Why articles of confederation were replaced

But almost soon as the Articles took effect, problems with this approach became apparent. The purpose of the Articles of Confederation was to create a confederation of states whereby each state retained "its sovereignty, freedom, and independence, and every power, jurisdiction, and right Every state was as independent as possible within the central government of the United States, which was only responsible for the common defense, the security of liberties, and the general welfare.

Congress could make treaties with foreign nations, declare war, maintain an army and navy, establish a postal service, manage Indigenous affairs , and coin money.

But Congress could not levy taxes or regulate commerce. Because of widespread fear of a strong central government at the time they were written and strong loyalties among Americans to their own state as opposed to any national government during the American Revolution, the Articles of Confederation purposely kept the national government as weak as possible and the states as independent as possible.

However, this led to many of the problems that became apparent once the Articles took effect. Despite their significant weaknesses, under the Articles of Confederation the new United States won the American Revolution against the British and secured its independence; successfully negotiated an end to the Revolutionary War with the Treaty of Paris in ; and established the national departments of foreign affairs, war, marine, and treasury.

The Continental Congress also made a treaty with France in , after the Articles of Confederation had been adopted by the Congress but before they had been ratified by all the states.

The weaknesses of the Articles would quickly lead to problems that the Founding Fathers realized would not be fixable under the current form of government. Many of these issues were brought up during the Annapolis convention of These included:. Under the Articles of Confederation, each state viewed its own sovereignty and power as paramount to the national good.

This led to frequent arguments between the states. In addition, the states would not willingly give money to financially support the national government. The national government was powerless to enforce any acts that Congress passed.

Further, some states began to make separate agreements with foreign governments. Almost every state had its own military, called a militia.

Each state printed its own money. This, along with issues with trade, meant that there was no stable national economy. In , Shays' Rebellion occurred in western Massachusetts as a protest against rising debt and economic chaos. However, the national government was unable to gather a combined military force among the states to help put down the rebellion, making clear a serious weakness in the structure of the Articles. As the economic and military weaknesses became apparent, especially after Shays' Rebellion, Americans began asking for changes to the Articles.

Their hope was to create a stronger national government. The Articles of Confederation were replaced by the US Constitution because the federal government had almost no power. The Articles of Confederation was replaced by the Constitution so that the U.

By the end of the s, it was evident that the country needed a stronger central government to address many political and economic issues. The Articles were based on a confederation. Why were the Articles of Confederation replaced with the Constitution? The Articles of Confederation did not give strong power to the federal government. The central government and the states each had separate money, which made trade between the states, and other countries, extremely difficult. The central government and the states owed huge debts to European countries and investors.

Without the power to tax, and with no power to make trade between the states and other countries viable, the United States was in an economic mess by It had to rely on a state militia sponsored by private Boston business people. With no money, the central government couldn't act to protect the "perpetual union. These events alarmed Founders like George Washington, James Madison and Alexander Hamilton to the point where delegates from five states met at Annapolis, Maryland in September to discuss changing the Articles of Confederation.

The group included Madison, Hamilton and John Dickinson, and it recommended that a meeting of all 13 states be held the following May in Philadelphia. The Confederation Congress agreed and the Constitutional Convention of effectively ended the era of the Articles of Confederation. Toggle navigation. Sign up for our email newsletter.