For the short period from 1781 to 1789 when the Articles of Confederation were in use, it provided the states with an overall weak and very slightly effective government; however the Articles of Confederation did manage to hold together the states until a new constitution could be written for the newly forming United States. The Articles of Confederation held together the rag tag confederation of states long enough for it to get its act together. Although the Articles where effective enough hold together the states during the 1780's, it was an extremely weak form of government that definitely wouldn't have been as effective over a longer course of time. .
Although the articles held the newly forming country together until it could adopt a new constitution, it doesn't necessarily mean that it held the state together very well. The Articles had many flaws that caused much chaos as well as controversy among the American people. One major flaw was the articles strength. The Articles of confederation had such little strength that it had no power even over its own people. If the American people living under the articles didn't like a certain law that was passed they had the ability to ignore the taxes and simply not pay them solely based on the fact that they do not approve of them no matter how much they might have been needed. (Document A.) Due to the fact that this form of government could not even collect on its own taxes, this in turn made the Articles of Confederation not only politically weak but financially weak as well. At one point the articles had made the United States get so badly in debt that it didn't even have enough money to pay its own troops that had fought for its existence during the war. (Document C.) .
The government provided by the Articles of Confederation was also weak in two other major aspects. One was in the social aspect, although the war had already ended by March 7, 1785 there were still British garrisons occupying forts and posts within U.