Articles of Confederation (Overview)

The members of the Second Continental Congress knew that their July 1776 Declaration of Independence would not by itself make a new nation. Thus, the delegates immediately tackled the challenge of forming a functioning government. The Articles of Confederation, an agreement outlining the powers of the national government, resultedbut not without many difficulties. Conflicts and Commitments Though they named their new nation the United States of America, the state delegates planning the national government were anything but united. Each state demanded its own independence from the others, and manydetermined to avoid a heavy-handed government like the British monarchyalso worried about vesting too much power in a central government. As a result, it took more than a year for the delegates to agree on a draft and more than four years for the states actually to adopt the Articles of Confederation, which became official in 1781. Centralized Powers Though they disagreed about many issues, the delegates did agree on certain basic rights for citizens: representation in government through state delegates and freedom of movement, for example. They gave to the Confederation Congress the right to conduct the new nation's foreign affairs, including relations with Native Americans and the regulation of boundary disputes, along with the tasks of maintaining an army, navy, and postal service. The powers that the delegates did not give to the Confederation Congress, however, turned out to matter most. Powerless in the End The Articles of Confederation created only a loose alliance among the states and left the national government with so little authority that it was nearly powerless. It needed the states' consent and cooperation to conduct its business but had no way to require that consent. The Confederation Congress could not tax or even require states to tax; could not enforce any legislation, as it had no authority over individual citizens; and could not regulate commerce with the nation's trade partners. Finally, and most damaging to the Articles of Confederation over time, there was the need for the approval of all 13 states to make any changes to the Articles. As a result, the document's problems couldn't be fixed because no one could get all 13 states to agree on how to fix them. By 1786, government leaders realized that the Articles simply didn't work. Meeting in Philadelphia in 1787, those leaders began to draft a new documentthe U.S. Constitution.

"Articles of Confederation (Overview)." American History. ABC-CLIO, 2012. Web. 5 Sept. 2012.