Articles of Confederation, Inadequate to a Youthful Nation

When the American Revolution was over, America required a new form of government. This new government became the Articles of Confederation. The Articles had first been introduced by Richard Henry Lee in the Second Continental Congress. The Articles of Confederation, essentially, were America’s first constitution. It was soon to be replaced by the Constitution due to failures to address issues. The Articles, however, did not last very long and had already been attempted to be revised two times before the Constitution had been put into effect. The Articles of Confederation were not able to address problems facing the new American nation due to and inadequate features of the government under the Articles, domestic affairs issues, foreign affairs problems, through Congress lacking the authority to impose taxes, giving the states too much power, and having to rely on troops for military support.

There were multiple inadequate features of the Articles of Confederation. One of the worst features was the fact that Congress could not impose taxes. This made it difficult for the new nation to get money. One of the biggest flaws which greatly contributed to the factor of why the Articles were replaced was the fact that it required a unanimous approval from all states to amend it. This made it difficult to change which is why it was substituted rather than simply revised. There was also only one vote in Congress for each state which greatly favored the smaller states.

The Articles of Confederation also were unable to deal with domestic issues. This was because it simply gave the states too much supremacy. Under this new legal system there was little to no central power in the federal government. This was due to the fact that many politicians and civilians feared a strong central government because of their experiences with the monarchy of Great Britain. The Articles did not do a good job of uniting the colonies together. They did not attend to the major disorder between the colonies which is one of the many reasons they were done away with.

The Articles of Confederation did not address certain foreign affairs issues. One of these was that their only way to acquire troops involved receiving them from the states themselves. This made it difficult to protect the new nation from enemies. The Articles did little to address America’s conflicts with, former wartime ally, Spain, which wished to stop Westward expansion. This caused conflicts between both Spain and Native Americans in the West and areas around the Mississippi.

In conclusion, the Articles of Confederation were not able to attend to problems opposite the youthful nation of America. The Articles were unable to do this because they were not able to concentrate on inadequate features of this new variety of government because it did not allow Congress to impose taxes. It was powerless compared to the states. Lastly, the Articles of Confederation did not deal with foreign affairs issues the new nation faced when it came to conflicts with Spain and Native Americans. Overall, the Articles of Confederation were a very weak form of government and were not capable for governing a young nation.