The Articles of Confederation 1781-87. One day after the Second Continental Congress appointed a committee to write a Declaration of Independence, they.

The Articles of Confederation1781-87

One day after the Second Continental Congress appointed a committee to write a Declaration of Independence, they passed a resolution to prepare the Articles of Confederation.

This was very early in the

Revolutionary War!

They knew they would need some kind of government since they were not longer obeying British control.

Confederation - a loose joining togetherof States which gave some rights to a central (national) government

(They didn’t want a strong central government because of their bad

experiences under British control.)

What did the Articles of

Confederation do?

They created a Congress.

BUT there was not a Senate or a House of

Representatives – just a Congress. .

What they DID:What they DIDN’T do:

So it was a unicameral Congress.

uni = one“Cameral” actually

means “house.”

They created a Congress.

.

BUT there was not a Senate and a House of Representatives – just a

Congress. .

AND there was no President (or Executive Branch) and no federal court system (Judicial Branch). That meant that, on a national level, Congress had all the national power.

What they DID: What they DIDN’T do:

What they DID: What they DIDN’T do:

. . .which worked pretty well.

Congress set up a postal system. . .

Congress had power to make war,

including to -- declare war -- raise an army & navy

What they DID: What they DIDN’T do:

BUT they could only ASK states to send soldiers and ASK states

to send $$ for the military.

States could say “no!”

Congress had power to conduct affairs with other countries, including to -- send ambassadors to other countries -- receive ambassadors from other countries -- make treaties with other countries

What they DID: What they DIDN’T do:BUT since they couldn’t make states pay taxes, they couldn’t even pay off their war debts to other countries (France, Holland, & Spain). This hurt their reputation with other countries.

Congress had power to print money. This included the power to set standards of weights & measurements.

(Remember, money back then was backed by gold and silver, which was valuable by weight.)

What they DID: What they DIDN’T do:

BUT, each state could still print its own money, too.

So a bunch of DIFFERENT kinds of money were being used. It got CONFUSING!!! People became afraid to trust anybody’s

money.

How do you think the new country dealt with these challenges?