1. What were the Articles of Confederation?
The Articles of Confederation was a document approved in 1777 that limited central government for the United States.
2. What were the key features of the Articles?
The key features of the Articles were: no Chief Executive, laws needed to be by approved by at least nine of the thirteen states, Congress did not have that power to tax citizens and could only ask for tax money from the states, Congress could not draft an army and could only ask for the states for military services, did not have a national court system, any changes to the Articles had to approved by all thirteen states, Congress did not have the power to collect debts for the states owed to the federal government, and Congress could not settle disputes among the states.
3.Why do you think the Contintential Congress shaped the Articles of Confederation the way they did?
The Contintential Congress shaped the Articles of Confederation the way they did because: they wanted to protect the states' individual power because they had the fear of a strong central government, they did not want a monarch because in Britain the monarch had abused his power, so the government could not go corrupt, feared a central government with a strong army would take away the citizens' rights, feared a central government with a national court system would be unfair to the rights of the states, so all the sates would be on the "same page", feared a strong central government would force the states to pay for things they did not want, and that each state would have their own power, independence, and freedom.
4.What were the major problems created by the Articles of Confederation?
The major problems created by the Articles of Confederation were: the lack of leadership, fights would break out because of disagreements, states often chose not to pay taxes and the federal government could not operate effectively, many people would refuse to go to war and the government would have a weak army,government would be unorganized with no national court system, made changes to the Articles impossible, people would refuse to pay their debts to the federal government, and disputes between the states would often not be solved.
5.Which features do you think caused the most problem? Why?
The features that caused the most problems were most likely: Congress did not have the power to collect debts owed to the federal government because the federal government would be very poor and sooner than later the federal government would be dead, and Congress did not have the power tp draft an army and could only request that the states send men for military services because no man would want to go to war if they did not want to so the federal government would have no army.
6. What changes do you think need to be made to improve the government?
The changes that need to be made to improve the government are that there needs to be a head in government, people should vote as individuals, not as states, to make or change laws, citizens should pay taxes but not a lot, a certain number of men should go to war but not all, a national court system should be set up, any changes to the Articles should be a majority vote by individual and not by states, people should have to pay their debts to government, and Congress should be able to help settle disputes between states.
