A
Feature
No Chief
Executive
Why Included
Possible Problems
Didn’t want another Lack of Leadership from
central gov’t. No single
powerful executive
like King George III. leader for the gov’t
B
Laws needed
Wanted to protect
approval by 9 of individual states’
13 states
power. Fear of strong
central gov’t
C
Congress didn’t
have power to tax
citizens. It could
only request $$
from states
D
Congress didn’t
have the power to
draft an army. It
could only request
states to send men
for military services
Difficult to get 9 states to
agree to new laws.
Central gov’t unable to
do very much
State often chose not to
Fear of being unfairly
taxed by the central
pay taxes, and the federal
gov’t., as they had been gov’t didn’t have the $$ to
under British rule
operate effectively
Fear of a central gov’t
with a strong army
that might take away
citizens’ rights
Left the country
vulnerable without a
dependable military
force
E
Feature
No national
court system
F
Any changes
needed approval
by all 13 states
Wanted to make sure
States had a strong
Say in the shaping of
Gov’t
Nearly impossible to make
changes to Articles. Any one
state could stop an amendment
that all other states wanted
Congress did not
have the power to
collect state debts
owed to the federal
gov’t
Fear of strong central
gov’t that could force
states to pay for things
they didn’t want
Federal gov’t often didn’t
Have the funds to operate
effectively
Congress didn’t
have the power
to settle disputes
among states
Disputes among states
Wanted states to have often could not be
The ultimate authority resolved. Created disunity
In resolving disputes among the states
G
H
Why Included
Possible Problems
Fear of a central gov’t Disputes between states
Often could not be
with a court system
Settled fairly
that might be unfair
to the rights of states
• Under the Articles of Confederation there
was a WEAK national government and the
STATES held all the power.