Weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation

The Articles of Confederation created a weak government.

• There was no executive branch (President), so there was no one to enforce or carry out laws made my Congress.

• There was no judicial branch, so there were not national courts to settle disputes between states, or between people of different states.

• Each state had only one vote in Congress. This meant that states with small populations had just as much power as states with large populations.

• 9 out of 13 states had to agree before Congress could make a law. All 13 had to agree before the Articles could be changed. It was hard for Congress to get anything done.

• Congress could not tax. The government of the U.S. had to ask the states for money, and the states could refuse. Congress could borrow money, but had no way to repay the money it borrowed.

• Congress could declare war, but it lacked the power to raise a national army. It could ask the states to provide troops from the state militias, but the states could refuse.

• Congress could not regulate (control) trade. Individual states often placed high taxes on goods from other states. This made it difficult to do business.

• Congress could issue money for the U.S., but each state could also print and issue its own money. People from one state would often not accept money from another state, and almost no one wanted the national government's money. This made it even more difficult to do business in the U.S.

Task:

1. Study the cartoons below.

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2. Review the list of weaknesses above. Decide which weakness is best illustrated by each cartoon.

3. Open a Microsoft Word document

4. Type and center the title, "Weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation."

5. From the Table menu, select Insert - Table. You will need 2 columns and 4 rows.

6. Copy and paste each cartoon in a table cell in the left column. You may need to resize the cartoons so that they all fit on one page.

7. Next to each cartoon, in the table cell on the right, type at least one sentence to describe the specific weakness of the Articles shown in the cartoon.

8. Type your name somewhere on your document.

9. Save your document.

10. Print and hand in.