Articles of Confederation - Structure
United States Accomplishments Under
the Articles of Confederation
•Won a Revolutionary War
•Treaty of Paris 1783
•Land Ordinance of 1785
•Northwest Ordinance 1787
•Kept the United States together
Land Ordinance of 1785
Northwest Ordinance – 1787
Articles of Confederation
State Government Powers
• Power to tax
• Power to create a state court
system
• Power to enforce laws passed by
Congress
• All powers not delegated to the
national government
Articles of Confederation
National Government Powers
• Powers are intentionally LIMITED
• Declare and Wage War
• Make Treaties
• Settle Disputes between States
• Petition or Request Money from
the States
• Direct the Operations of Land and
Naval Forces
Weaknesses in the Articles of Confederation
Weakness
Result
• Congress could not
directly tax the people.
• Congress had to rely on
the states to collect and
forward taxes, which the
states were reluctant to
do. The central
government was always
short of money.
• Congress had no power
to enforce its laws.
• The central government
depended on the states
to enforce its laws, which
they rarely did.
Weaknesses in the Articles of Confederation
Weakness
Result
• Congress could not force
the states to provide
military troops.
• Congress could not draft
soldiers to form a
standing army.
• Congress could not
regulate commerce
(trade) between the
states or with other
nations
• Each state was free to
set up its own system of
taxes on goods imported
from other states.
Economic quarrels
among the states broke
out. Trading with other
nations was difficult.
Weaknesses in the Articles of Confederation
Weakness
Result
• Congress could enter
into treaties but could
not enforce its
agreements or control
foreign relations
• The states were not
forced to respect
treaties. Many states
entered into treaties
independent of Congress
• Congress could not issue
paper money.
• No national currency
• Each state issued its own
paper money; currencies
among the states
differed tremendously in
value.
Weaknesses in the Articles of Confederation
Weakness
Result
• One vote per state
regardless of population.
• People in more populous
states were not as
directly represented.
• Nine states (2/3 of the
states) had to approve
any law before it was
enacted.
• Laws were difficult to
enact.
• Any amendment to the
Articles required the
consent of all 13 states.
• It was almost impossible
to change the powers of
the central government.
Weaknesses in the Articles of Confederation
Weakness
Result
• There was no national
judicial system.
• Most disputes among
the states could not be
settled by the national
government.
• There was no executive
branch.
• Coordinating the work of
the central government
was almost impossible.
Was the Revolution a Political Revolution?
• This is difficult to determine
until one looks at the full
impact of the new
Constitution.
• Political freedom is clearly
extended to land-owning
white males.
The Revolution as a Social Movement
Tindall and Shi
• WOMEN
• Gained SOME new OPPORTUNITIES outside
of the domestic sphere
• In War (camp followers, couriers, supplies)
• Legal status did not change much
• In the 1776 Constitution of New Jersey
women briefly had voting rights until denied
in the early 1800s
The Revolution as a Social Movement
Tindall and Shi
• Native Americans
• United States made alliances with Native
Americans
• However, the turmoil of war was often used
to displace and destroy Native Americans
• After the war, the United States did not tend
honor pledges made to Native Americans
The Revolution as a Social Movement
Tindall and Shi
• Freedom of Religion
• Generally see a clear move away from state
supported religion
• Downfall of Anglican Church
• Survived in the new Episcopal Church
• 1776 Virginia Declaration of Rights included
the “Free Exercise of Religion”
The Revolution as a Social Movement
J. Franklin Jameson
VOCABULARY
• manumission – the act of a slave owner
freeing his or her slave
• entail – a settlement of the inheritance of property
over a number of generations so that it remains
within a family or other group.
• primogeniture – the right of succession belonging to
the firstborn child, especially the feudal rule by which
the whole real estate of an intestate passed to the
eldest son
• quit-rent – tax or land tax on freehold or leased land
by a higher landowning authority
The Revolution as a Social Movement
Tindall and Shi
• Retribution against
Loyalists
• In the aftermath of the
Revolution, Loyalists,
or “Tories,” sought
refuge from Patriot
reprisals in the
Caribbean and
Canada.
• Here, Patriots are
depicted as brutal
“savages,” hanging and
scalping Tories with
abandon.
The Revolution as a Social Movement
Tindal and Shi
•Slavery
• Many runaway slaves evacuated to Canada
• The British promise of freeing slaves who
would fight with them had outraged many
southern colonists who may have remained
Loyalists or neutral
The Revolution as a Social Movement
J. Franklin Jameson
• Slavery
• Massachusetts constitution stated that “all
men are born free and equal” leading their
Superior Court to rule that slavery was
abolished
• Pennsylvania chose gradual abolition in 1780
• Connecticut and Rhode Island also chose
gradual abolition in 1784
• Virginia made MANUMISSION legal in 1782
The Revolution as a Social Movement
J. Franklin Jameson
• Land Access / Ownership
• States were surprisingly similar in the post
Revolutionary changes regarding land laws
• At the start of the Revolution, entails and
primogeniture were common
• QUIT-RENTS were mostly abolished right
away
• 10 years after the start of the Revolution, all
but two states had abolished ENTAILS
• 15 years after the start of the Revolution, all
states had abolished PRIMOGENITURE
Shaping a Federal Government
By the late 1780s, many Americans had
become dissatisfied with the weaknesses of
the Confederations. The Confederation
government was hampered by
a. Factions and instability
b. An inability to deal with economic
problems
c. The lack of power to deal with social
uprisings
d. Its failure to deal quickly with Shays’s
Rebellion
e. All of the answers above
Shaping a Federal Government
By the late 1780s, many Americans had
become dissatisfied with the weaknesses of
the Confederations. The Confederation
government was hampered by
e. All of the answers above
Shaping a Federal Government
The Land Ordinances of 1785 and 1787, which
created the Northwest Territory, also
a. Established a procedure for surveying and
selling western lands
b. Specified a process by which a territory
could become a state once it had enough
population
c. Abolished slavery in the territories north
of the Ohio River
d. Proved highly favorable to land
speculators
e. All of the answers above
Shaping a Federal Government
The Land Ordinances of 1785 and 1787,
which created the Northwest Territory, also
e. All of the answers above
Shays’ Rebellion
Shays and his
followers
demanded a more
flexible monetary
policy and the
right to postpone
paying taxes until
the postwar
agricultural
depression lifted.
Shaping a Federal Government
When George Washington said “There are
combustibles in every State which a spark might
set fire to. I feel infinitely more than I can express
for the disorders which have arisen,” he was
referring to
a. The Whiskey Rebellion
b. Food riots in New York and Philadelphia
c. Shays’ Rebellion
d. Riots by army veterans demanding back pay
e. The Newburgh Conspiracy
Shaping a Federal Government
When George Washington said “There are
combustibles in every State which a spark might
set fire to. I feel infinitely more than I can express
for the disorders which have arisen,” he was
referring to
c. Shays’ Rebellion
Shaping a Federal Government
When Thomas Jefferson said, “I hold that a
little rebellion, now and then, is a good
thing, and as necessary in the political
world as storms in the physical,” he was
referring to
a. The American Revolution
b. Shays’ Rebellion
c. The Constitutional Convention
d. The Whiskey Rebellion
e. The Newburgh Conspiracy
Shaping a Federal Government
When Thomas Jefferson said, “I hold that a
little rebellion, now and then, is a good
thing, and as necessary in the political
world as storms in the physical,” he was
referring to
b. Shays’ Rebellion