Articles+of+Confederation

Identify 6 significant weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation and explain/describe why these created a problem.

MATTHEW DO AND JANELLE CORPUZ :)

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Under the Articles of Confederation, one of the things Congress loss was the ability to tax states. Because of this, they had to request money from states, a decision that they can either decline or accept. When states refused to give money (which was often done), Congress became desperate and eventually sold off their Western lands to speculators. These lands were sold for less then they were worth and some of the money was worthless since the states had different forms of money.
 * Taxation upon states.**

Another power Congress lacked was the ability to regulate commerce. This was a downside to the states because it prevented the development for a stronger national economy and a relationship of foreign trade. Also, because of this power being taken away by Congress, most of the power to handle trade belonged to the states.
 * Congress can't regulate commerce.**

Because everything was being controlled under the states government (not Congress) states had and carried their own money. States also began to print their own currency. With this, businesses among the different states became harder to deal with because they money wasn't uniform throughout the country. This was hard for Congress in regards to borrowing money.
 * States have their own money.**

**Lack of National Representation:** The Articles of Confederation had a major flaw that basically only allowed one house to have power in the United States. There wasn't a president or even a national court. So the national government was basically unable to interfere or have power over the people. The house that did have power was with the state legislatures. Basically any states were able to send at least two or even seven delegates to meetings to decide laws and rules. This just created more of a clash of powers between states. No one agreed upon anything and the national government were unable to do anything about it because of the lack of power that they had within the United States.

**Ratification:** Another flaw about the Articles of Confederation was that its voting rights and ratification was extremely difficult. Its rule was that all the states had to come to a unanimous decision and if not, the Articles of Confederation was unable to do anything about it. Without everyone consent and agreement upon the certain policies, many laws and rules were unable to become ratified. Even the ratification of the Articles of Confederation was difficult. Many states didn't agree upon the Articles and therefore prolonged the ratification of the Articles. Because of these voting flaws, it basically didn't allow the national government to do anything or interfere if all the states didn't agree upon a certain law or right.

**States Power over National Government:** The Articles of Confederation basically made the National Government useless overall. They had no power over the states and the states decided upon the rights and laws. They regulated their own money, had their own power, and also most importantly created their own rules. It shows how the Articles favored over the states rights over any type of national rule. This probably happened due to the fact that those who created the Articles feared for division because they didn't want the national government to overpower all states' rights. Therefore, this was a major weakness in the Articles of Confederation.