What you will be able to do
describe the confederation’s structure and powers; connect design choices to achievements and problems; avoid the inaccurate claim that the Articles created no national government
Articles of Confederation
What could the government under the Articles do, what could it not do, and how did that design shape later constitutional debate?
Activate what you know
A council can make decisions but cannot collect reliable revenue or ensure members follow them. Predict one strength and one problem
- confederationa union in which member states retain extensive authority and the shared government has limited powers
- unicameralhaving one legislative chamber
- requisitiona request by the Confederation Congress for state funds or resources
- sovereigntysupreme governing authority within a political order
- ratificationformal approval that makes an agreement binding
- supermajoritya required vote greater than a simple majority
- debtmoney or another obligation owed
- ordinancea law or regulation issued by an authorized government body
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A Real Government with Deliberately Limited Reach
Ratified in 1781, the Articles of Confederation described the union as a league of friendship among states that retained sovereignty not expressly delegated. The central institution was a one-house Congress. Each state cast one vote, although delegations could include several members. There was no separate national executive branch and no general national court system. Major decisions required nine states, and amendments required approval from all thirteen, making structural change especially difficult. Congress was not powerless. It could conduct diplomacy, make war and peace, borrow money, establish rules for western territories, and resolve certain interstate disputes. It secured important achievements, including arrangements for western lands through the Land Ordinance of 1785 and Northwest Ordinance of 1787. Yet Congress generally depended on state requisitions because it could not levy taxes directly, and it could not regulate interstate or foreign commerce with the authority later granted to Congress under the Constitution
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Why Experience Led to Revision
After the Revolutionary War, public and private debts, scarce money, disrupted trade, and competing state policies produced conflict. Congress’s unreliable revenue made debt payment and stable administration difficult. Shays’ Rebellion in Massachusetts alarmed many leaders, although the uprising arose from state taxation, debt enforcement, and economic hardship, not simply from a missing federal army. The event became powerful evidence in political arguments for a government better able to respond to unrest and coordinate national policy. Critics proposed a stronger central government, while others feared distant power and valued state autonomy. The Constitutional Convention eventually designed separate branches, direct taxing and commerce powers, federal courts, and an amendment process that did not require unanimity. Those changes were choices, not inevitable corrections. A careful comparison recognizes that the Articles helped a new nation survive war and organize territory while also creating persistent coordination and enforcement problems that reformers judged unacceptable
Match Outcome to Power
Judge the Articles by connecting each achievement or problem to a specific delegated power, missing power, voting rule, or dependence on state cooperation
Use a Power Ledger
For any event, list what Congress could do, what required states, what vote threshold applied, and what consequence followed
Weak Does Not Mean Absent
The Confederation government exercised genuine powers and achieved important policies, but lacked reliable fiscal, commercial, executive, and judicial capacity
Institutional Diagnosis
Given a fictional confederation facing debt and interstate tariffs, identify the relevant missing or limited powers and propose one narrow repair plus one safeguard
The Articles created a state-centered confederation whose Congress managed war, diplomacy, and territories but struggled with revenue, commerce, enforcement, and amendment, prompting contested demands for redesign
Practice and answer guide
Work through all 12 questions. Open an answer only after you have written or explained your response.
- 1. Under the Articles, how many chambers did Congress have? A. one B. two C. three
Check answer
One
- 2. How was state voting represented in Congress?
Check answer
Each state cast one vote, regardless of population, through its delegation
- 3. Name two powers the Confederation Congress did possess
Check answer
Examples include diplomacy, war and peace, borrowing, western land policy, postal functions, and certain interstate disputes; any two
- 4. Which power did Congress lack? A. direct national taxation B. conducting diplomacy C. governing western territories
Check answer
Direct national taxation
- 5. Complete the organizer: connect a design feature to one likely consequence
Check answer
Answers vary; for example, inability to tax directly led to uncertain revenue, which fueled debate over stronger national fiscal authority
- 6. Why did requisitions make national revenue unreliable?
Check answer
Congress could request funds but depended on state compliance and could not compel consistent payment through direct taxation
- 7. What made formal amendment especially difficult?
Check answer
Any amendment required approval from all thirteen states
- 8. Name one significant achievement under the Articles
Check answer
Examples include the Northwest Ordinance, Land Ordinance, diplomacy ending the Revolution, or western land administration
- 9. Why is it too simple to say the Articles caused Shays’ Rebellion?
Check answer
State taxation, debt enforcement, rural hardship, and postwar economic conditions directly shaped the rebellion; national institutional weakness affected the response and political interpretation
- 10. Distinguish the causes of the uprising from the way nationalists used it in debate
Check answer
The uprising grew from Massachusetts policies and economic pressures; nationalists presented the unrest as evidence that the confederation lacked sufficient governing capacity
- 11. Name two powers or institutions the Constitution later added or strengthened
Check answer
Examples include direct federal taxing power, commerce regulation, separate executive, national judiciary, and a less-than-unanimous amendment procedure; any two
- 12. Write a balanced evaluation of the Articles using one achievement, one limitation, and one design-consequence link
Check answer
A strong response identifies a real achievement and limitation, then explains how a specific voting rule, delegated power, or missing authority produced the outcome