A
system of government used
in the United States from 1781
to 1788
A
confederation is a loose
association of states for
defensive purposes
Rules the state, not the citizens within the
states
 Powers: Make treaties, declare war,
borrow money
 One house legislature, each with one
vote
 No executive branch to enforce laws
 No judicial branch to settle disputes
 High majority to pass laws (9 out of 13)

No money and no power to get it
 No power to coin money
 No power over state governments or
their citizens
 Unenforceable trade agreements
 Unable to regulate competition
between states
 No way to protect the people’s rights

Wealthy people loaned the government
money to fight the war. They wanted
these loans to be repaid.
 Massachusetts raised taxes to pay.
 Farmers were hit hard by these taxes.
The taxes reminded them of British taxes
that helped cause the Revolution.

Daniel Shays led a rebellion that made it
impossible for tax-collectors to do their
jobs.
 Daniel Shays and his small army went to
an arsenal.
 Congress had no money to raise an
army. The state gathered an army.
 Shays was arrested and sentenced to
death but appealed the sentence and
eventually regained his freedom.

Citizens learned they could defy the
government when it acted against the
people’s wishes.
 Prominent Americans saw that steps had
to be taken to strengthen the national
government and avoid civil unrest.
 May 1787 the Continental Congress met
in Philadelphia to decide what had to
be done with the government.

The students will work in groups to
brainstorm ideas for solving some of the
problems caused by the Articles of
Confederation.
 Ideas will be recorded on a T-chart.
 Students will then create hypotheses
about the ease or difficulty of creating
solutions to these problems and the
thought processes involved.
