Why Did The Articles Of Confederation Fail ?
The Articles of Confederation were approved and accepted by all thirteen states in the year 1781. This witnessed the beginning of a new era in world history. These Articles were complied and written by delegates representing their respective states. Most of these delegates belonged to the First and Second Continental Congress members.
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Although these Articles were designed to unify the states and give some powers to the State and Central Governments, they were heavily in favor of the state Governments giving the U.S. Congress very little power to control the state of affairs.
Listed below are a few key points to understand why the Articles failed:
- Articles gave undue powers to the State Governments. This led to an imbalance of power in the entire country.
- The states were free to pass and enact their own rules and laws. The Central Government on the other hand could not pass any law or Act without getting the approval of at least nine out of thirteen states.
- Formation of a new state required approval of a minimum of nine states. This left the Central Government with no power or force whatsoever.
- The National Government relied heavily on the State Governments to fund financial resources.
- The State Governments on the other hand could accept or ignore the request, plunging the National Government into a financial crisis.
- The States had excess power while the National Government was extremely weak. Foreign and neighboring countries became extremely apprehensive to trade or establish alliances given the fragile nature of the country’s affairs.
This paved way for the formation of a new Constitution, which rectified all the flaws and mistakes in the Articles.
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