The Articles of Confederation, America's first uniting form of government was put into effect in 1781, after the conclusion of the Revolutionary War. Now that the thirteen colonies were their own free country they would need some type of unifying force. The Articles were said to have been a "loose league of friendship" between the states, meaning the states would trade and work together, but no central form of government was needed. However, to some this would not be enough. The current form of government was not sufficient enough for the numerous issues of the time period. The problems with the Articles of Confederation would prove to be too troublesome for this young nation; the Constitution becomes the saving grace for America. .
Under the Articles, the government was very weak, this was done purposefully. After finally gaining independence from Britain, Americans feared that a strong central government would lead to the empowerment of another monarchy, which is what they wanted to avoid at all costs. The main part of this government was run by the Confederation Congress, this had no executive branch, and the judicial system was primarily run independently by the states. Two of the biggest problems with the Articles and the Confederation Congress were that it was denied the power to regulate commerce and it could not collect taxes from the states. This especially, was very harmful to the major debt of the country after the war. Money had been borrowed from other countries to pay for troops, weapons, and supplies. Since Congress could not force the states to pay taxes, the government had no way of repaying the debt. Also, Congress was unable to regulate commerce, many of the states had their own currencies and arguments arose over which states" money had more value. Another problem under the Articles of Confederation was that in Congress, the states were not represented fairly. With the current government, every state had one vote, no matter the size of the population of that state.
