Kido, Natalie Tiglao, Lara Alvarado, Alexia Diaz, Desiree

"On July 4, 1776, the Second Continental Congress issued the Declaration of Independence. The document proclaimed the separation of the American colonies from Great Britain and formally began the American Revolution. The new nation then had to create a new government to replace the monarchy it was trying to overthrow. After much debate, the Americans adopted the Articles of Confederation. This document established a very weak national government that consisted of a one-house legislature known as the Confederation Congress. The Congress had the power to declare war, sign treaties, and settle disputes between the states. It could also borrow or print money and could ask for funds from individual states, which rarely provided the requested money to the federal government. The Americans were so fearful of a strong, centralized government that they refused to give their Congress the power to tax. The Articles of Confederation were first adopted by the Second Continental Congress on November 1, 1777, and were given final ratification on March 1, The Second Continental Congress became the Congress of the Confederation. This government was then in effect from 1781 until In 1783, the Americans secured their independence from Great Britain with the Treaty of Paris (1783). They immediately began to build a new nation. Among the Confederation Congress' successes was passage of the Northwest Ordinance, which established the Northwest Territory. Still, the Confederation Congress faced many difficulties, primarily due to the weak nature of the national government. Without having the ability to tax, the federal government could not pay for a military. This was an especially important issue for people living in the Northwest Territory. As thousands of Americans moved into the area, Native Americans struggled to stop them. Unable to pay for an army, the government could not protect its citizens. To solve this and other problems, a Constitutional Convention took place in the summer of Called together to revise the Articles of Confederation the delegates decided that a new and stronger Constitution was needed. The federal government now had the power to tax, and its provisions were to be the supreme law of the land. Fearing that one person or faction might be able to gain control of the government, the drafters divided the government's powers among three separate branches -- the legislative branch, the executive branch, and the judicial branch. Each branch had checks and balances on the powers of the other two. The Constitution created the United States in the form in which it still exists today.." This document describes what the Articles of Confederation did for the people and what problems came with it after it was written. The purpose of the Articles is that its suppose to help the people but instead it made their struggles more server, because they weren’t able to pay for the military. It doesn’t support our thesis all the way, but it counter’s it by saying that it never helped so the people wanted to improve the document.

"Even before adoption of the Articles, Congress observed most of their provisions. The British military danger encouraged the states to meet their obligations to Congress. After peace returned, however, the Articles' inherent weakness became apparent and, after several attempts to strengthen Congress by amending them failed because of the unanimity requirement, a Constitutional Convention was called in 1787 to revise the Articles. In one of its first acts, the Convention voted to abandon the Articles altogether and draft a new constitution…" This is saying that the Articles of Confederation was trying to be amended but wasn’t discovered useless until the British military had declared peace and they wanted to meet their obligations to Congress. It counters our thesis because although the articles seemed effective, after the British declared peace it showed how the articles inherent weakness became apparent.

This document describes the beneficial and unbeneficial acts brought upon the people it being passed. This supports our thesis because it shows that the articles of confederation were effective but yet they lacked full coverage of the peoples concerns.

Congress did not have the power to raise revenue by direct taxation of the inhabitants of the United States. Therefore, the immediate goal of the ordinance was to raise money through the sale of land in the largely unmapped territory west of the original states acquired at the 1783 Treaty of Paris after the end of the Revolutionary War. The Northwest Ordinance created territorial government. It set up an agreement for the admission of new states, the division of land into a useful system, and set aside land in each township for public use. This system represented a break from imperial colonization, and provided the basis for the rest of American continental expansion. Supporting the thesis, the Land of Ordinance of 1785 was adopted under The Articles of Confederation. It gave the oppurtunity for the government to raise money since there wasn't any due to the Revolutionary war.

This document shows how the government was under the Articles of confederation compared to how it was under the federal constitution. It counters our thesis because it shows how better the central government was under the federal constitution instead of the articles.

“ Congress under the Articles had three great successes: it obtained an advantageous peace treaty ending the Revolutionary War, it acquired a huge public domain from state cessions of their western lands, and it enacted the Northwest Ordinance, which established the pattern for the administration of federal territories." This documents shows how the Articles of Confederation made Congress better by peace treaty, acquiring land, and established a pattern for the administration. This supports our thesis because it shows how the Articles of Confederation were effective in solving the problems that confronted the new nation.

This illustration shows how the articles created disruption towards their government which caused problems for the new nation. It counters our thesis statement because it doesn’t support it because of the articles were meant to create an improved nation.

“Canada was specifically allowed to join the confederation, but all other colonies needed the approval of nine states to enter. Every state was to abide by the determination of Congress on questions delegated to Congress by the Articles, and the Articles were to be inviolably observed by every state. Amendments to the Articles had to be ratified by the legislature of every state.” This document shows that the Articles of Confederation had to be ratified and observed by every state because they all had to tolerate the determination of congress. This supports our thesis because it shows how determined they were to pass the Articles of Confederation, because it was their choice.

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