Government Under the Articles of Confederation Confederation Delegates to the Second Continental Congress debated the distribution of power between the national and state governments. The Articles of Confederation established a loose union among independent states with only a simple central government. The central government had no court system, no executive, and a unicameral legislature with only the powers named in the Articles. Each state had one vote in Congress and all other powers not named in the Articles.

Problems in the Confederation Period Confederation The new states operated independently, issuing individual currencies and imposing tariffs on one another. The weak national government could not force states to give it money and had to rely on state courts to enforce and interpret national laws. Key achievements of the Confederation were the treaty with Britain, laws for organizing western land, approving money for a navy, and creating cabinet departments.

Need for a Stronger National Government Confederation Shays’s Rebellion spread unrest to other states, and American leaders believed the national government was vulnerable to anarchy. Following Shays’s Rebellion, delegates proposed changes to the Articles of Confederation to make the national government more effective. Congress consented to a convention with the sole purpose of revising the Articles of Confederation.