territories. The Northwest Ordinance stated the requirements for any of the new territories t o become a state. In order for one of the new territories to become a state they were required to r each a given population and create their own constitution.
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The Northwest Ordinance man aged to abolish slavery in the new states as well. Although the Articles of Confederation were e effective when it came to creating new states, they were not very effective at anything else. The Articles of Confederation were highly ineffective when handling commerce e. Under the Articles of Confederation it was difficult for the national government to cool elect taxes from states. When the central government attempted to place a tax on Rhode island d, they refused to pay the tax and claimed the national government did not have the right to tax them (Document A).
It was reported that the national government was only able to collect one fourth of the taxes they requested from the states. The government only received very few taxes from the states because they could not force the states to pay the taxes, and states obviously did not Want to pay taxes that were not required. Not being able to collect taxes had many negate eve consequences for the government. The government was not able to pay soldiers who fought in t he revolutionary war because they didn't receive enough tax money from the states (Document t C).
The government owed money to the soldiers who fought in the revolution but the could not afford to pay them. Financial problems also affected the farmers of Massachusetts. As a response to crop prices decreasing and the amount Of farm foreclosures increasing Daniel Shah yes led Shay's rebellion. Shay's rebellion was when the Massachusetts farmers refused to p ay taxes and resisted foreclosures. After America gained independence they were no longer trade Eng as much with Britain. (Document B) prior to the war Britain had been America's most lucubrate vive trading market.
After the war America's population increased but the value of their ex ports to Britain did not. Generally when the population off nation increases the value of their ex ports increases because they are able to produce more and their population gives them more military power. Under the Articles of Confederation collecting taxes and trading became much h more difficult for America. America was not respected by other nations and struggled with foreign affairs under the Articles of Confederation.
After the war America gained a large amount of Ian d in the west that Britain had previously restricted from them. However the Americans were not able to access all of their new land due to occupied British forts in the west (Document D). The Americans wrote a letter to Britain requesting that the forts be vacated but the British refused. The British refused because they didn't think the Americans were strong enough to remove them Because the Articles of Confederation did not have the power to raise an army it was imp Seibel for America to force Britain out of their land.
America also wished to gain access to the M sipping river in order to trade more efficiently. Unfortunately Spain controlled the Mississippi river and did not allow the Americans to use the river at all. America requested that Spain grant t them access to he river but they refused because they did not believe America was strong en ugh to resist (Document F). Due to the weakness of the Articles of Confederation Spain did not respect America enough to give them access to the river.
America was unable to effect Tivoli deal with foreign affairs because their government was not respected other countries. The Articles of Confederation were unable to control the common people who o W ere given too much power. After the war America struggled to keep both wealthy elites and the common people loyal to the government. John Jay believed that the wealthy c redirectors of the action world begin to lose faith in the new government (document G). A cried tort is someone who lends money to someone else in order to be bayed back in full with inter est..
A debtor is someone who owes money to others. In this situation the creditors are the w lately elites who helped find the war, and the debtor is the US government, who cannot afford to pay back the creditors in full. America cannot pay back its creditors because the Articles of Confederation were unable to collect enough taxes. The wealthy creditors began to lose faith in the government because they did not believe they would ever be bayed back. Losing support f the wealthy was devastating for America because they were needed to fund the nation.
One A intermediaries claimed that the Articles of Confederation should be refused or fixed rather t Han replaced. An analogy was used which said if a building has a problem people do not tear d own the whole building, they fix the building (document H). He argued that the Articles of C infiltration had very few flaws and they could be fixed easily. However this was not the case. The Articles of Confederation had many small problems which weakened its effectiveness. T here was also one assistant problem which was the over Reliance on civic virtue.
The Articles of Confederation c could only be effective if the states and the people demonstrated civic virtue and paired their optional taxes. However human are naturally not virtuous, but more interest De in their own self interests. For this reason the Articles Of Confederation were ineffective at con trolling the people. The Articles of Confederation were unable to control the people because of the e over reliance on civic virtue and the creditors loss of faith in the government. The Articles of Confederation were a highly ineffective first attempt at go verging the new United States.
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