The Articles of Confederation was our first plan of government. It was created after the Revolutionary War so we could govern ourselves. There were many weaknesses in this plan.
Because the colonists were so worried about having a strong government or a strong leader, they created a weak federal government. The government created by the Articles of Confederation was not able to levy taxes. This made it difficult for the government to pay its debts. The government couldn’t force people to join the military. This made it hard to deal with countries like Spain and Great Britain that were pushing us around. There was no place for states to resolve their disputes because there was no court system. The government even had trouble keeping order at home. This was clearly seen when Shays’ Rebellion occurred.
Eventually, people realized that we needed a new plan of government. A meeting was held in Philadelphia in 1787 to work on developing this new plan. As a result of this meeting, the Constitution was created. The federal government had more power. For example, the federal government could levy taxes. A court system was also created. However, there were controls put in place to limit this power. Each branch could control the others, and no branch could do everything by itself.
The Constitution tried to resolve some of the issues that existed because the government created by the Articles of Confederation was too weak.
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