the articles of confederation essay

The Articles of Confederation was the first constitution of the United States. The Founding Fathers wrote up the Articles to avoid the tyranny that they experienced under British rule. As a result of this fear, they created a central government, Congress, that had very limited powers. Drafted in 1776, during the 2nd Continental Congress, the Articles of Confederation was ratified on March 1, 1781, by the thirteen states. It remained the unifying document of the states until June 21, 1788. Though this constitution allowed some benefits to the states and their foundation for its system of rule, this fresh but unstable national government roughly put together under the Articles during the Revolutionary War, demonstrated to be lugubriously inadequate to the duty of building a nation.
Under the Articles of Confederation, the Congress that was made up of delegates chosen by the states was given several important, but not greatly effective authorities over the states. This unicameral legisla...