Articles of Confederation

Furthermore, they institutionalized systems of local government, and public education . Moreover, while accomplishing all this, the congress managed to keep the national economy afloat. This proved to be an enormous feat because the economy was suffering from the loss of colonial privileges. These major achievements were all accomplished despite the inherent flaws in the basic structure of the Confederation government.
             The Articles of Confederation created a unicameral Confederation Congress, with each state having only one vote. On most political matters this legislative body required the approval of 9 out of 13 states to ratify any proposed Congressional intention. In Article 13, the Articles declared that in order to ratify an amendment to the Articles the consent of all 13 states were required . This left the national government, running through the Confederation Congress, powerless and unable to proceed with the most trivial matters of politics. The Confederation Government, under the Articles, lacked an executive and judicial branch. This caused Congress to be severely handicapped when it came to the enforcement of her requests. This lack of an executive, coupled with the Congress's negated power of taxation, caused a crippling financial difficulties. The Congress, having only enough power to request essential national funds from the states, found that many refused to pay, or were late in doing so. Due to the lack of an executive branch, Congress soon found itself facing a mounting national debt that it was unable to pay on its own or force states to assume their share of the burden. Since change was virtually impossible, due to the unanimous amendment process, the Articles remained unchanged and hardships continued to mount for many Americans.
             The major hardships of America in the period of Confederation rule were primarily between the debtor and the creditor . The economic downturn of the mid 1780's, caused by the removal of the guaranteed English markets, left many farmers ruined and inundated with debt .