AP Syllabus focus:
‘The Articles of Confederation unified the states but created a central government with limited power, revealing the challenges of governing after independence.’
The Articles of Confederation established America’s first national framework, but its intentionally weak structure exposed major challenges that shaped early political debates and highlighted the need for stronger federal authority.
The Structure and Intent of the Articles of Confederation
The Articles of Confederation served as the United States’ initial governing document after independence, designed to preserve state sovereignty while coordinating collective efforts such as diplomacy and war.
This image shows the first page of the Articles of Confederation, the document that established a loose union of states with a deliberately limited central government. The dense handwritten text reflects how the states sought unity while still protecting their individual sovereignty. The full page includes more detailed provisions than those emphasized in the syllabus, but all support the core idea of a weak national framework. Source.
The document reflected deep fears of centralized authority rooted in colonial experiences under British rule. As a result, the national government had extremely limited power, and most meaningful political authority remained with the states.
Sovereignty: The supreme political authority held by a state or governing body, free from external control.
Under the Articles, Congress functioned as a single legislative body in which each state had one vote regardless of population. There was no separate executive branch and no national judiciary, highlighting the framers’ cautious approach toward federal power. Although this structure maintained unity during the Revolutionary War, it proved inadequate for managing postwar circumstances.
Limited Federal Power and Structural Weaknesses
The Confederation Congress lacked essential powers typically associated with national governments. Its authority was intentionally constrained to avoid reproducing the perceived tyranny of British rule. These constraints created immediate and lasting challenges.
Key Limitations of Central Authority
No power to tax, leaving Congress dependent on voluntary state contributions.
No authority to regulate interstate or foreign commerce, resulting in economic instability and conflicting trade policies.
No enforcement mechanism, preventing Congress from ensuring states complied with national decisions.
No executive branch, leaving policy implementation inconsistent and often ineffective.
No federal judiciary, complicating the resolution of interstate disputes and weakening national legal uniformity.
Because amendments to the Articles required unanimous approval, efforts to correct these deficiencies routinely failed. States guarded their autonomy and often prioritized local concerns over national well-being.
Postwar Economic and Diplomatic Strains
The structural weaknesses of the Articles became more apparent as the new nation confronted significant post-Revolution challenges. Wartime debts, inflation, and trade disruptions created financial instability. Without the ability to levy taxes, Congress struggled to pay soldiers, service national debt, or raise revenue for governmental functions. States issued their own currencies and imposed tariffs on one another, worsening economic disorder.
Diplomatically, foreign nations doubted the United States’ cohesiveness. Britain retained military posts on American territory in defiance of the Treaty of Paris, and Spain restricted American access to the Mississippi River. The Confederation government lacked the leverage to enforce agreements or negotiate effectively. These diplomatic setbacks demonstrated that unity on paper was insufficient without real central authority.
Interstate Conflicts and Internal Unrest
State rivalries intensified under weak national oversight. Since Congress could not regulate commerce, states enacted competing trade regulations that harmed national cohesion. Territorial disputes also arose, threatening stability in the west.
Major Sources of Conflict
Competing tariffs that hindered interstate trade and created regional competition.
Boundary disputes between states lacking a national mechanism for resolution.
Rebellion and unrest, most notably Shays’ Rebellion (1786–1787), which involved indebted farmers resisting aggressive state tax and foreclosure policies.
Shays’ Rebellion: An armed uprising of western Massachusetts farmers protesting economic hardship and unfair taxation, exposing weaknesses in the Articles of Confederation.
The rebellion alarmed political leaders across the nation by demonstrating how fragile public order could be when the national government lacked the power to respond effectively.
This engraving depicts troops pursuing rebels during Shays’ Rebellion, an uprising of indebted farmers protesting state tax and debt policies. The scene highlights the intensity of grassroots resistance and the difficulty of maintaining order when the national government lacked the power to respond decisively. The tactical details shown are not required by the syllabus, but they visually reinforce how internal unrest exposed the weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation. Source.
Growing Calls for a Stronger Federal Government
By the mid-1780s, many Americans recognized that the Articles of Confederation could not sustain a functioning national polity. Economic instability, diplomatic failures, and domestic unrest convinced even former skeptics that stronger central authority was necessary. Leaders such as George Washington, James Madison, and Alexander Hamilton argued that the confederation system needed substantial revision to preserve the union.
Factors Driving Reform
Inability to generate secure national revenue
Lack of uniform commercial policy
Ineffective foreign diplomacy
Threats to internal stability
Difficulty amending the Articles due to unanimity requirements
These pressures culminated in the Annapolis Convention (1786), where delegates called for a broader meeting to revise the Articles. This ultimately led to the Constitutional Convention in 1787, where delegates concluded that merely amending the Articles would not solve the underlying structural problems. The national challenges experienced under the Confederation provided essential context for the drafting of a new, more robust federal framework.
FAQ
Many state leaders feared that a central authority resembling Britain’s monarchy and Parliament might infringe on their liberties. Memories of imperial overreach made political elites deeply cautious.
States also wished to maintain control over taxation, trade rules, and internal affairs, which they viewed as essential to protecting local economic interests.
European nations recognised the United States’ limited diplomatic leverage and took advantage:
Britain maintained forts on American soil and restricted trade in the Caribbean.
Spain closed the Mississippi River to American navigation.
France pressed for repayment of war debts knowing Congress lacked coercive power.
These pressures exposed how limited national authority weakened the country’s position in international affairs.
Different regional economies—commercial in New England, mixed in the Mid-Atlantic, and agricultural in the South—led to conflicting priorities.
Without a central trade policy, states pursued their own interests through tariffs and local regulations, worsening economic fragmentation.
Regional economic rivalries influenced states to preserve autonomy rather than agree to stronger national controls.
The lack of federal mechanisms encouraged states to behave like separate countries:
Each issued its own currency.
States enacted trade barriers against neighbours.
Interstate boundary disputes went unresolved for years.
These behaviours heightened suspicion between states and undermined any sense of national cohesion.
Congress relied heavily on persuasion, diplomatic appeals, and collective pressure.
It issued recommendations rather than binding commands and attempted to form voluntary agreements among states for taxation or military contributions.
Despite occasional cooperation, dependence on goodwill meant critical initiatives routinely stalled or failed.
Practice Questions
Question 1 (1–3 marks)
Explain one way in which the structure of the national government under the Articles of Confederation limited its effectiveness in the 1780s.
Mark scheme
1 mark for identifying a valid limitation (e.g., lack of power to tax, inability to regulate trade, absence of an executive).
1 mark for describing how this limitation operated in practice.
1 mark for explaining the impact this limitation had on the government’s effectiveness (e.g., financial weakness, inconsistent policy, inability to enforce decisions).
Question 2 (4–6 marks)
Assess the extent to which domestic unrest in the 1780s, such as Shays’ Rebellion, revealed the weaknesses of the government under the Articles of Confederation.
Mark scheme
1–2 marks for describing relevant examples of domestic unrest (e.g., farmer protests, debt crises, Shays’ Rebellion).
1–2 marks for explaining the relationship between these events and structural weaknesses of the Articles (e.g., no power to raise troops, no national enforcement mechanism).
1–2 marks for assessing the extent to which these events demonstrated the need for a stronger central government (e.g., increased calls for reform, influence on the Annapolis Convention).
